Ever Want to Quit?

Do you ever “wanna quit?”  I mean really want to run away and hide in a cave somewhere? 

Elijah did.  More about him in a minute.

Sometimes we all do.  Today’s wisdom is not as whimsical as sometimes. But I believe there is hope, depth, and beauty in the contrast caused by shadows in the pastures of our lives.

Lately, I have felt like quitting.  I suffer from a chronic dis-ease of the mind I call “the comparison disease”  Comparing myself with others leaves me feeling bleak. fearful, and powerless. And before you quickly get annoyed with me, may I suggest that all of us do this?  Whether comparing ourselves with others leaves us feeling inferior or superior is equally damaging to the spirit.  Both are slippery slopes. Both states of mind are simply perceptions. 

At such times we need a spiritual make-over.  And I wish it were as easy as going to a salon. It is quite the opposite.  Spiritual change or transformation is an inside-out process….. like a spring cleaning. 

Whatever it is we want to quit or run from is an inside-out perception.  It is how we “see” things. And what we see is our reality. . .  but not necessarily truth! 

We do not see with our eyes.  We see through our eyes.  

Our eyes do not actually do the seeing.They can only see what is perceived by the “I” that sees through them.  Our eyes are instruments only.  

Wanting to quit something is an inside-out matter.

So who was Elijah? 

Elijah was a passionate, bold, fiery prophet in early biblical history that fought valiantly against the idolatries of his day.  He believed whole heartedly in the one true God and was deeply angry and disturbed by the trend of his time of worshiping a material god, a man-made golden calf. 

After successfully proving the inability of their man-made god to help the condition of their life experience and the power of the one God to do so,  he suddenly went through a severe bout of discouragement.  

As bold as he had been for God he became afraid of the backlash.  Rather than continuing to put his faith in God he ran away.   

Angry, fearful, and exhausted, Elijah laid down under a broom tree (a sort of brush) and essentially said, “I quit. I have had it. I have been faithful and for what? They want to kill me.  I may as well just die. ” (My liberal paraphrase).

That is when things get interesting and helpful for all of us. . .

God did not scold him or condemn him.  He fed him. Elijah was completely depleted. He needed physical restoration first of all. An angel woke him up and gave him food and water.  Elijah ate and drank and went back to sleep.  Later the angel woke him up again and gave him more food and drink, and tenderly said, “You need this for strength.”

Elijah spent forty days heading for the mountain where he was to discover what God wanted to tell him.  The story tells us that he looked for God in the wind. No luck. Then he experienced an earth quake.  No luck there either.  Then a huge fire burned and crackled.  He could not find God there either. God could not be heard in the drama.

Elijah had been used to and often used drama and battle.  That is what he knew best. 

I think the wind, earthquake, and fire are metaphors for the drama of the mind … our most dangerous battle ground of all. 

Then it happened.  

There was a whisper.  And “God was in the whisper.”  God gave him instructions of what to do and provided for him a helper, one whom he mentored…Elisha.  Elisha had a complementary temperament and made for a good companion and successor.

If you too are facing a period of discouragement I invite you to join our wise voice of Solomon who suggests we notice three things that Elijah experienced and how that can help us:

1. God showed compassion and gently nurtured Elijah back to physical renewal… food, water, and sleep.

2. Elijah heard God in the whisper of his own heart rather than the drama of his mind.

3. He was never alone.  Ever. 

Solomon and I are remembering the Shepherd assures us we are never alone. 

And just like Elijah, we can say with confidence:

“He Restores My Soul.”

PS… You can read about Elijah in I Kings around the 19th chapter….