A Biblical Exploration of Mental Health: Elijah

 The second in a series by Tom Fairman

Elijah

One day at school, a certain pupil was not in my lesson. It was not an uncommon occurrence; they had a few days off here and there, but nothing that raised attention. They were in their final year of school, looking forward to university, although there was a difference of opinion between themselves and their parents regarding the location of the university. However this did not affect the quality of their work or their application in lessons. They had a good group of friends around them and invariably seemed to be enjoying life.

On this particular day, one of their friends came up to me after the lesson and told me the reason that their friend was not in was because they had tried to commit suicide the day before. They asked if there was anything we could do. They said the times their friend had been away before were due to similar reasons if not as serious. Fortunately, their suicide attempt was not successful and the school was able to respond. After counselling and intervention in school, my student was able to complete the year and attend the university of their choice.

Elijah is considered to be one of the most important and holy characters in the Old Testament, being a crucial figure for both Jews and Christians. This is shown in the nature of his assumption into heaven, where he did not suffer death but was taken bodily into heaven on a fiery chariot as Elisha, his student, watched on. He is so important in Judaism that during the transfiguration on the mountain top, hundreds of years later, he was seen by Peter, James and John speaking with Jesus, along with another inspirational figure, Moses (Matthew 17:1-8). He is a pillar of the faith for so many people, someone held up as an example to follow, as an inspiration to encourage us on our own journeys.

Elijah's journey as a prophet of God was characterised by his clashes with King Ahab and Ahab's wife, Jezebel. King Ahab was king of Israel, but his wife Jezebel was not an Israelite and followed a different god called Baal, rather than Yahweh. This had resulted in Israel being lead away from their God and turning to worship Baal, forgetting the great acts Yahweh had done in freeing the nation from slavery in Egypt. Elijah's prophetic mission was to bring Israel back to God, which was quite a daunting task; to turn the heart and mind of not just one person, albeit someone with a lot of authority and power people, but the hearts and minds of a whole nation. This was not helped when there was a Queen determined to kill him as well (1 Kings 18:13)

It is easy to be overwhelm when faced with these seemingly insurmountable tasks and problems, such as where are you going to go to university, what job are you going to do, what are you going to do with the rest of your life. These problems and questions when considered in their entirety can prove to be too much for ourselves and there is a tendency to withdraw, to escape into oneself, to bury our heads in the sand and ignore them. This can lead to us drifting through life, never engaging with the real world, constantly looking for an escape from what is real. More often it results in periods of withdrawal, of ups and downs, where we can feel fine for a while and then have times that force us in on ourselves.

Elijah's journey highlights these ups and downs, these moments of engagement and withdrawal. His first prophecy is to declare a drought which will not be ended until Yahweh's command. This is followed by a necessary withdrawal to a lonely place, where ravens brought him food and a stream provided him water. It was necessary because Ahab was naturally angry as he watched his kingdom struggle under the strain of famine which follows from drought. Elijah entered into this lonely place having done what was asked and seeing it being successfully fulfilled (1 Kings 17:1-6).

However this place were we are alone and withdrawn can be a dangerous place for us to be. It can lead to a dark spiral of thoughts and attitudes, questioning why we do what we do, is it good enough, are we good enough, have we done the right thing? We can bury our head in the sand and try to make these questions go away, but invariably they are hidden for a moment and solidified in our hearts as they become fossilised as we bury them deeper. The drought Elijah had prophesied last for three years and there was much suffering during this time (Luke 4:25). Elijah must have had these questions in his heart. 

After three years of drought, Elijah's second prophetic act is to challenge the prophets of Baal to prove to the nation whose God is greater. The whole nation comes to the mountain side as two altars are set up with an offering upon each. The challenge is to ask their respective gods to bring fire down from heaven to consume the offering. The priests and prophets of Baal dance and pray for hours on end as Elijah and Israel watch on. As evening draws near and nothing has happened, Elijah digs a trench around the altar, pours water over the offering, and prays a simple prayer. Instantly, the offering and altar is consumed in flames and the nation and King Ahab praises Yahweh. (1 Kings 18:17-39)

This is one of the most powerful moments of victory in the Old Testament, a testament to the power of prayer and faith and an encouragement to so many. The nation has turned back to worship Yahweh the rains fall and yet Elijah is again forced to retreat to a lonely place as Jezebel is not won over and increases her efforts to kill him, seemingly undoing all the good work. In these moments, Elijah's darkest moments occur. He lays down and wants to die. He does not eat, does not get up, refuses to live life. Life has lost its joy, its purpose, its attraction. Food has lost its taste, the sun has lost its warmth, the world becomes a cold and dark place. (1 Kings 19:1-4)

No matter what success or victory has come before, these moments and this darkness can affect anyone, even those who seem to have it all. Elijah had God's blessing, had been shown to have the ear of God, to know the will of God. He was a good and faithful servant who always did what God desired and God worked powerfully through him. Yet even with this faith, this understanding, it all became too much for him (1 Kings 19:4). For us who have not seen as many miracles or experienced the power of God in such powerful ways, what hope can we have to individually fight these dark thoughts? What response or well-spring of strength do we have to draw upon when we cry out "It is enough"?

In all of these withdrawn and dark times that Elijah finds himself in, he is drawn out of them by the intervention of others. When the ravens stop bringing him food and the stream he was relying on dries up, God takes him to the house of a widow. The widow has nothing except one jar of oil and a son and when Elijah arrives she is preparing the last meal for them both before laying down to die. Elijah's own anguish is put in contrast to this poor widow and he sees a greater need in front of him. Therefore when he ask for bread, the widow hesitantly makes some and when the jar of oil does not run out and she makes enough bread is made to see them through the rest of the famine (1 Kings 17:8-16). As Elijah exits from his darkness, light is brought back not only into his life, but to the life of the widow and her son as well.

As Elijah is lying there refusing food after the encounter with the prophets of Baal, it is an angel of God who appears to him, bringing him food and telling him to get up. This happens for two days until eventually Elijah gets up and rejoins the world again. (1 Kings 19:5-8) The persistence of a friend, the kindness of a companion, pulls him out of the sinking sand of depression, not by brute force, but by the drops of water that eventually wear away even the hardest stone. Those around us in these moments appear to be crucial in bringing us to the light again, even if they do not mean to. The time limit or way it happens is unimportant; the widow did not ask for help, but offered what she had, the angel brought him food, my student's friend reached out to someone who may know what to do. Our intervention and support seems to be an essential element of allowing healing to take place.

For Elijah, these dark moods never seem to leave him. All that happens is that each one is dealt with in a different way. One of the greatest moments of healing for Elijah comes as he retreats into his lonely, dark place again, a place he can never seem to be away from for too long. Sitting in a cave as the earthquake, storms and fire pound the mountain outside, as the fears, negativity and darkness rage at him, God appears as a small, quiet voice (1 Kings 19:9-13). God comes and meets him in this place, comes to minister to him Himself, to offer counselling and wisdom, to draw Elijah out of this cave. As Elijah hears the voice, he leaves the cave to embrace the light and meet with life itself.

For Elijah, he could never escape the onset of these dark moods. He could never fully leave behind the Black Dog that went with him wherever he ministered. His ultimate healing comes in the form of a fiery chariot, taking him into heaven so he does not have to taste death in his body. (2 Kings 2:11-12) The irony is that in every one of his dark moments Elijah experienced death in life. These dark moments in his life are lots of little deaths, deaths of his spirit, deaths of his hope. He has already tasted death in so many ways, already passed through the valley and lived in the resurrection of the mountain top. There he did not need to taste death in the body to know the joys of resurrection.

For each of our dark moments, Elijah offers us hope. His story offers us hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel, however long it is, offers us hope that resurrection can occur throughout life, a resurrection that allows us to come back and taste the joys of life again no matter how many times we fall into those dark holes. This resurrection can come through support and friendship and through the still small voice that speaks so powerfully, as gentle as a breeze yet powerful enough to wear down the hardest stone.