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WHEN ALL SEEMS LOST

“…and Elijah asked that he might die, saying, ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life.’” (I Kings 19:4)

I was so inspired by Jim Ketch’s production of Showdown At Dry Gulch last Sunday, that I decided to keep the Elijah story going for one more week. And further, I thought that if young Jack Dozier could play Elijah, this somewhat older Jack could preach on him. If you want, I’ll give you my autograph at the door!

I’ve been ruminating for the past couple of weeks on two people, Elijah and Mother Teresa, widely separated by time, but had in common a crisis of faith. Let me flesh that out for you.

When we catch up with Elijah at this point in the story, he is having an energy crisis of the spirit. In short, he was depressed. Like those times when we feel that more is knowable than we can learn; more is possible than we can do; more is changing than we can absorb; more is crumbling than we can preserve.

Elijah was some cut of a man! In courage and ruggedness he resembled John the Baptist. Fearless before royalty, undaunted by majority pressures, and with a voice that none could mute, Elijah commands our respect.

Elijah’s depression was in this wise. A prophet in Israel in the 9^th century before Christ, he determined that most of the nation’s troubles stemmed from the Ahab-Jezebel-Baalism complex. Like most intense, manic types he yearned for a showdown, and he got it. He got it on Mt. Carmel where he engaged the priests of Baal in a test of faith. They called down fire to ignite the sacrifice, but fire did not come. Elijah called and fire came and the sacrifice was consumed. Seeing his victory as a gift from God and a triumph for true religion, Elijah made bold to slay the prophets of Baal. We are told that their blood was mingled with the waters of a nearby brook.

Peace at last! But no! His victory was hardly won before he received a message from Jezebel that he was marked for death. Forced to become a fugitive, Elijah fled into the wilderness near Horeb. He sat himself down beneath a broom tree and asked to die. “It is enough,” he cried, “Now, O Lord, take away my life for I am not better than my ancestors.” He was saying in effect, “I’ve had it! He plunked down his key on the front desk determined to check out! “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life.” His was having a crisis of the spirit.

We all have known those times, haven’t we? On occasions we are sure, observing the sunset over the Atlantic or over the mountains from the Blue Ridge parkway, that there is a creator God behind all this. At other times, we are not so sure. On one day even Jesus could affirm, “the Father and I are one.” On another day, he would exclaim, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

When we think of the saints, it’s common to imagine them as serene figures, going about the world doing good works, floating above the temptations and doubts of ordinary people. But the world was stunned recently that Mother Teresa was tormented by doubt that God even existed. In private letters now being published on the 10^th anniversary of her death, she referred to Jesus as “the absent one.” In 1946 Mother Teresa had a mystical vision in which she believed she heard Jesus calling to her to “come be my light” to the poor. She did. But then, she says, he vanished, leaving her to doubt for half a century. Yet she did not abandon the wretched of the earth, nor falter in what she believed was her divinely appointed mission. To learn of her radical doubt is not to lose respect for Mother Teresa. It is rather to be awestruck by what she accomplished despite her all-too-human-fears. I personally take great courage from her, knowing that my own ups and downs of the faith do not detract me from doing what I believe God called me to do. I would hope that would be true of all of us, who have our own callings from God to do and be as God bids us.

Which brings us back to Elijah and his own depression. How did he get that way, we ask. I have the feeling that Elijah’s despair resulted from an acute case of self-pity! I continue to feel that self-pity is by far the most costly luxury that we mortals can indulge in. Self-pity—it can prevent our healing, prolong our bereavement, and otherwise blunt our effectiveness for God. Elijah had a good case. “I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”

God found this man under a broom tree, but God did not leave him there. Notice how the Lord brought Elijah back. HE BROKE THE PROPHET’S MOOD WITH A SHARP QUESTION OF ACCOUNTABILITY ASKED SEVERAL TIMES: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Here was a reminder that he was a man under command. That he was really not responsible for the master plan, but solely for his own obedience within that plan.

Elijah had well analyzed what was wrong. In fact, he had likely memorized his analysis. Notice the ring to his words: “They have FORSAKEN your covenant, THROWN DOWN your altars, and SLAIN your prophets with the sword.” But what was required now was not ANALYSIS BUT ACTION, NOT DISCUSSION BUT DECISION, NOT PHILOSOPHIZING BUT FUNCTION, NOT DEBATE BUT DISCIPLESHIP. God said, “Never you mind what I’m doing there; what are you doing here?” In short, what are you doing with your life?

I have a brother, Roy, my middle brother, who is a retired surgeon after a very successful practice. He and Dottie spend their summers in Pittsfield, MA, and winters in New Smyrna Beach, FL. I said to Roy, once, "What are you going to do with your medical gifts. Why don’t you sign on with the Medical Benevolence Foundation, and go off to Haiti or Peru or somewhere and lend your skills to people who couldn’t begin to pay for them. You’ve go to do more than chase a white ball around 18 holes every other day." But his response was, “Jack, I’m just not interested in that.” And I just have to respect that’s where he is and where he’s coming from.

The unenlisted, the person who just wants to check out, the “I don’t want to get involved type, are most prone to sin against life and fall prey to despair. Many years ago I stumbled upon a poem by Sarah Henderson Hay that has burned its way into my heart and mind. Frequently when I’m looking around for a broom tree I find her words coming back. It is entitled, “Heresy Indeed.”

It is a piteous thing to be enlisted in no cause at all;

Unsworn to any heraldry, to fly no banner from the wall.

Own nothing you would sweat or try for,

Or bruise your hands or bleed of die for.

Ah, that were a greater sin against that hostage of your living breast,

Than to rouse all the world incensed at something you believed your quest;

And stormed the skies and suffered pain for

And fell and cursed and fought again for!

To choose the smooth and easy path,

The half-heart interest,

The creed without extreme of hope or wrath;

Ah, that were a heresy indeed,

That all the God’s mercy will not stay for,

And your immortal soul will pay for!

What are you doing here, Elijah?

If I have learned anything from meditating on Elijah and Mother Teresa and our own doubts these past few weeks, I have learned that these times of extreme dark nights of the soul don’t happen just to us, but have also been the experiences of some of the great saints of the faith. Mother Teresa, I guess, has been made a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, but ten years after the great and good woman of Calcutta passed on, we now know that she was no plaster saint. She was one of us. And I have learned from Elijah and Mother Teresa that when God finds us in these moments, God has a way of coming straight at us and saying, in our self pity, “What are you doing here?” I’ve got things for you to do, Elijah. Now get up. Go and anoint Hazael to be king of Syria, because I’m not finished with the Gentiles. I want you to anoint Jehu to be king of Israel, for I’m not yet done with my chosen people. And I want you to anoint Elisha as your successor, for I have still other words to speak to other generations.

Iraq, Iran, The Middle East, self-serving politicians, financial worries, crime, drugs, faithlessness; Lord it is enough, take away my life! But when all seems lost, it really isn’t.

This is still God’s world.

We are still God’s people.

God’s plan still holds.

Our work still matters.

I close with 9 lines from the writings of Mother Teresa, which I’ve kept in my files for years, but re-reading them this past week made the lines jump off the page.

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered-

FORGIVE THEM ANYWAY.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives-

BE KIND ANYWAY.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies-

SUCCEED ANYWAY.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you-

BE HONEST AND FRANK ANYWAY.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight-

BUILD ANYWAY.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous-

BE HAPPY ANYWAY.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough-

GIVE THE WORLD THE BEST YOU’VE GOT ANYWAY.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God-

IT WAS NEVER BETWEEN YOU AND THEM ANYWAY.

PRAYER

Lord, touch our eyes, lest the problems and vexations of the moment,

Blind us to your larger purposes.

Keep us hopeful and productive,

Willing servants of that love that never fails.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.