Feb. 17, 2004

[Kidan]

Quote[/b] ]Arise and eat
—1 Kings 19:5

Quote[/b] ]The angel in this passage did not give Elijah a vision, or explain the Scriptures to him, or do anything remarkable. He simply told Elijah to do a very ordinary thing, that is, to get up and eat. If we were never depressed, we would not be alive—only material things don’t suffer depression. If human beings were not capable of depression, we would have no capacity for happiness and exaltation. There are things in life that are designed to depress us; for example, things that are associated with death. Whenever you examine yourself, always take into account your capacity for depression.

When the Spirit of God comes to us, He does not give us glorious visions, but He tells us to do the most ordinary things imaginable. Depression tends to turn us away from the everyday things of God’s creation. But whenever God steps in, His inspiration is to do the most natural, simple things-things we would never have imagined God was in, but as we do them we find Him there. The inspiration that comes to us in this way is an initiative against depression. But we must take the first step and do it in the inspiration of God. If, however, we do something simply to overcome our depression, we will only deepen it. But when the Spirit of God leads us instinctively to do something, the moment we do it the depression is gone. As soon as we arise and obey, we enter a higher plane of life.

 

[Kidan]

hmm...to me, this is a dangerous devotional.  Why yes, for some depressions, just getting up and start moving again, will help it.  But there are others, caused by serious chemical imbalances, that just getting up an moving wont help.  

In these scriptures we have Elijah feeling bad over things that had happened. It had slapped him, in the face, that he realized that even as a Prophet of God, he was no better, and subject to the same human whims as the rest of Isreal.

This is the important lesson in this story.

For no matter how important we think we are in the overall scheme of thinsg, we are simply human.  We can and will make the same mistakes as the rest of our race.  Likewise when we do make these silly, stupid mistakes, we should not go and hide awaiting death.  Rather we should actively strive to hear Gods still small voice, and not forsake our daily routine.

Is this you today?  Are you being weighed down by the guilt of your mistakes?  If so, seek God's small still voice.  It will be there, telling you that everything's ok, and to let Him carry the Load.

 

[amorphus88]

"You know the real meaning of peace only if you have been through the war."
- Kosovar

The small section pertaining to our nature to be depressed once in awhile can have a devotional completely centered around that - the fact that our lives cannot be worth something without us having anything to gauge it against, and that we can't know emotion fully until we experience both ranges.

This devotional's message, taken in context with the book thus far, would be more or less to resume normal activity with God - pray and live as normal, and let God work in you Himself. We are told to do simple, ordinary things, but it leads to extraordinary results - God can, and will magnify any small good we have.