The Monday Blues: Preaching to Myself

Yesterday, I preached a sermon from 1 Kings 18 and 19, where the prophet Elijah experiences an amazing miracle of God on top of Mt. Carmel and falls into despair afterwards. As I worked on the message, I couldn't help but think that this might be the first ever recorded case of the Monday Blues - adrenaline dump! And then Elijah ran away and hid under a bush - some Mondays, that sounds like a marvelous idea!

It's a pretty amazing story - how Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal to a duel. Each party prepares a sacrifice to their god, and then calls upon their god to light the sacrifice on fire. Of course, Baal's sacrifice didn't burn. Elijah's sacrifice, which was drenched with water, burned up completely, including the wood, stones, dirt, and water. Then Elijah had all 450 prophets of Baal killed. When the King and Queen failed to turn their hearts to God after this miraculous event, Elijah felt like a failure. Even though Elijah had experienced God's power and miraculous works first hand, he still became tired and afraid.

There are so many things we can learn from these 2 chapters - how God tenderly cares about our discouragement and depression, how He graciously met Elijah on Mt. Horeb even though Elijah had taken a detour from God's plan. We learn that God doesn't always speak through miracles - sometimes He speaks to us in that still, small voice. Always, He speaks to us in His Word and we can depend on it to be His Words. I learned that God is faithful to us, even when we aren't totally faithful to Him. And I learned that God is not disappointed in me when I think I've failed.

Something else that I learned from this passage is that even superheros of the faith are just ordinary people like you and me. And if they fail, if they get weary after a ministry event, if they need time to refuel, and if they need to hear the voice of God, how much more do I need those things? God knows our humanity first hand. He knows our weaknesses. He knows when we wake up Monday morning, exhausted. Even Jesus pulled away from the crowds from time to time to rest, refuel, and spend time with his heavenly Father. I think Jesus had the right idea, How do you? What do you take away from 1 Kings 18 and 19? How has it touched your heart today?