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How To Heal From Emotional Exhaustion
- Wayne Gill
- Nov 8, 2021
- 4 min read

I was recently asked to speak on the topic of how to heal from emotional exhaustion. The story that immediately jumped to mind was the tale of how the Prophet Elijah became emotionally and spiritually overwhelmed, and how he got through it.
The story is told in 1 Kings 18 - 19. I'll offer some background here for context, but I challenge you to read those chapters to get the full story.
In essence, Elijah confronted the wicked King Ahab and his wife Jezebel over their leading Israel away from God and their appointment of false prophets over the people. Elijah challenged their false prophets to a public showdown on Mount Carmel.
It was a simple, but dramatic test. Elijah would prepare a sacrifice and the false prophets (850 of them) would do the same. Both sides would call upon their deity to send fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice.
When the day of the contest came, Elijah stood by and mocked the false prophets as they called on their gods to no avail. There was no fire from heaven. Nothing at all, aside from their cries to silent gods.
Elijah, on the other hand, to unmistakably demonstrate the power of the true God, had the people drench his altar with water. He called upon God and the entire altar, including the trenches of water, were consumed by fire from heaven. At this show of miraculous power, the people fell to their knees and reasserted their faith in God.
The false prophets were executed and Elijah was indelibly established as a true prophet of God. Even more powerful than the king and queen. As you may imagine, these events didn't go over so well with Ahab and Jezebel.
The queen threatened Elijah's life. And immediately on the heels of such an astonishing victory, Elijah ran for his life in fear. In hiding, he went as far as to ask God for death.
It doesn't get much lower than that. But if it can happen to Elijah, it can happen to anyone. We can all become spiritual weaklings when we are emotionally exhausted.
In Elijah's case, he had been hunted for months by the king and queen because they blamed him for a famine the land was experiencing. Elijah was a man on the run. It took tremendous bravery and faith in God to confront the apostate monarchs and their legion of false prophets. It was one prophet versus 850.
How do you like those odds? I'm sure Ahab and Jezebel did at first. After the stunning victory on the mountain, Elijah had to have been emotionally exhausted. I'm sure he wasn't ready for a credible threat to his life from a woman who had killed many other prophets.
So he ran! And we often feel the same way. When we are overwhelmed, our tendency is to run and hide from our responsibilities or to significantly withdraw from life. Bur just as God met Elijah right where he was, He will be there for us as well, in our exhaustion.

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