From His Heart

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Depression comes when we are mentally beaten down. See, the devil moves in when life starts to engulf you. He comes at you when everything is going terrible, and he starts to pump out the lies. God doesn't love you, God doesn't listen to you, God doesn't care about you, your deliverance is not going to come. You might as well curse God and die.

And we have to recognize those lies and reject those lies and remember and reassure ourselves with the truth.

Guest (Male): Depression can come upon anyone, even a powerful Old Testament prophet like Elijah. You say, what were his circumstances that sent him into a downward spiral? I mean, God had just given him a great victory upon the mountain top, but as we all know, we don't get to stay on the mountain top. You have to come down at some point.

And when Elijah came down, he came down hard. Well, what can we learn about depression from the life of Elijah? You'll discover that answer today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve with the message called "In the Cave of Depression." We'll be in part two today, and it's from the eight-lesson series, "Holy Boldness: Lessons from Elijah, the Prophet of Fire."

This series is also our gift of thanks to you for your support this month to From His Heart of any amount. You can find out more at fromhisheart.org. Right now, if you can, open your Bible to the book of First Kings, chapter 19. Let's hear part two of the lesson that'll help you escape the cave of depression.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: What do we learn about depression from the life of Elijah? Four lessons that I want to share with you today. Lesson number one, depression often comes when we're physically worn out. Physically, emotionally, just spent, just worn out, just wrung out. That describes Elijah.

You say, what were his debilitating circumstances? I mean, he just won a great victory on Mount Carmel, and God showed up and showed out on Mount Carmel. And Elijah should just be singing the Hallelujah Chorus. There shouldn't be any room for depression.

But so often when you're on a mountain top experience, you know you can't stay on the mountain top. And when Elijah came down, he came down hard. He came down with a thud. See, he thought that what happened on Mount Carmel was going to bring about a great revival in Israel, that it was going to change Ahab, that it was going to change his wicked wife Jezebel.

But he found that that wasn't the case. Once she found out he killed all the prophets with the sword, she said, "I'm going to kill you." It didn't matter to her that God had showed who was God, and Baal has no power, and Baal is a nothing, and the Lord, He is God, the Lord, He is God. That didn't matter to her.

She said, "I'm going to kill you, Elijah." So what did Elijah do? If you go back to that, he went from Jezreel all the way down to Beersheba. That's the southern part of Judah. You say, how far is that? That's 105 miles to get to Beersheba. And then he went a day's journey from that, which is 15 miles.

And then from there, that's where he was under the juniper tree, and he asked to die. And then from there, he's going to end up going to Mount Sinai or Mount Horeb, the mountain of God. And that is another 200 and something miles, 263 miles. So in total, he has traveled 398 miles on foot in a very short period of time.

I think it's safe to say he's exhausted. He's totally exhausted. He's in the cave of depression, and he is totally physically exhausted. Tired as can be, running for his life. The Lord comes to him, and what does He do? Does He give him a Bible study? No, He ministers to his physical needs.

He says, "You're worn out," and He gave him sleep under the juniper tree. And then He woke him up to feed him. It says the angel of the Lord, which is anytime you read about the angel of the Lord, that's a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus came to him, and He fed him.

And He gave him bread cake baked on hot coals and a jar of water. And He fed him twice. So He lets him sleep, wakes him up, time to eat, he eats. He lets him go to sleep again, wakes him up, time to eat again. And now you can take your journey to the mountain of God.

What's the first thing that we need to look at when we start feeling down and discouraged and depressed and overwhelmed? Check your physical well-being. Go to the doctor, see if there's something wrong with you, something off with you. Check your sleep schedule, check your diet. Make them check your chemical balance.

All that stuff is important because if you're off physically, you're going to have difficulty getting a grip on the negative circumstances in your life that are causing you to feel so down and so depressed and so discouraged. Listen, we don't need in our struggles with discouragement that can lead to depression, we don't need to blow off the physical and say, well, that's not a very spiritual thing.

I need to just focus on spiritual things. Well, you do need to focus on spiritual things, but the very first thing that the Lord does is He deals with the physical. Second lesson that we learn from Elijah and his depression: depression not only does it often come when we're physically worn out, but it often comes when we are spiritually fouled up.

That's what happened to Elijah. And Elijah, the great man of faith, the great man of prayer, the great man of God, he's spiritually messed up right now. See, because he had been living his life listening to God, walking with God, focused on God. But now he is filled with not faith, he's filled with fear.

Jezebel told him she was going to kill him, and he took his eyes off Jehovah and put his eyes on Jezebel, and he was filled with fear and he began to run. And he ran as far as he could get from Jezreel. And the Lord asks him twice, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

Now, I want us to think about three questions from the Lord's dealing there with Elijah and ask ourselves these questions. First of all, are you found in the wrong place? When you're down and discouraged and depression is setting in, the very first question: are you in the wrong place?

Is the Lord saying to you, what are you doing here? Why are you so far away? You, as Elijah, you've traveled hundreds of miles outside of where I wanted you to be. What are you doing here, Elijah? Are you found in the wrong place? Second question, are you focused on the wrong thing?

Focused on the wrong thing. Elijah had been focused on God, but now he wasn't focused on God. He wasn't focused on Jehovah. He's focused on Jezebel. And all he could see was Jezebel's trying to kill me, Jezebel's trying to kill me, Jezebel's trying to kill me. She was a wicked, wicked woman, and she had lots of power.

She was really the power behind the throne. Ahab was a weak leader, and she was the one that ran things. Are you focused on the wrong thing? God gives Elijah an object lesson. Actually gives him several. He said, go to the mouth of the cave, and I'm going to show you some things.

And what does He do? He comes by with wind, a very strong wind that's blowing the rocks apart. But the Lord wasn't in the wind. And then He brings an earthquake that shakes the earth, but the Lord wasn't in the earthquake. And then fire, but the Lord wasn't in the fire.

But then He comes, a still small voice, the sound of a gentle blowing. And that's where the Lord was. I've been praying about that, saying, Lord, what is the significance of that? And I'm not 100 percent sure I know what the significance of that means other than this: Elijah was the prophet who saw big things from God. Fire come down.

I mean, God doing just amazing things with the elements. But now the Lord's saying, listen, I'm over those big things, the wind and the fire and the earthquake, but you're kind of the prophet of thunder. And He said, you need to know that I'm also a gentle savior, and I speak and I deal with people gently.

That song says He shall lead His flock like a shepherd, He shall gather the lambs in His arms and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those who are with young. Aren't you glad the Lord is gentle with us? Man, if Elijah had been God, Elijah would have killed Elijah.

He would have answered Elijah's prayer just like that. Aren't you glad that you're not God, I'm not God, Elijah's not God? The Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God. And the Lord is gentle with us. And so He says to Elijah, "Are you focused on the wrong thing?"

You're looking at all this, you're just focused on this that's producing fear. You need to get your eyes on Me. You need to remember what Jehoshaphat said, King Jehoshaphat, who heard that the three armies were coming against him and they had soldiers like the sand of the sea and you're outnumbered, what are you going to do, Jehoshaphat?

He prayed to the Lord. He said, "Lord, we don't know what to do. Lord, we are powerless against this great army that's coming against us, and we don't know what to do, but our eyes are on You." And when you put your eyes on the Lord, He changes everything.

Are you in the wrong place? Are you focused on the wrong thing? And are you filled with the wrong song, with the wrong refrain? Now, God asks Elijah twice, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He gives him the display in between the two questions with the wind and the earthquake and the fire and the still small voice.

And then He asks him again, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" And Elijah gives the same answer, exactly verbatim. "I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. Well, all that's true."

"And I alone am left. That not, that's not true. And they seek my life to take it away." He's basically saying, Lord, the situation is hopeless. I tried, but I failed. It is enough now, O Lord, I'm no better than my fathers, just take my life. And he's singing a sad song.

You ever had a sad song stuck in your head? You ever walked around singing with Louis Armstrong, "Nobody knows the troubles I've seen, nobody knows my sorrow"? I mean, you're just down, down, down-dooby-down-down. I mean, you're just really down there. And you're singing the blues. You need to get a new song.

Guest (Male): We'll continue to explore this truth with Pastor Jeff Schreve when he returns in just a moment. But first, you're listening to the message "The Cave of Depression." It's a message from Pastor Jeff's "Holy Boldness" series, "Lessons from Elijah, the Prophet of Fire."

And as Pastor Jeff just said, taking our eyes off of our own woes and onto the struggles of others is one way to find the guiding light out of the cave of depression. And you know ultimately as we fully grasp the peace and joy that there is for the person walking with God, we will naturally focus on having a life that shines for Jesus.

And one way to do that is to step out in faith and be like Elijah with holy boldness. Today's message, part two of the lesson "The Cave of Depression," is one of eight in the "Holy Boldness" series, a resource for you for a gift to From His Heart of any amount this month.

And also with that gift, we'd like to send you the booklet "Unveiling the Mystery of Prayer." These powerful resources are our special thank you gift for your support of any amount. And just in case you didn't know, the monthly support of our listeners allows us to be here each and every day sharing the heart of God with you, your city, and the world.

Pastor Jeff is our chief volunteer, receives no income from this ministry. To make your gift today, call 866-40-BIBLE, 866-40-BIBLE, or go to fromhisheart.org and request the series in the format of your choice.

God bless you for having the vision to join with us in this impactful outreach into your hometown and around the world. Now, the conclusion to the lesson "The Cave of Depression."

Dr. Jeff Schreve: What do we do when all this stuff comes against us? And see, it's not so much that what he said is false, obviously he's not the only one, it's his whole perspective is so skewed because he's focused on Jezebel, he's not focused on Jehovah. So his refrain is faithless, it's not faithful, and he's lost sight of God.

You know, when that happens, you can get really discouraged and you can get depressed. And so what Debbie and I did to fight the depression was we just began to play praise music in our house. And we played it 24 hours a day. At nighttime we'd just kind of turn it down low, but it was always on.

Why? What's the point of that? The devil hates praise. God inhabits the praises of His people. And when you hear praise music, it lifts your heart, it lifts your soul, it lifts your spirit, and you start to say, you know what, that is true, God is able in this situation.

I don't need to keep fearing, I don't need to keep despairing. It's like when the Psalmist had a little discussion with his soul in Psalm 42, and he basically grabbed his soul by the scruff of the neck and he said, listen here soul, why are you in despair, O my soul, and why have you become disturbed within me?

Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God. You can do that with your soul. And you can begin to praise the Lord. The Bible says I will hope continually and praise You yet more and more. Depression comes when we get spiritually fouled up. In the wrong place, focused on the wrong thing, filled with the wrong song.

Lesson number three, depression comes when we are mentally beaten down. That's where Elijah was. That's why his song was the same in verse 10 and verse 14, exactly the same. He said to the Lord, "I've been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it away."

He says it's hopeless. And you might be thinking in your situation it's hopeless. My marriage is hopeless, my job situation is hopeless, my health situation is hopeless, my financial situation is hopeless. I'm hopeless when it comes to this spiritual issue in my life, this thing that's eating my lunch, this sin that I can't get victory over, it's just hopeless.

Romans chapter 15, verse 13. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. It's not hopeless. Why? Because God is God, that's why. Because God can do anything, that's why.

Because God is still the God of might and miracle. Depression comes when we're mentally beaten down. So this is what you and I have to do: we must recognize and reject the lies. See, the devil moves in when life starts to engulf you. He's a liar and the father of lies.

He comes to steal and kill and destroy. And so when you are down and discouraged, see, here's how the devil works: if you are drowning, he will come and pat your head. That's the devil. So he comes at you when everything is going terrible, and he starts to pump out the lies.

God doesn't love you, God doesn't listen to you, God doesn't care about you, your deliverance is not going to come. You might as well curse God and die. And we have to recognize those lies and reject those lies and remember and reassure ourselves with the truth.

How do I recognize the lies? By spending time in the book. Jesus said in His great high priestly prayer, John 17:17, said to His Father, "Your word is truth. Sanctify them in truth, His disciples in truth. Your word is truth." And so the way we can spot the lies and recognize the lies and reject the lies is by filling our hearts with the truth.

God is still on His throne, God still loves you, God's still at work. God still knows how to part the Red Sea. God is still able. Even in the worst of situations, He is still able. Depression comes when we're mentally beaten down.

And then lesson number four, depression comes when we are practically stuck in neutral. What's Elijah doing? Nothing. Sitting in a cave, lodging in a cave, doing nothing. And the Lord has to get him off the snide, He has to get him out of neutral and put him to work.

Verse 15: And the Lord said to him, "Go." That's what He said to him in verse 11, "Go forth and stand on the mount." Now He tells him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael king over Aram, and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place."

"And it shall come about the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death, and 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."

I alone am left. Uh-uh, there's 7,000 that hadn't bowed the knee to Baal. There's 7,000 that haven't kissed him and given their allegiance to Baal. You're not the only one, Elijah. But God gives him something to do. He's got to leave the cave. He draws him out of the cave with the sound of a gentle blowing, with the still small voice, and then He says go.

Go and anoint Hazael, and anoint Jehu, and find Elisha. And he's going to be your mentee, you're going to be his mentor, and he's going to be the prophet in your place. Although the Lord didn't tell him this, but when He called him up to heaven. God gave him an assignment.

You know one of the big problems with depression, discouragement, depression, despair, all that stuff, it becomes very inward-focused. It's all about me. That's why "Nobody knows the troubles I've seen, nobody knows my sorrow." It's all about me and how bad it is for me and how everybody's down on me and nothing ever happens right for me and God doesn't answer my prayer.

It's all focused on me. And the Lord says, "Hey Elijah, you've got to start thinking about other people. There are things for you to do." So what do we do when we're stuck in neutral? And this is hard to do because as I was talking to a friend just the other day, he said, "You know, I'm struggling with depression."

And he said, "It's hard when you're depressed, it's hard to get out of bed. It's hard to do anything." So if the Lord says go, you're like, "I can't even go to the bathroom. I mean, I'm not wanting to go anywhere." You have to push through that. You have to get your mind off yourself and onto other people.

Karl Menninger, the great psychiatrist of some decades ago, was asked at a conference in the Q&A time. They said, "Dr. Menninger, what would you say to someone who told you that they were on the verge of a nervous breakdown?" And they thought, well surely he's going to say go see a psychiatrist.

But that's not what Menninger said. Menninger said this. He said, "If I were to talk to someone who was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, this is what I'd tell them to do. Number one, leave your house and lock the door. Number two, go across the railroad tracks, find someone in need, and do what you can to help them."

See, there's something about getting out of your house and getting into the sunlight and finding someone in worse shape than you are and helping them that will do wonders for your own heart. God led Elijah out of the cave, and God can lead you out too. And it starts by taking a simple step of faith.

Guest (Male): What an encouraging message today called "The Cave of Depression" from Pastor Jeff Schreve's series "Holy Boldness: Lessons from Elijah, the Prophet of Fire." And as Pastor Jeff has just said, taking our eyes off of our own woes and onto the struggles of others is one way to find the guiding light out of the cave of depression.

And you know ultimately as we fully grasp the peace and joy that there is for the person walking with God, we will naturally focus on having a life that shines for Jesus. And one way to do that is to step out in faith and be like Elijah, living with holy boldness.

Today's message, "The Cave of Depression," is one of eight in Pastor Jeff's series called "Holy Boldness." And that series, along with the booklet "Unveiling the Mystery of Prayer," are our special thank you gifts for your support this month of any amount.

And just in case you didn't know this, the monthly support of our listeners allows us to be here each and every day sharing the heart of God with you, your city, and the world. Call 866-40-BIBLE to get your copies, 866-40-BIBLE, or go to fromhisheart.org.

The series is available on CDs, DVDs, and MP3 download, or on a USB flash drive. You pick. God bless you for having the vision to join us in this impactful outreach into your hometown and around the world. I'm Larry Nobles, hoping you'll be able to be here next time for the next lesson in Pastor Jeff's "Holy Boldness" series.

That's when we'll again open up God's word and share real truth through real love and real hope from his heart.