Text: 1 Kings 19:1-18

Title: When You feel lonely

Introduction:
Bilang leader may mga pagkakataon na nag en encourage ka ng ibang tao pero ikaw na nang e
encourage mas malaki pa problema mo. Kala May mga pagkakataon s buhay natin that we are victorious
by many problems in life, pero minsan nagtagumpay n tayo meron nanaman kasunod na haharapin at
minsan mas mahirap pa sa na unang problema. Ito ang buhay ng pagiging lingkod ng Diyos, di laging
masaya, di laging puro ginhawa. Yan po ang pag uusapan natin sa uumagng ito. The days of Elijah as a
servant of God as he face depression into his life. Depression is the common cold of our emotions.
Eventually it touches everyone even God’s people.
What makes Elijah feel lonely and depressed?
The first is fear (1 Kings 19:3). Elijah, frightened by the threats of Jezebel, runs for his life. Fear is almost
always a factor in depression. Many times, like Elijah, we become afraid of failure, of loneliness, of not
getting a job completed, of not making it through school, of not having our marriage go the way we’d like.

Second, failure (1 Kings 19:4). Elijah held a negative opinion about himself. He felt he was no more
successful in checking the nation’s apostasy than the prophets who had gone before him. It’s easy to think:
“I’m no good. I’m incompetent. God made a mistake when He made me.”

Third, fatigue (1 Kings 19:5). Elijah was emotionally drained and physically exhausted. Mountain tops can
leave us that way. He needed rest and relaxation. Depression is always related to or reflected in our
physical condition.

Fourth, futility (1 Kings 19:10). Elijah said, “I am the only one left and now they are out to get me.” He feels
alone, hopeless and has negative expectations about the future. Elijah is paranoid. He thinks everybody is
out to get him.

Prepositional Sentence:
We all can feel loneliness and encounter depression as Christians.
Interrogative Sentence:
Have you ever felt like Elijah? Perhaps you are feeling like him right now: afraid, alone, exhausted, burned-
out, and hopeless. Maybe you are singing the blues. If so, you are a good candidate for the juniper tree.
Transitional Sentence:
I want you to see what helped Elijah climb out of the valley of despair and go on to a lifetime of useful
service. It can help you too. Through the experience of Elijah, God gives us some divine principles for
dealing with depression.
Main Points:
I. Start thinking (vv. 4-9)
The first thing that helped Elijah was to take time off so he could get physically and emotionally
rejuvenated. He had been so busy taking care of the needs of the nations that he had neglected his own
needs.

When we use up our physical energy we become exhausted. When we use all of our emotional energy, we
become depressed. We must therefore find some way periodically to replace the emotional and physical
energy that life and work drain from us. If we do not, we will experience burn-out and depression.

Elijah needed rest, food, and relaxation. He needed to get away from the people and pressures that were
getting to him. So do we occasionally.

There is often a close relationship between our physical and emotional state. Our body and our soul live so
close to one another that they tend to catch each other’s diseases. If we are down emotionally, it affects the
way we feel physically. If we get sick physically, it affects our emotions.

Keeping healthy in general — getting enough of the right kind of food, enough sleep, and sufficient exercise
— while no guarantee against depression, may help to prevent it and will certainly keep the body in a better
state to deal with it.

If you are depressed, first get a good physical check-up; have a medical examination to see if there is
anything physically or chemically wrong with you. If everything is alright physically, take some time off to let
your body and soul catch up with one another.

But we all need to live balanced lives. We need a rhythm between work and rest. If we don’t find it we will
become either a basket case or a casket case. Jesus recognized this and said to His disciples, “Come ye
apart and rest awhile.” The fact is, we must either come apart or fly to pieces.
II. Start talking (vv. 10-14)
Second, Elijah talked through his frustrations. While he sat in a cave feeling sorry for himself, God asked,
“What doest thou here, Elijah?”
Have you noticed in scripture that God is always asking questions for which He already knows the
answers? He asked Adam, “Adam, where art thou?” God knew where Adam was. He asked Cain, “Where
is thy brother Abel?” God knew that Abel was already dead. He asked Moses, “Moses, what is that in your
hand?” God knew that Moses had a staff in his hand. Here he asks, “Elijah, what doest thou here?” God
knew what Elijah was doing there. He helped him get there.

Why, then, did God ask Elijah this question? To give him an opportunity to talk, to vent his frustrations.
Then God listened non-judgmentally as Elijah poured out his feelings of anger, bitterness and self-pity.

We all have such feelings at times; unless we rid ourselves of them they will poison us emotionally. There
are some health-giving emotions like love, faith, hope. But there are also some destructive emotions. Fear,
anger, worry, bitterness, hatred, jealousy, and self-pity are slow killers. We must find some way to
rid ourselves of these destructive feelings.

Tears are another way. Depressed people tend to cry a lot anyway. That is good. Tears are a God-given
means of release. I hope you never lose your ability to cry. Someone has said that the answer to all of
man’s emotional problems is salt water: sweat, tears, or the ocean. There is some truth there.
Talking is perhaps the most effective way to rid ourselves of harmful emotions. When we talk it is like
pulling the plug out of the bathtub. All sorts of bad feelings are drained from us. Everyone needs someone
in whom he can confide without fear of condemnation.

Depressed people often feel like that. They have problems because they pay more attention to negative
events than to positive ones, focus on immediate rather than the long-term consequences of behavior, are
overly hard on themselves, attribute success to outside forces and failure to their own lacks, and in general
reward themselves too little and punish themselves too much.
III. Start Working (vv. 15-19)
Elijah thought he was more important than he really was. He thought everything depended on him. We
sometimes feel the same way. Listen, if God’s work depends solely on you and me, God is in serious
trouble.
Keep life in perspective. We can’t take God’s work too seriously, but we sure can take ourselves too
seriously. None of us is indispensible. The workmen die but the work goes on.
First, God reveals Himself to Elijah in a new and fresh way. He sent a tremendous wind, a cyclone, that
ripped through the mountain. But God was not in the wind. Then God sent an earthquake that shook the
whole mountain; but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, He sent fire and lightning,
but God was not in the fire.

Then there came a still small voice through which God spoke to Elijah. The Hebrew expression “still small
voice” literally means “a voice of low whispers, a sound of gentle stillness.”

With us, as with Elijah, the best way to quit feeling sorry for ourselves is to start feeling compassion for
somebody else.
Don’t sit around in isolation. Don’t get all wrapped up in yourself. Don’t have your own pity party for too
long. Get up and get back in the mainstream of life working for God and His kingdom. In helping others we
help ourselves.

By these means Elijah whipped his depression and went on to the lifetime of useful service. In fact, he
ultimately closed out his ministry in a blaze of glory as God swept down on him and carried him into heaven
in a whirlwind and a chariot of fire. Thank God we can do the same.

Conclusion:
When you feel lonely Start thinking things that causes your loneliness, start talking to release your
loneliness and start working again to where God called you to do.