Summary
Elijah Under the Broom Tree: 1 Kings and the Care of the Despondent
One of Scripture's most striking portraits of despondency comes from the book of 1 Kings. In 1 Kings 19:1-10, the prophet Elijah—fresh from the great victory over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel—receives Jezebel's death threat and collapses into fear and despair. He flees a day's journey into the wilderness, sits down under a solitary broom tree, and asks the Lord to take his life: "It is enough now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors."
This account is remarkable for what it does not do. God does not rebuke Elijah for his despair. He does not demand that the prophet put on a mask of cheerfulness. Instead, the angel of the Lord twice touches him, feeds him, and lets him sleep. Only afterward, at Horeb, does the Lord gently draw him out with the question, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"—and then correct his despondent claim that he alone is left.
Elijah's experience is not an anomaly in Scripture. The same broken voice is heard in the laments of David, in Job's cry that he had never been born, and in Israel's inability in Exodus 6:6-9 to receive God's promise "because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery." God's people, including the greatest of His prophets, have walked through depression. Luther struggled with it. Christians are not commanded to wear a mask of perpetual happiness; we are given permission, by God Himself, to pour out our angst before Him.
The 1 Kings account also models the pace of pastoral care. Elijah is not rushed. He is fed before he is questioned. He is allowed to lament before he is recommissioned. As Comforting Others Session 4 draws out, those who walk alongside the despondent should not minimize grief, should not redirect the conversation to their own struggles, and should not push past the lament too quickly. The lament itself has a rightful place before God.
Yet 1 Kings 19 does not end under the broom tree. Elijah is led, in time, to the mountain of God, given a fresh word, given companions (Elisha and the seven thousand who had not bowed to Baal), and sent back into service. This is the same arc found in the lament psalms—invocation, lament, confession of confidence, petition, and praise—and it points the despondent away from the inward gaze and toward the steadfast love (hesed) of God and the neighbor He has given us to serve. Joy, unlike happiness, does not depend on what happens to us; it is anchored in the cross of Christ, and it grows as the Spirit turns our eyes outward.
Video citations
- Comforting Others Session 4 — Well, last week we took a look at the subject of how do we minister to people who are troubled with regard to their own sinfulness. And we examine the question, are some sins worse than others? And…