(Much of this blog was first published in 2004 in the chapter titled “Elijah Becomes Discouraged” in my book Healing the Promised Land, at pages 213-220)

To establish justice, we often must overcome denial, anger, bargaining, and depression to get the changes accepted that must be made to end injustices and to establish justice.

Sometimes we must overcome denial, anger, bargaining, and depression in our own lives. Sometimes we must overcome denial, anger, bargaining, and depression in the lives of others. And sometimes we must overcome denial, anger, bargaining, and depression in an entire civilization.

From the experiences of Elijah, we can see how he overcame depression in his own life so he accepted that he was not alone in loving the LORD his God with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength.

In my blog “Establishing Justice: Bargaining—Elijah”, we saw how bargaining with people who worship power and money fails to get the permanent, sweeping changes accepted that must be made to end injustices and establish justice.

Elijah and the people of Israel witnessed one of the most dramatic displays of God’s might and power in the whole Bible.

The 450 prophets of Baal failed to get Baal to send fire to burn up the bull that they placed on wood as a sacrifice.

Then Elijah called on the LORD, the God of Israel, to send fire from heaven to burn up Elijah’s sacrificial bull.  The LORD answered by sending fire that burned up the bull, the wood the bull lay on, and the water that was poured on the woodpile to make it even harder to burn up the bull.

In response to this dramatic display of God’s might and power, the people “fell prostrate and cried, ‘The LORD—he is God! The LORD—he is God’” (1 Kings 18:39).

This is where we usually end the telling of the story. It’s the way we’d like the story to end.

God is triumphant. Elijah is vindicated. The people reject Baal and choose the LORD.

But since this is a true story, it doesn’t have a happy ending. Elijah’s victory ends the very next day.

King Ahab told his wife “Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets [of Baal] with the sword.” (1 Kings 19:1). Jezebel did not change her mind about Baal. She still wanted to worship Baal instead of the LORD. And she was not amused at the idea that Elijah had killed her 450 prophets.

It was fine for her to kill the prophets of the LORD. She’d been doing that for years. But it was intolerable for anyone to kill the prophets of Baal.

Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah with this message: “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them” (1 Kings 19:2).

If we were making this up, Elijah would laugh at the message, pray about it, and everything would be all right. But since this is a true story, Elijah reacted like most people would: “Elijah was afraid and ran for his life” (1 Kings 19:3).

At first blush, it seems strange that this courageous hero of the faith could be afraid of anything. But then we remember that you can’t be courageous unless you are afraid. If you aren’t afraid in the face of danger, you’re a fool. Courage consists of being scared to death, but doing the right thing anyway.

It also seems strange that Elijah ran away from the danger instead of facing it. After all, he’d stood alone so bravely the day before on Mount Carmel.

But remember—he’d hidden from Ahab and Jezebel for three years while the drought lasted. Elijah was used to running away from danger.

Plus, it’s a biological reality of human existence that after an immense effort, we get tired. After our adrenaline helps us do amazing feats, we collapse in exhaustion.

Even though most people are not “manic depressive,” we all have mood swings. For awhile, we experience boundless energy and enthusiasm. Then we are plagued by weariness and depression.

No hero of the faith—not even someone as great as Elijah—is immune to such swings in their energy and enthusiasm.

But I think there was a deeper reason why Elijah ran away at this precise moment. He was overwhelmed by disillusionment and discouragement. Despite this display of God’s overwhelming might and power, Elijah failed.

Despite falling prostrate and crying “The LORD—he is God! The LORD—he is God!”, the hearts of the people did not truly turn back again to the LORD and his Law.

The people still did not fulfill the Law’s command to have no other god except the LORD God who freed them from slavery in Egypt. (Exodus 20:1-6).

The people still did not fulfill the Law by loving the LORD their God with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their strength. (Deuteronomy 6:4-6).

In my imagination, I see Elijah hiding for three years in the drought. He sustains his spirits by nurturing the hope that it will all end in a glorious revival of God’s people.

For three years, he plans how to display God’s power and might so that people turn back again to the LORD and the Law. For three years, he dreams of displaying God’s power and might so that he makes Israel great again.

At last, the day comes. Everything goes perfectly. The people even turn against Baal—for a day.

But then there is Jezebel. She does not change.

Ahab doesn’t change.

Even though Ahab saw God’s power and might displayed on Mt. Carmel, Ahab still obeyed Jezebel’s power and might. And, since Jezebel still wanted to worship Baal and kill the LORD’s prophets, Ahab let her get away with it.

No wonder Elijah was discouraged. He gave it his best shot. But he failed. So he ran away.

He prayed that he might die. “‘I have had enough, LORD,’ he said. ‘Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.’” (1 Kings 19:4).

Fortunately, this was one prayer of Elijah’s that God didn’t answer in the way Elijah wanted.

Elijah could get God to stop the rain for three years. He could get God to send fire to burn up the sacrifice on Mount Carmel. He could get God to send a storm to end the drought.

But not even Elijah could get God to give up! God is not a quitter. God doesn’t give up on us even when we give up on ourselves!

The first thing God did for Elijah was let him get some sleep. After that, God let him eat a good warm meal (1 Kings 19:5-6). Often, all we need to restore our spirits is a good night’s sleep and a good, warm meal.

But Elijah needed more. He needed a more profound experience of God than he had ever had before.

At first, Elijah did not realize that his fundamental mistake was expecting to light the world by using power and might.

At first, he did not realize what Jesus taught us in his Sermon on the Mount—we light the world with good deeds in the Way of Jesus. We turn people back to the LORD and the Law, “‘[n]ot by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty”. (Zechariah 4:6).

Elijah came to this realization when he fled back to Mount Sinai where Israel first agreed to follow the Law—God’s covenant with Israel.

When Elijah reached Mount Sinai, “he went into a cave and spent the night” (1 Kings 19:9). Even when we are in the right place doing the right thing, we may not find comfort and wisdom right away. We have to wait. (Psalm 27:13-14).

When the moment was right “the word of the LORD came to him” (1 Kings 19:9). It was in the form of a question. We cannot hear God’s answer to our problems until we ask the right question.

Elijah was discouraged because things hadn’t worked out the way he’d hoped and planned. Elijah was questioning: “Why hasn’t God been faithful to me by granting me success after all the great things I’ve done for God?”.

Elijah felt justified in complaining to God that God’s plans weren’t working out right. But Elijah needed to stop questioning God’s faithfulness. He needed to start questioning his own faithfulness.

God asked him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:9).

The question was open-ended. It gave Elijah plenty of leeway to decide what he was doing with his life in general and with his life in particular at this time and place.

Elijah interpreted the question as a chance to vent his anger and discouragement—and to boast about his own merit and accomplishments.

Elijah told God: “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken 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.” (1 Kings 19:10).

In response, “the LORD said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.’” (1 Kings 19:11).

God knew that the way to answer Elijah’s despair—like the way to answer our despair—was not by making intellectual arguments. The answer for Elijah and for us is to know God better as a person.

Like too many people today, Elijah had become too caught up in the showmanship of “worshiping” God. Elijah had to learn that being close to God did not mean having the power to do flashy miracles.

God is not a power. God is a person.

So God let Elijah experience the difference between God’s power and God’s personality.

“[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 the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. (1 Kings 19:11-12).

Elijah realized that the LORD was in the gentle whisper. So “[w]hen Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave” (1 Kings 19:13).

The fascinating thing is that the LORD and Elijah now repeated the exact same words they’d said to each other before. I think the difference was in the tone of Elijah’s voice and in the attitude of his heart.

Elijah’s first answer was the angry equivalent of the powerful wind, the earthquake, and the fire.

Now Elijah was ready to hear a gentle whisper from God asking, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”.

Now Elijah could answer God in a gentle voice full of his anguish (instead of in a strident voice full of his anger): “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken 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” (1 Kings 19:13-14).

In the quiet of his soul, Elijah could hear God answer: “Go back the way you came . . .” (1 Kings 19:15).

That was the hardest part of the message God had for him. He’d taken a wrong turn. He must go back the way he had come. There was no running away from his life’s task.

God would not give Elijah a lighter burden. But God would give Elijah a stronger back.

And God would give Elijah an encouraging new perspective.

Elijah was wrong when he thought “I am the only one left” (1 Kings 19:14). There were still plenty of people who loved the LORD their God with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their strength.

God told Elijah, “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:18). There were still “seven thousand” people who worshiped the LORD in Spirit and in Truth.

The number “seven thousand” was not meant as a literal number. The number “seven” denoted a “perfect” number—the “right” number.

God ended the physical drought when Elijah bowed down seven times on Mount Carmel.

Despite Elijah’s repeated claim that he was the “only one left”, God knew that the spiritual drought was ending because there were still many people—indeed, the perfect number of people (7000)—who loved the LORD their God with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their strength.

This perspective encourages me today. And I hope it encourages you, too.

God does not rely on flashy miracles to heal his Promised Land. The LORD Almighty does not need power and money to establish the worship of the LORD in Spirit and in Truth.

He uses a gentle whisper.

He uses the people who love him with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their strength.

Furthermore, I am not the only one who must bear the burden of these evil times. There are still “seven thousand” others who God is using to establish a civilization that is good—that is very good—because they are worshiping the LORD in Spirit and in Truth.

So sometimes, when I feel overwhelmed by “the Dark Side of the Force”—such as when I hear about an evil person killing schoolchildren or building nuclear weapons—I hear a gentle whisper.

When I feel overwhelmed by the Dark Side of power and money—such as rich people getting even richer by building prisons and weapons that imprison and kill poor people—I hear a gentle whisper.

I hear the Truth!

The Truth is that there are yet “seven thousand” who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

There are yet seven thousand who are devoting themselves to loving God with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their strength.

There are yet seven thousand who do not despise God—who do not devote their lives to obtaining power and money. (Matthew 6:24).

The Truth is that he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4).

The Truth is that God will heal his Promised Land, establishing a civilization that is good—that is very good. (Matthew 16:18; Revelation 21:1-22:5).

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I saw the final movie of the Star Wars saga—Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker—while I was thinking about what to say in this blog about Elijah overcoming his depression by realizing that he was not alone. A similar insight empowers characters near the end of the movie to overcome their despair and defeat the Dark Side of the Force!

To read more about ending injustices and establishing justice, please read my blogs “Establishing Justice: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance”, “Establishing Justice: Denial and Anger—Elijah”, and “Establishing Justice: Bargaining—Elijah”.

To read more about Elijah, please read my book Healing the Promised Land, at pages 213-233.

To read how Jesus empowers us to overcome sin, despair, hopeless confusion, fears, doubts, denials, and failures, please read “PART SEVEN: Jesus Resurrects Hope by Defeating Death” of my book Hoping in the LORD, at pages 295-333.

My books Hoping in the LORD and Lighting the World give an overview of the Gospels of Jesus and of the Acts of the Holy Spirit, encouraging us to live in the Way of Jesus as best friends who bless children, welcome sinners, wash each other’s feet, weep together, and laugh together.

The prayer “Lord, don’t give us lighter burdens. Give us stronger backs!” was a favorite of Pastor Morton Dorsey who was the Senior Pastor of the Houghton Wesleyan Church when I was a student at Houghton College.

If you suffer from bipolar (manic-depressive) symptoms, I urge you to tell a health care professional who will evaluate if you need treatment, including medications.