Depleted

 

    What is it to be depleted?  To be depleted is to be used up.  It is when all your strength or resources have been exhausted.  Sometimes when you have been just surviving for so long, you find yourself here.  We all get to a point where we hit a wall and we can't just get around or over it.  It takes something else for us to keep going.

    Elijah pushed through just surviving to do the very thing God gave him purpose to do.  Once it was accomplished and it rained giving the world a good wash and renewed hope.   However, Elijah was depleted.  He had put everything he had into that purpose and could not see the renewal.  Maybe he did not expect to live.  Maybe the exhaustion just hit him.  Maybe it was all of the above and so much more going on in his head, but it all hit him like a ton of bricks.

    Jezebel was on the warpath for Elijah killing all her prophets.  She made sure he got word of her death threat.  After everything he had face and rose above, he was now afraid.  We know he was emotionally and spiritually depleted because he ran for his life.  Finally his strength was depleted and his depression set in.  He told God he had had enough and was ready to die.  He did not want to face this fear another day.

    Elijah laid down and went to sleep.  An angel woke him and told him to eat because when he was physically replenished he was to travel for 40 days to Horeb.  God was not done with him yet.  In Horeb he found a cave where he would get the rest he needed.  

    In the cave Elijah was ready to give up, but God would not let him.  God told him to stand in His presence as He passed by.  God produced a strong wind, an earthquake, fire, but he was not in them.  He showed his strength, but He was in a gentle whisper that called out to Elijah.  Elijah had to face what caused the depletion before he could be rejuvenated.  

    He needed that to go back to Anoint Hazael as king of Aram, Jehu as king of Israel, and Elisha as a prophet.  God would let him retire, but not without a replacement.  The people needed leaders to educate them and fight for them.

    God was going to allow most Israelites to die, but the 7,000 that never worshipped Baal would survive.  This declaration let Elijah know he was never alone in his faith.  Elijah set out on his journey with a new purpose.  He found Elisha who was working.  He immediately left his work and to leave with Elijah.  He just wanted to tell his parents goodbye, so they would not worry.  Elisha became Elijah's attendant to learn everything that Elijah had to teach.

1 Kings 19