Get some sleep

And that brings us to the story that we looked at last Sunday - from 1 Kings 19:1-18.

We might think that Elijah's faith etc would be at record high levels following the events of Mount Carmel, which we looked at yesterday. But a threat on his life from Queen Jezebel - which was quite a credible threat - she had killed a lot of other faithful prophets - fills Elijah with fear and sends him running for his life.

There is no direct comment on whether this was a good decision or a bad decision, although towards the end of the story God sends him back the way he had come. But it certainly leads to a low point in Elijah's emotional life, even to the point where he curls up under a tree and prays that he will die.

Elijah was emotionally low, he was tired, he was hungry, he was rapidly coming down off a spiritual high...perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that Elijah made a poor decision. We are whole people - we are emotional, physical, mental, spiritual - and however we might want to, we can't compartmentalise our lives. Each bit of us affects all the other bits.

Sometimes we might, for example, see spiritual attack, where actually there is nothing of the sort - actually what we need is a good night's sleep and a decent healthy meal. And at times we are our own worst enemies - we don't look after our physical bodies, we don't get enough sleep or exercise and we eat too much saturated fat and processed food - and we wonder why we're down, or grumpy, or say things that we later regret...

And once we're feeling down it is very easy to get things out of perspectives. The negatives in life become huge, and the positives almost disappear. Elijah knew from his conversation with Obediah in chapter 18 that there were other prophets alive, that he was not the only one left, but in his low state Elijah has allowed things to get out of perspective, and he has sent his servant away - maybe the one person who could bring a bit of balance and perspective to the situation.

But God in his grace meets Elijah and we'll think about that tomorrow.