Introduction:
In today's I want to conclude our exploration of ministry burnout in the prophet Elijah's life that we looked at in the last post here Growing Christian Resources: Ministry Burnout In Action - Fear Drives And Leads To Burnout.
Review of the last post - fear drives and leads to burnout
We noted from the last post how fear can roll in like a fog in the midst of our fatigue and busyness. Fear spawns paranoia, which is terror of things from my past; doubt, which is an unsettledness of whatever God is doing in the present; and worry, which is uncertainty about what lies ahead with an attempt to take control.
Why do I say fear is at the root or fountain of burnout? We're afraid of no longer being successful. We're afraid no one else is with us. Fear of rejection. Fear of hurt. We're afraid God has somehow forgotten us. We're scared that what we've done for God will result in consequences that will hurt us or others dear to us.
Fear comes from the enemy of our souls (2 Timothy 1:7; 1 Peter 5:8) and from the frailty of our flesh operating in faith that has been strained to its utmost limits. Such fear can cause us to keep doing more, since fear of rejection or terror of what others may say clouds our vision of what God has for us at the present. What did God do to help him reverse its effects? As we continue on in the narrative of 1 Kings 19, we will discover what God did to help Elijah recover.
A recovery plan for ministry burnout
David P. Mann in an article "Preventing Burnout In Ministry - A Healthy and Wellness Approach" (ATJ 39:1, NA 2007) offers a definition of burnout from Merriam Webster's English Dictionary, "exhaustion of physical or emotional strength or motivation usually as a result of prolonged stress or frustration."
I call this experience "hitting the wall". In the marathons I've ran this concept describes burnout, where the body just feels like it cannot go another step. When running a marathon, the runner who "hits the wall" knows to hang on until the "second wind" comes. Unlike a physical marathon though, burnout "hitting the wall" requires us to stop, rest, and get refreshed. Notice what God did for the prophet Elijah when he hit his emotional and spiritual wall.
1. God slowed down Elijah to help him see he was fatigued.
We begin in 1 Kings 19:4,
"But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.” 5 He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him, “Arise, eat.” 6 Then he looked and behold, there was at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 The angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you.” 8 So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God."
When anyone serving in any ministry capacity is operating on burnout, they do not know how tired they are. God has a way of slowing us down, whether it be physical illness stemming from the exhaustion, sudden moments of depression, or the sense of loss of joy and purpose. God had to get this prophet to slow his pace.
It's not fun and not preferrable but it is needed. When you read of Jesus' earthly life and ministry, you never see Him burnout. Why? Our Lord knew when to rest! Was He busy? No one is more industrious in the Bible than Jesus. Yet, our Lord knew when to pull back. As the incarnate Son, He was aware of the physical and psychological limitations of His own humanity (see Hebrews 4:15; 5:7). Tiredness is not sinful! Our Lord never sinned (1 Peter 2:21-22).
If you and I expect to recover from burnout, we need to first come to the reality that we are fatigued. As fear drives and leads to burnout, fatigue meets us head on with the realization we cannot keep going at the pace we are. Fear and fatigue go hand-in-hand in burnout. God slowed Elijah down. Notice what else God does for our burned out prophet....
2. God spoke through His Word to Elijah.
We come to 1 Kings 19:9-10 "Then he came there to a cave and lodged there; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?' 10 He said, '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. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
In Elijah's day God revealed Himself and spoke audibly to prophets or appeared to them in what are called "Divine manifestations" or theophanies. Whenever we compare this episode to others throughout the Old Testament, it is likely the preincarnate Christ Himself addressed our weary prophet (compare 1 Samuel 3:7; John 1:1; John 1:14). The Lord appeared to Elijah to speak one-on-one with Him as the living Word, which equates for us today to how He speaks to us through the written Word, the Bible.
In those times I have experienced burnout, I have found myself slowed down and desperate before God. Like Elijah, not only am I tired and fatigued, but sometimes even frustrated. Frustration emerges when the goals of ministry and the reality of it do not align. I pray (sometimes shout out to Him). I then open my Bible and I begin to read, asking God to show me His truth and to grant me peace. He does (Philippians 4:6-7). God slowed down the prophet, then spoke through His Word. Notice thirdly what God does...
3. God sharpened Elijah's awareness of Him.
In what follows, God takes Elijah through an exercise to reattune Elijah to His presence in 1 Kings 19:11-14 "So He 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 in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 Then he said, “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. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
Notice what God does first. He cycles Elijah through a series of appearances for which Elijah would have known. Elijah's ministry was full of miracles and theophanies. He had grown accustomed to God communicating through the extraordinary. Yet the text tells us God was not to be discerned through those phenomena. Whenever we go through ministry burnout, God has to show us that our ministry and ourselves are going to be different from that point forward. God chose to use a comparatively more ordinary method of communication
So, what does God then do? He asks Elijah twice "what are you doing here?" God doesn't ask this question for His sake, since He is omniscient. He instead asks this for Elijah's sake. In other words, why did Elijah make a 100 mile trip down to a mountain? Was it to run away from Jezebel? Was it to escape? Was it to end his life?
Elijah has it out with God. He is frustrated. Elijah claims he is the only one left as a servant of God. Have you ever said something like that to God? Serving Him is beyond our natural strength, which is why we need Him at all times. God reminds Elijah that there is a 7,000 person remnant chosen of grace that have not yet bowed the knee to Baal. God has his people, among which Elijah is their foremost spokesmen.
Often in burnout, we think we're seeking answers for which we do not know the question. Yet we come to find out we're asking the wrong questions and need God to recalibrate us to His presence in our lives - which is what happens here in our text. When I am once again aware of God's hand on my life and ministry, I find I can face whatever the challenges are before me.
As we noted already, God speaks to Elijah in a still small voice, unlike the previous times and methods Elijah had known. Why did God do this? To get Elijah recalibrated, reattuned to the awareness to His presence. That's a feature of Jesus' earthly ministry that dominates the Gospels - He always was aware of the Father. In John 11:41-42, though grieving for His friend Lazarus, whom He knew would be raised from the dead by Him, Jesus prayed this prayer,
"So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, 'Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”
4. God sent Him on to His next mission.
We have witnessed the recovery process that God had Elijah experience to recover from his burnout. He slowed Elijah down. He spoke to Elijah through His Word. He sharpened Elijah's awareness of Him. These first three steps can take time. But then the time came for Elijah to be sent back out into the field. Notice 1 Kings 19:15-17 "The Lord said to him, 'Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you have arrived, you shall anoint Hazael king over Aram; 16 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. 17 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. 18 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.”
God had a new mission for Elijah, to go anoint his successor and to anoint a new king for the Northern Kingdom of Israel. What was interesting about this mission was that although he would anoint his successor Elisha at the end of the chapter, it would be Elisha, not Elijah who would anoint the next king, Jehu. The mission was to extend beyond Elijah, even though it would include Elijah's influence on his young protege Elisha.
When God takes us through the recovery process from burnout, He will reinvigorate us to execute a new mission in our current field (as he did with Elijah, having him go back to the place where his ministry turned difficult). God may too move us onto a new mission in a new field. Either way, God's healing process on Elijah refilled him to go forth on the journey.
Final thoughts: Its worth serving the Lord, no matter the hardships
Months would pass by before we find God addressing Elijah once again in 1 Kings 21:17. Elijah would confront wicked King Ahab and then in 2 Kings 2, God would tell Elijah to get his house in order, for He was to soon be taken into Heaven in a chariot. Elijah's primary focus turned from reformation to that of mentoring his protege Elisha to take up his mantle of ministry. Thankfully, Elijah's legacy would last way beyond what we read of him in 1 Kings 17-2 Kings 2.
God took this burned-out prophet through a season of recovery. At the end of the Old Testament, centuries after God took Elijah in a fiery chariot, we find God predicting the forthcoming Messiah, with the Messiah's forerunner operating in an "Elijah-like pattern". Jesus through out His ministry would compare John the Baptist to Elijah (Matthew 17:10-12). The Apostle James in his epistle says this of Elijah in James 5:17-18 "Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit."
Elijah wasn't perfect. He was finite as we all are. Yet the Lord's plans for him and his ministry went way beyond the man. The ministry always exceeds the man, with God in turn exceeding the ministry. Elijah would with Moses (who by the way also was verging burnout - Exodus 16) appear with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration (see Matthew 17:3; Mark 9:4). It's likely that Moses and Elijah will be the two witnesses we read of in Revelation 11 that will appear as a sign of judgment on the future world and antichrist. My point is this: its worth serving the Lord - keep the long-range goal in mind and do not get sidetracked by current frustrations, for God isn;t done with you yet! He can use us even when we do experience burnout. I close this series with Paul's words from 1 Corinthians 15:58 "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."
