Welcome to the PoG Blog! Here is the reading for today!
1 Kings 19
And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for theLord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but theLord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Elijah is depressed. He is afraid. He saw God show Himself strong on Mount Carmel and now Jezebel is out to kill him.
Fear and depression go hand in hand. I have been a pastor over 20 years and ministered to many people dealing with bouts of depression of varying degrees – myself included. I have discovered that by far the he most effective question in helping people is not, “Why are you depressed?” but rather “What are you afraid of?” Fear and depression go hand in hand –they did for Elijah!
Notice God’s solution! God brought Himself into the picture. He presented Himself to Elijah. God was bigger than all that was against Elijah. It is the presence of God that dispels fear. We “see” His presence in every situation with the eyes of faith. I do not want to sound simplistic but He did call Elijah to believe that “Our God is Mighty to Save” – He calls us to believe that as well. We are never alone and God is present and bigger than whatever we fear!
I wonder what Robin Williams feared. It is such a sad story when fear gets the best of us. No matter what we fear we get to believe – we must believe that Jesus is bigger! The true size of Jesus dwarfs whatever we fear. Together we can help each other grasp the true size of Jesus! We all need a lot of help with that at one time or another – then hope can begin to replace fear and life can be restored!
As I face my fears today I get to believe in the true size of Jesus and trust His presence for me and with me today!
What about you? Where are your thoughts? Would love to hear!
Delton