When the mind told him to get with it, it didn’t matter how hot it was or how long he had been working or how tired he felt-when the mind told him to go, he went!Įlijah’s problem was that his mind was worn out. You see, it was all in the attitude of the mind which dictated the state of the body. I want to tell you, the rest of that lawn got cut instantly. But I have to tell you that when I looked out, I couldn’t tell if he was holding up the lawnmower, or it was holding him up! And was it ever moving slowly! Then suddenly, a car pulled up to the front curb and out stepped three sixteen-year-old visions of loveliness wanting him to go “hang out,” as they put it. I insisted because the grass was already too high. One day he came home looking exhausted, but I asked him to mow the grass. He had a summer job and worked hard during the day. That truth dawned on me a few years ago when my son, John David, was sixteen. So it’s what goes on in our minds which influences what happens in our bodies. If you use a muscle, you don’t wear it out, you build it up. Of course, it is mental weariness that leads to physical weariness. He was physically and mentally exhausted. He burned out, and all of the classic symptoms of burnout can be seen in him. But now suddenly, a new obstacle rose before him, and it sent him sliding down the slippery slope of depression. He had believed that the victory had been won. He had poured so much of himself into the cause of his Lord. It read: “By this time tomorrow you will be dead as a doornail.” That was the proverbial straw which broke the back of Elijah’s spirit. She sent a message to Elijah, and the message was painfully blunt. Then Jezebel, the wicked queen of the land, got word about what had happened. You remember how Elijah thundered out to the people: “How long will you go limping between two opinions? If the Lord is God, then follow Him! If Baal, then follow him.” Then you know how this fired-up prophet called for the fire of God to fall from heaven-and the fire fell, and the false prophets were destroyed. It was to be a kind of “spiritual Super Bowl.” It was designed to identify the one true God. You will remember the dramatic story recorded in I Kings 18 where Elijah called the priests of the pagan god Baal to a contest atop Mt. He was so fired up in his work for the Lord that nothing, and no one, could quench the flame. He would not keep silent even when his very powerful king ordered him to do so. There was in him little or no sense of fear. He was one of the most rugged and dominant figures in the Old Testament. Let’s begin with the diagnosis.Įlijah was a man of great courage. First, we shall diagnose the problem, and then we shall apply a prescription for healing. So let’s take a clinical approach to the case of Elijah. Job burnout, a debilitating psychological condition, brought on by unrelieved work stress, strikes far more people than we realize. That’s what I call “the Elijah Syndrome-Fired up or Burned out?” It was not only a problem for Elijah, but it is the most prevalent social disease of our time. One chapter later, I Kings 19, he was huddled up under a broom tree feeling sorry for himself, exhausted, and burned out. In I Kings 18, he was on fire for the Lord and he won a great victory for God’s cause in the world. Your job can be hazardous to your health.
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