Gloom, Despair and Agony on Me Elijah

Transcription

1 Gloom, Despair and Agony on Me Elijah >>> In Jesus' name, amen. Well, take your Bibles if you would and open them to 1 Kings Kings 19 as we continue our series "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" going through the life of Elijah. And today we are going to see all three characters. The good, that's Elijah. The bad, that's King Ahab. And then the ugly, that's Queen Jezebel. As we get to today, you know, when we left off, we had Elijah on Mount Carmel where he had incredible victories. Today we're going to see Elijah in the cave of despair. And you know, I know the song wasn't written yet but had it been written I'm sure that if you stood outside that cave you would have heard Elijah singing the song gloom, despair and agony on me. Deep, dark, depressive excessive misery. If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all. Gloom, despair and agony on me. When I was a kid, my parents watched "Hee-Haw" religiously. I think that's what turned me off to country music for life right there. You know? But I did like that little sketch on it and that's where Elijah is this morning. He is in a cave of despair. And as I read through his story this morning, as I study it, I can't help but have it reflect a time in my life when I was in the cave of despair. And I'm sure many of you know what I'm talking about. I'm sure many of you in your life have at some point found yourself in the cave of despair. And the principles we're going to learn this morning are going to do two things. Actually, three. Number one, it is going to help us to identify when we're going into the cave. Number two, it's going to help us to keep ourselves from going into the cave. And number three, if you're already in the cave of despair this morning, whether you're here in the gospel center, watching in the chapel or watching anywhere across the nation, even overseas this morning, if you're already in that cave, I'm praying that God will use this morning to help you get out of the cave of despair. So, in 1 Kings 19, let's look at Elijah's gloom, despair and agony and learn some principles. I want to begin this morning by looking at the setting of spiritual despair. What is the setting that results in Elijah entering this cave of despair? Well, I want to begin by reading 19:1. 19:1, and here's what it says. Now, Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done. And how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Now, remember what's going on in Elijah's life. We just studied it last two weeks. Elijah has just stood on top of mount carpel where he challenged the prophets of Baal to a battle of fire. Whatever god sends down fire wins. Jehovah sends down fire, wins the battle. Elijah has all the prophets of Baal killed. God then promises Elijah it's going to rain. It hadn't rained in three and a half years. Elijah goes to King Ahab and says, you better get down the hill. It's going to rain. And then he goes up on the mountain and he prays seven times asking God to send rain and God sends rain. And then Elijah starts running down the mountain and God supernaturally energizes him and he runs right past Ahab in his chariot 17 miles from Mount Carmel all the way to Jezreel. Now, folks, listen. That's a pretty good day in the life of a prophet. Okay? If you're a prophet, you go home that night, you're going home, that was a pretty good day right there.

2 What is the setting of his despair? Folks, listen. There's a principle I want you to learn. Very important principle and it's this. Spiritual despair is likely to occur right after a great spiritual victory. And you can see that pattern all through the Bible. It's right after a great spiritual victory. It's right after one of those mountaintop experiences that we become very vulnerable to the cave of despair. Now, why is that true? Well, I think there's several reasons. Number one is this. Whenever we take steps of faith, whenever we see a great spiritual victory take place, that makes our enemy very unhappy. And I believe that Satan loves to pop the bubble when we're on a spiritual high. In fact, the Bible says that we need to be sober, vigilant, on the alert because our enemy roams around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Folks, listen. The more we take steps of faith as a church, the more we see God use our church, the more we're going to see the evil one bring opposition against us. Because great spiritual victories often lead to the cave of despair. Sometimes it happens for simply this reason. We have been so energized in the spiritual victory we just had that we're just flat exhausted. We put so much into it. We're exhausted physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually and we begin to let down our guard. Sometimes it's because we let a little pride and arrogance swell up in our life because of the victory. But Elijah right after a great spiritual victory, a really good day as a prophet, is going to end up in the cave of despair. For those who are pastors, that's usually called Monday. Okay? That's usually what that's called. Sundays are normally such a great day. We worked the whole week up to Sunday and then Sunday comes and we go home going, that was a really good day! And then Monday seems to be that little cave experience because Satan attacks. We're exhausted. We let down our guard. We may even get a little prideful or we sit down and read all the Monday morning s from all the things you didn't like on Sunday. All of that kind of enters into it. And right after great spiritual victories often comes the vulnerability of going into the cave of despair. By the way, notice it said in that verse that Ahab went home and told Jezebel all that Elijah had done. That tells me two things. Number one, Jezebel wasn't on top of that mountain when that contest took place. Don't know what she was doing but she wasn't up there. Maybe she was home doing her hair. I'm not sure but she wasn't on the mountain. It also tells me, number two, Ahab didn't get it, did he? He didn't go and say, let me -- honey, you should have seen what Jehovah did on that mountain! No, the only thing he could focus on was what Elijah did in killing the prophets of Baal. He totally missed the main part of that contest in which God proved that He alone was the God of Israel. When I think back to my time in the cave of despair, the year was 2010, and for 12 full months I found myself in that cave. And it came right after five of the most incredible ministry years I had ever experienced. But, folks, listen. It's usually right after great spiritual victories that we become vulnerable to the cave of despair. So, we see the setting of spiritual despair. Notice secondly the source. What was the source of the despair in Elijah's life? Look at verse number 2. And it says this. Ahab tells Jezebel all that Elijah had done, how he killed the prophets. Verse 2 says, then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, so may the gods do to me -- may they kill me and even more -- I don't know what more is after you're dead -- so may the gods do to me and even more if I

3 don't make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. Now, in western lingo here's what Jezebel was saying. She was saying, Elijah, this town ain't big enough for the both of us. You got 24 hours to get out of town or I'm going to kill you. That's what Jezebel says. Now, I find this very interesting. Very interesting. Because here's Elijah and in a moment we're going to see that when he hears that message, he runs for his life. And I find this very intriguing because what has Elijah seen over the past three and a half years? Elijah obeyed God and stood nose to nose with Ahab and announced the drought and God caused him to vanish to protect him. Elijah sat at the brook of Cherith and ravens brought him bread. God went to the widow's -- Elijah went to the widow's house at Zarephath where he saw the jar of oil never go empty and where he saw her son raised from the dead. Elijah stood on Mount Carmel and saw God send down fire from heaven! And then, he saw God send rain after a three-and-a-half-year drought. And suddenly he's scared of a woman. It doesn't make sense to me. No offense. It doesn't -- because I'm scared of some of you women. It doesn't make sense to me. But listen. There's a principle I need you to see and here's the principle. Spiritual despair often occurs when facing opposition. That opposition may be a circumstance that comes into your life. That opposition may be a person. But here's what happens. We have this great spiritual victory and then suddenly we get blindsided and out of nowhere comes this circumstance or this person who opposes us. You see, I'm pretty sure Elijah is thinking, man, when Ahab goes home and tells Jezebel what God just did on the mountain even Jezebel is going to embrace Jehovah. But, instead, totally unexpected to him it goes just the opposite. And often it's when we face opposition after a great spiritual victory that we find ourselves moving into the cave of despair. Folks, that's what happened in my life in Things were going amazingly well and then suddenly out of nowhere there was one person very influential who opposed me and I found myself based on that one opposition moving in to the cave of despair. Now, how do you know if you're entering into that cave? What are the warning signs? Well, let me give you four of them. Let's look now at the signs of spiritual despair and there's four I want you to see because when you begin to see these things happening in your life you are moving into the cave of despair. And the first one is this. The first sign is fear. Fear. Look at verse number 3. Here's Elijah. Just has this amazing mountaintop experience. Now he finds one person who opposes him and in verse number 3 here's how this prophet of God who saw all these things responds. And Elijah was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba which belongs to Judah, the southern kingdom, and he left his servant there. Now, I want you to see what he does because not only does Elijah become filled with fear but he's so fearful he runs for his life but I want you to see where he runs to. Now, back in your bulletins on the opposite side of your sermon notes I re-put the map that we used earlier. If you want to pull that out real quick, if you're watching online or listening on the radio and you want a copy of the map, just me sdistler@gaylordefree.org and I'll be glad to send it to you but I want you to notice this geographically. It's important. First, I want you to find Mount Carmel. Mount Carmel. The green part is the northern kingdom of Israel and Mount Carmel is little over halfway up

4 sticking out into the sea. You see Mount Carmel? If you see Mount Carmel, shake your head. Okay? All right. Very good. All right. Now, from Mount Carmel, Elijah runs down the mountain to Jezreel. So if you move a little southeast from Mount Carmel, you'll come to Jezreel. Do you see Jezreel? Shake your head. All right. Very good. That's where he is when he gets the message from Jezebel. And the Bible says he runs for his life to Beersheba which is in the land of Judah. Judah's the purple part. If you go down a little bit below halfway in Judah you will see Beersheba. If you see Beersheba, shake your head. All right? Beersheba, the land of Beersheba goes all the way down to the border. That's where he's going to end up. Do you know what he does? It's about a 95 to 100-mile trip. He runs as far as he can go and still stay in Jewish territory. That is how scared he is. That is how frightened he is. Now, folks, listen. There's a principle I need you to understand and the principle is this. Spiritual despair results in fear rather than trust. Listen. Ladies and gentlemen, when your fear of man exceeds your trust in God you are in the cave of despair. When your fear of circumstances and how they might turn out exceeds your trust in God you are in the cave of despair. And even though Elijah had seen all these amazing things happen, suddenly his fear of one woman now exceeds his trust in God and he runs 95 miles as far south as he can go into the land of Beersheba. When your fear of man exceeds your trust in God you have entered the cave of despair. When I look back at 2010, that's what happened to me, folks. During that year, my fear of man exceeded my trust in God. And you know what I did? I ran. Not physically like Elijah did but emotionally, mentally and even spiritually. And I entered into a state of paranoia. I kid you not. I would be standing in the church foyer and if I saw two people talking over there I just knew they were talking about me. I ran emotionally. I ran mentally because my fear of man exceeded my trust in God. How do you know when you've entered the cave of despair? Because your fear of man or your fear of circumstances will exceed your trust in God. And that's what happens to Elijah. There's a second sign, though. Not only was there fear, but number two, there was isolation. Isolation. Go back to verse 3 and let me read the end of verse 3 and verse 4. Verse 3 said he went to Beersheba which belongs to Judah and it says he left his servant there. He leaves his servant in the city Beersheba. And then verse 4, he himself went another day's journey in to the wilderness. He wept there how? By himself. And he came and he sat down under a juniper tree. Now, by the way, a juniper tree is more like a bush, 10 to 12 feet high, little broad bush. He goes by himself into the wilderness and just sits under this bush. He now moves into total isolation. He leaves behind even his trusted servant who was with him on the mountain who he kept sending to see if rain was coming. Now, there's a principle I want you to learn and here's the principle. Spiritual despair deepens when we isolate ourselves from other believers. I want you to take note of that, folks. Spiritual despair deepens when we isolate ourselves from other believers. And isn't that typically what we do? When we get into despair, we tend to pull away from our church. We tend to find reasons not to come to church. We pull away from our life group. We pull away from our Christian friends. And suddenly, we find ourselves all alone in a wilderness with our fear far exceeding our trust.

5 I remember back in 2010, the story as I studied this week, I got to be honest with you. The stories I studied on one hand was very difficult because it made me relive some things in my mind but on the other hand it was so refreshing because I have seen how far God has taken me but I can remember in 2010, I can remember pulling away from everybody. I pulled away from my staff. I pulled away from the people in my church. I preached but then I pulled away. You wouldn't see me anywhere around after I preached. I even pulled away from my family, ashamed to say but I did, to the point my kids would say to my wife, what is wrong with Dad? Because I had entered the cave of despair. I had allowed my fear of man and my fear of circumstances to exceed my trust in God and as a result I began to pull away and found myself becoming an island to myself. So number one sign of spiritual despair is fear. Number two, isolation. Notice the third thing I see in Elijah's life. The third thing is hopelessness. It's hopelessness. Go back and let me read the end of verse 4. It said in verse 3, he went by himself to the wilderness. He sat down under a juniper tree. Then it says, and he requested for himself -- who's he making the request to? God. He requested for himself. God, I'm making a request. That he might die. And he said, it's enough now, oh Lord, take my life for I'm not better than my fathers. Hopelessness. Hopelessness to the point that Elijah's saying, God, just kill me. Now, I almost find that ironic because why did he run from Jezreel to Beersheba? Because he was scared what was going to happen? That he was going to die. So he gets here. He says, God, just kill me. It's so wonderful for Elijah and all of you that I'm not God because my response would have been, listen, just go back up north. Jezebel will take care of that. He is in an utter state of hopelessness. He feels utterly useless. God, just kill me. I've failed as a prophet. I'm no better than my fathers before me and they weren't even prophets. See, there's a principle I want you to see. Despair results in feeling useless. When the fear of man or circumstances exceeds your trust in God, when you pull away and become an island to yourself, you know what's going to happen? You're going to sink into a state of hopelessness. You're going to feel useless. I can think back to I remember those thoughts. I remember dealing with those thoughts every day, even in to 2011 as God brought me here to Gaylord still dealing with those thoughts of I have failed. I have failed as a pastor. I failed in my calling. Unlike Elijah, I never had a desire to die. I'm too much of a wimp for that. I never had a desire to die. But there were times I had a desire to quit. There were many times in that year that I really contemplated, is it time to just throw in the towel and say, ministry isn't for me? Is it time for me just to say, I'm not cut out for this? Is it time for me to say, maybe it's time for me to do something else? There's a lot of other jobs out there. I think I could do pretty well. Maybe I should just do that. By the way, ladies and gentlemen, most pastors -- I think you could almost say all pastors know what the cave of despair is like because we have all been there at some point. In fact, that's why a huge percentage of pastors -- I read nearly 80% of those who leave Bible college entering into ministry are out of ministry within five years. Because when it comes to that point that even after a great spiritual victory you face opposition and the result of that is that you let your fear exceed your trust and you pull

6 away from the people you need most in your life you enter into a state of total hopelessness feeling totally useless. Have you been there? Notice a fourth one. Not only is there fear. Not only is there isolation. Not only is there hopelessness. But a fourth sign you have entered the cave of despair is this. Self pity. Self pity. Look at verse 10. Skip down to verse 10. By the time we get to verse 10 Elijah has gone to Mount Horeb. He's in a cave. An angel's going to talk to him. And say, what are you doing here? Notice what he says in verse 10. It says, and Elijah said, I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of Hosts, for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant. They have torn down Your altars. They have killed Your prophets with the sword and I alone am left and they now seek my life to take it away. Now, if you know Hebrew that verse is translated, no one likes me, everyone hates me, I think I'll go eat worms. That's where he's at. He's in a state of total self pity. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm pretty sure he rehearsed this speech many times. I don't think this just came out from his heart the first time. I think he rehearsed it. Now, why do say that? Well, drop down to verse 14. Because just a little bit later he's going to say the same exact words. He had it memorized. Look at verse 14. Then he said, I've been very zealous for the Lord, the God of Hosts for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant. They have torn down Your altars. They have killed Your prophets. And I alone am left and they seek my life to take it away, as well. There's a principle I want you to see and here's the principle. Spiritual despair results in centering all of our thoughts inward. That's what happens. Spiritual despair results in me only thinking about my problem and my issues and my hurt and my misfortune and woe is me. Folks, I can remember being there. I can remember being consumed 100% of the time with self pity. And you know what you'll discover during that time? Here's what you -- listen. When you sink into a state of self pity the thoughts you think will be incorrect thoughts. Do you realize that? They'll be incorrect. Look at the thoughts of Elijah. He said, basically, he's saying, I'm the only one that's been jealous for you, God. No he's not. Remember Obadiah who risked his life to save all of those prophets? Elijah said, I'm the only one left who really serves You, God. No, he's not. There were at least 100 prophets that he knew of that were still serving God that Obadiah had saved. And then he said, everyone's out to get me, God. No, they're not. It's one stinking woman. That's all! But I can remember being there. I can remember thinking everyone's out to get me. Because, you see, when you go into the cave of despair you will fear man more than you trust God. You will pull yourself away from the people you need the most. You will come to a state of hopelessness where you feel utterly useless and you will wallow in the pit of self pity taking all of your thoughts and turning them inward and you will believe thoughts that aren't even close to correct. Have you ever been there? I am so glad the story doesn't end here. Wouldn't it be a drag if my next words were, let's close in prayer? Wow. Glad I went to church in the cold this morning. But here's what I love about this passage because as true as I saw those four things in my life in 2010, just as true I saw the four solutions take place, as well. So I want to share with you in the time we have left the solution to spiritual despair. Now, by the way, these four solutions I'm going to give you, these

7 aren't just things that will get you out of the cave if you're there already. But listen. These are things that will prevent you from going into the cave to begin with. In other words, don't wait until you're in the cave to apply these four things to your life. You need them now. You need them always. Let me give them to you real quick. Number one, what's the solution? Number one, you need to rest your physical body. Rest your physical body. Let me read verses 5 through 7. Little bit long but let me read verses 5 through 7. Notice what happens. He lays down and sleeps under the juniper tree and behold there was an angel touching him. An angel sent from God and the angel says to him, arise and eat. Then he looked and behold there was at his head a bread cake cooked on hot stones and a jar of water so he ate and drank and laid down again and the angel of the Lord came a second time and touched him and said, arise, eat. The journey's too great for you. I love this. I love it because God sends the angel and notice what the angel doesn't say. He doesn't say, get up, you idiot. That's not what he says. He taps him on the shoulder says, hey, hey, hey, Elijah, come on. You need to eat something. And right over there, this angel had made some hot, fresh pita bread! All right there for him, you know? And here's Elijah and he eats this angelic pita bread and God does that twice. He goes back to sleep. God lets him sleep because he needs his rest. And then God wakes up again through the angel and says, hey, got a little peanut butter and jelly over here for you now. Come on, come on, come on. You need to eat something. I love this. Because, folks, if there's something we need to learn it's this. When we don't take care of ourselves physically it affects us emotionally. When we don't take care of ourselves physically, it affects us mentally. When we don't take care of us physically it affects us spiritually. I heard a preacher say one time, sometimes it's more spiritual to go to bed than it is to pray for another hour. That's an interesting quote. He says, Elijah, you're exhausted. You've been going at it full throttle and it's messed you up. You need to rest a little bit. That's harder for some than others, isn't it? I'm the type of person that I like a lot of irons in the fire. Okay? Some people if they have more than one iron in the fire they stress out. I'm just the opposite. If I don't have like a dozen irons in the fire I get bored. You know? And I function best with a lot of irons in the fire. And I'm the type of person that, frankly, if I wasn't married I would probably never take a day off because I love what I do. I take a day off because I'm married and that now has become my favorite day of the week to spend that day with my wife. But I'm the type of person that can just go, go, go, go. And when opportunities come up that especially that give me the chance to speak about Jesus in front of unchurched unbelievers I have a hard time saying no. I just really do. But, folks, if there's one thing we need to learn if we're going to prevent ourselves from going into the cave and if we're ever going to get out of the cave is the need to rest our physical bodies. That's solution number one. Solution number two, we need to renew our spiritual passion. We need to renew our spiritual passion. Now, let me read verses 8 through 13. You've heard this story I'm sure before. Let me read this whole thing 8 through 13 and then let me kind of give you my take on it. All right? Here we go. Verse 8. It says, so he arose and ate and drank and went on the strength of the food 40 days and 40 nights to

8 Horeb. Horeb, by the way, is the same thing as Mount Sinai where God spoke to Moses. Then he came there to a cave and he lodged there. And behold, the Word of the Lord came to him and said to him, what are you doing in the cave, Elijah? I didn't bring you here to go back in the cave. And he said, I've been very zealous for the Lord, the God of Hosts, for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altar. Yada, yada, yada. And I alone am left. They seek my life, too. Verse 11 says, so God said, go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord and behold the Lord was passing by and a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking it into pieces. The rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, there was an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. Then there came the sound of a gentle blowing and it came about when Elijah heard that, he wrapped his face in his mantle, he went out and stood in the entrance of the cave and behold the voice came to him and said, Elijah, what are you doing here? I love this. God takes Elijah from Beersheba to Mount Sinai. That's about a 250-mile trip, by the way. He takes him to Mount Sinai, the very mountain where God spoke to Moses and gave the Ten Commandments and the law. He says, Elijah, I need to remind you of something. I want you to go outside and stand there. I'm going to pass by. Elijah goes out outside and suddenly this huge wind comes. We are talking a wind so strong it breaks rocks in pieces. And I'm sure Elijah had to be going, that's it, God. That's what I want. I need You to show up with a mighty wind and blow down Jezebel's palace. And please make sure she's in it when You do. But God wasn't in the wind. Then there came an earthquake and shook the place and Elijah has to be going, yeah, God, that's even better. Send an earthquake. Level that palace. But God wasn't in the earthquake. And then God sent fire and Elijah had to be going, I should have known that. You did that a few days ago on Mount Carmel, too. That's okay, God. Just turn her to toast. That's wonderful. But God wasn't in the fire. Folks, listen. God will never be in your vengeance. He will never, ever be in your vengeance. I can remember I can remember spending hours upon hours upon hours upon hours daydreaming of how to hurt that person. God will never show up in your vengeance. You know how God showed up? In a still small voice. A gentle blowing. You know what God was saying to Elijah? He was saying, Elijah, I know you want vengeance. And don't worry. The day will come that I will bring judgment. But right now, I'm still bringing grace. I'm still bringing mercy. In fact, you know what we're going to see next Sunday? I hope you'll come. I don't care how cold it is. I hope you'll come. Next Sunday, you know what we're going to see? We're going to see that God extends grace to Ahab in an unbelievable way. He's saying, Elijah, I need you to refocus now on who I am and what I'm all about. Get your eyes off of yourself. Get out of yourself pity. Forget about what you want. And focus again your spiritual passion on who I am. Number one, I want you to rest your physical body. Number two, I want you to renew your spiritual passion. And I love the third one. The third one is this. Elijah, I want you to return to your place of service. Get out of the cave. I didn't call you to be a prophet so you could sit in the cave pouting. I want you to get back to your place of service.

9 Let me read verses 15 through 19. Little long but let me read it. Then the Lord said to Elijah, go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus and when you have arrived, here's specific things I want you to do. These are tasks of prophets. You shall anoint Hazael king over Aram and anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi. You shall anoint the king of Israel. And Elisha, the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah -- by the way, if you're ever reading a passage and you're not sure how to pronounce it, just say it with confidence. No one else knows either. Okay? Anoint him as a prophet in your place. And it shall come about the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael Jehu shall put to death, the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death, yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him. He says, Elijah, it's time to get back to what I called you to do. It's time to return to service. You see, when you go into the cave of despair, you quit serving people. When you go into the cave of despair, you quit serving God. When you find yourself in the cave of despair, you quit doing the very thing God called you to do and gifted you to do. That's what I did. Year 2010 I quit ministering to my church. I quit doing the things that God had called me to do as a pastor. And during that year, especially the last six months of it, God had to do a work in my life to say it's time to return to what I called you to do. I got this little place. It gets a little nippy sometimes up north. I want you to kind of go that direction. And one of the best things that ever happened to me was returning to my calling. Rest your physical body. Renew your spiritual passion. Return to your place of service. And I love number four. Receive the refreshment of a friend. Look what God does. Let me read verses 19 through 21. So Elijah departed from there and he found Elisha, the son of Shaphat, while he was plowing with 12 pairs of oxen before him and he with the 12 and Elijah passed over to him and threw his mantle on him. He left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, please let me kiss my father and my mother. Then I'll follow you. And he said to him, go back again for what have I done to you? So he returned from following him. He took the pair of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the implements of the oxen and gave it to the people and they ate. Now don't miss this last line. Oh man. Listen. If you don't mark in your Bible start right here. Okay? You got to underline this. Then Elisha arose and followed Elijah -- don't miss the last words -- and ministered to Elijah. I love this about God. You know what else God did? In order to help Elijah get out of that cave of despair He brought him a friend. A friend who ministered to him. Isn't that just like God? I remember 2010 so well. And I sometimes wonder if I ever would have gotten through it had God not used two friends in my life. One named Randy, one named Rick who during those 12 months poured themselves into me and ministered to me in incredible ways. And now my prayer is very simple. My prayer is that God will get me those times to be that friend to someone else, to be that friend to another family who's faced with some type of opposition that has the potential to sink them into the cave of despair so that I can be that friend that God can use to minister to them. How do you know if you're sinking into the cave of despair? Because your fear of man or circumstances will exceed your trust in God. Because you will pull away from those who you need the most. Because you will find yourself in a state of hopelessness feeling useless and because you will become consumed in self pity and turn all your thoughts inward. How do you get out? You rest your

10 physical bodies. You renew your spiritual passion. You return to your place of service. And you receive the refreshment of a friend. Would you stand with me for prayer? Father, I would imagine that most people in this room can relate to the story of Elijah. Because I'm sure that most of us have found ourselves at some point in the cave of despair where we have allowed fear to exceed our trust. Where we have pulled away from those we need the most. Where we felt useless and where we put all of our thoughts inward and most of those thoughts are incorrect. God, most of us in this room have been there. Some in this room and some who are watching via our broadcast are there right now, and I want to pray for them. God, I want to pray this morning that You would help them to rest their physical bodies. That You would help them to renew their spiritual passion. That You would help them to return to their place of service. And, God, I pray if You haven't already that You would send them that friend from which they'd find refreshment. And, God, I thank You that the story didn't end in the cave. It doesn't have to. It doesn't have to end in the cave. God, if You have been in the cave you'll never forget what it smells like. The smell of that cave is always in your nostrils. You'll always remember it. I'm so thankful this morning that life doesn't end in the cave. And, God, I pray that we would understand this morning that there's still something else that remains and that's Your love, Your mercy, Your grace, Your power, Your hope. So as we sing this closing song of worship, I pray, God, that You would envelop us with a new sense of Your goodness, even if we're in the cave. And I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.