Suggested reading: 1 Kings chapter 19 verses 1-18

COPING WITH DEPRESSION

      3. TURN AWAY FROM THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT PRODUCE FEAR

• CIRCUMSTANCES ought to lead us TO God but they often lead us AWAY from Him and cause us to be depressed
• Elijah did not allow the adverse circumstances on Mt Carmel to demoralise him – if he had, he would not have gained the victory over Jezebel and her prophets but later on he failed, when he was confronted with the threats of Jezebel – ‘he arose and ran for his life’, verse 3.

      4. TURN TO GOD AND LOOK TO THE FUTURE

• HOPE is an antidote for DEPRESSION – The Psalmist wrote: ‘HOPE in God, for I shall yet praise Him, for the help of His countenance’, Psalm 42 verse 5.
• Elijah lost sight of God – he was preoccupied with the past / present – he was dominated by circumstances and could not see the future – depressed people often ‘live in the past tense’
• Elijah’s depression blinded him to the fact that God had other ways of working – He wasn’t confined to the earthquake, wind and fire.
• God always has a future in view – if He had let Elijah die, as he had requested, he would not have gone to heaven without dying or discovered that there were 7,000 people, who had not bowed the knee to Baal; yet, he had abandoned them, when they needed him most
• Elijah failed to see that the future did not rest on his ministry; he did not know that Elisha, was ready to succeed him – he was not the only faithful one left!

      5. RECOGNISE THAT THE PATHWAY TO RECOVERY MAY BE SLOW

• Elijah’s recovery from depression was slow; indeed, he never fully recovered from his experience – he moved on from the wilderness and lived in the strength of the refreshment God had provided for him, but his depression returned and God found him in a cave – He had to ask him twice what he was doing there
• we have to exercise patience if we are to recover from depression – we must ‘run with endurance the race the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus’, Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1-2.