Today’s devotion reminds us that a great victory can sometimes be followed by deep despair. Elijah was overwhelmed by feelings of fear and hopelessness. Depression and fear can cause someone to believe they want things they actually do not.

Bible Reading of the day
AM – 1 Kings 19,20
PM – John 2

𝕿𝖎𝖙𝖑𝖊: 𝕴𝖙 𝖎𝖘 𝕰𝖓𝖔𝖚𝖌𝖍!
𝟏 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝟏𝟗:𝟓 𝐊𝐉𝐕
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 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆; 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔.

Elijah, a courageous prophet, has faithfully followed God’s commands. Now, he confronts his most severe challenge. In verse 1, the text states, “𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒉𝒂𝒃 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝑱𝒆𝒛𝒆𝒃𝒆𝒍 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑬𝒍𝒊𝒋𝒂𝒉 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒍 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅.” Ahab reports the events on Mount Carmel to the wicked queen, learning that all her prophets are dead and that Elijah is responsible. She is made aware of all Elijah’s actions.

Jezebel’s wickedness grew worse, ignoring God’s judgment on her false prophets and gods. She saw Elijah’s actions as personal, vowing to kill him within a day. 🅶🆁🅴🅰️🆃 🆅🅸🅲🆃🅾️🆁🅸🅴🆂 🅲🅰️🅽 🅻🅴🅰️🅳 🆃🅾️ 🅶🆁🅴🅰️🆃 🅳🅴🆂🅿️🅰️🅸🆁, 🅰️🅽🅳 🅴🅻🅸🅹🅰️🅷 🅵🅻🅴🅳 🅵🅾️🆁 🅷🅸🆂 🅻🅸🅵🅴. For the first time, he acted without God’s guidance, overwhelmed by fear and hopelessness. He forgot God’s past deeds and sank into depression, wishing to die.

🅓🅔🅟🅡🅔🅢🅢🅘🅞🅝 🅐🅝🅓 🅕🅔🅐🅡 🅒🅐🅝 🅛🅔🅐🅓 🅢🅞🅜🅔🅞🅝🅔 🅣🅞 🅑🅔🅛🅘🅔🅥🅔 🅣🅗🅔🅨 🅓🅔🅢🅘🅡🅔 🅢🅞🅜🅔🅣🅗🅘🅝🅖 🅣🅗🅔🅨 🅐🅒🅣🅤🅐🅛🅛🅨 🅓🅞 🅝🅞🅣 🅦🅐🅝🅣. He fled because a death threat was made. If he truly wanted to die, he could have just stayed in town, and Jezebel would have handled it. Most people face fears and depression at times. Like Elijah, we sometimes forget that God is always with us. Elijah missed that God was with him at the Juniper tree and also at Mount Carmel.

Much like Elijah, we often forget God’s past blessings. He was sustained by ravens; the flour and oil jars never emptied; the widow’s son was revived; he saw God’s face at Carmel; rains came from God for Israel; he even outran a king’s chariot on foot. Like Elijah, our strength in the Lord can be immense, yet our own weakness remains apparent.

𝕲𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖙 𝖆𝖈𝖍𝖎𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖒𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖘 𝖆𝖗𝖊 𝖕𝖔𝖘𝖘𝖎𝖇𝖑𝖊 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝕲𝖔𝖉’𝖘 𝖈𝖍𝖎𝖑𝖉𝖗𝖊𝖓 𝖜𝖍𝖔 𝖘𝖊𝖗𝖛𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖗𝖔𝖚𝖌𝖍 𝕳𝖎𝖘 𝖕𝖔𝖜𝖊𝖗 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖘𝖙𝖗𝖊𝖓𝖌𝖙𝖍. Conversely, relying solely on our own strength, fear, and depression can arise when God’s people make decisions without His guidance. When we depend on our own methods instead of the Lord’s leadership, the outcome often worsens, causing us to falsely believe ‘𝕴𝖙 𝖎𝖘 𝖊𝖓𝖔𝖚𝖌𝖍.’

Remember, God is always close to those who are feeling depressed and hurting. The angel of the Lord came to provide Elijah with both physical and spiritual strength.