Coming Off a Victory

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Southeast Christian Church

Jun 7, 2022

Throughout three years of ministry, God has done some incredible things through Elijah, and it comes to a dramatic conclusion in 1 Kings 18:22. Elijah is on Mount Carmel, and he challenges 450 prophets of Baal to see who is the real and true God. Elijah basically says, “You build an altar to your God, and I'll build an altar to the Lord God. Then we'll both pray for fire from heaven and see what happens.” The 450 prophets of Baal build their altar, and start calling out for fire with no success. Then it's finally Elijah’s turn, and he tells them to drench his altar with water. He prays a very simple prayer to the Lord God, and God sends down fire from heaven. The fire is so intense that it even laps up the water around the altar. And in that moment, all the people see who the one true God is, and God sends a refreshing rain after years of drought as the people repent.

This spiritual and emotional high for Elijah ends with being overwhelmed with the power of God, and with feelings of adrenaline and strength. After these significant successes, after he's persevered, after he's been used in powerful ways, after he has stood strong and faced overwhelming odds, and after he's experienced this huge victory, he sits down underneath a tree and he has had enough as he is depressed and filled with despair. For some of us that may be surprising; despair or depression would seem to come in the middle of the drought when your circumstances are the most overwhelming and difficult, not after the drought is over. But it is not uncommon that when you get through something really difficult, then these emotions hit you. You push through and find the strength to persevere and you assume that once you get to the end of it, everything will be good, but waiting on the other side is this depression and discouragement.

DISCUSSION/REFLECTION QUESTION: Recall a time in your life where you felt despair or discouragement after experiencing a big victory in life. Did this despair catch you by surprise? How did you respond to these feelings?

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Our Confidence is in God

Why is it that God can bring us out of the desert time and time again, but we still distrust who he is and forget what he has done? This is why God commanded the Israelites to take 12 stones from the middle of the Jordan River to build an altar as a reminder of who God is and what he did for them. God didn’t ask the men to take twelve stones that were easy to grab on the edge of the river, he told them to grab twelve stones from the middle of the once raging river. He did this as a reminder that God isn’t just a deliverer, but an encourager. God doesn’t just bring us out of our struggles and hardships, he gives us courage in the midst of them. God doesn’t just wait for us to find our way out of the struggle, he joins us there. It’s difficult to see God in the middle of our struggle, so we need our community to point him out to us. When we are discouraged, all we can see is our overwhelming circumstances. But our community sees past our circumstances to our faithful God who is always with us. If we can be the kind of community that reminds one another of who God is and what he has done, we can be conduits of God’s courage to one another in the middle of our discouragement. Reflection/Discussion Question: What “altar” can you build as a reminder of who God is and what he has done in your life?

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Symptoms of Discouragement

In order to give courage, we first need to be able to recognize discouragement. Someone who is discouraged is someone who may be frustrated, easily irritated, annoyed, or negative. They might be set off by situations that seem trivial or insignificant, but discouragement infects all areas of our lives. Instead of reacting in grace, love, and encouragement to the discouraged, we often fire back negativity, insults, hard truth, and anger. It can be difficult to have compassion for a discouraged friend who is expressing it through frustration, but if we can diagnose it quickly, we may be able to offer a cure instead of more pain. Another symptom of discouragement is fatigue. Discouraged people are physically and emotionally exhausted. They may not be emotionally available. They may feel like the only thing they can give their energy to after a long day is to sit on the couch and stare at a screen. In this situation we often exacerbate the problem by offering “healthy living” suggestions such as working out, eating healthy, and making less lazy decisions. We misdiagnose discouragement and try to provide a worldly cure that further fuels the discouragement. In order to offer the cure that discouraged people need, we must to rely on God. If we rely on our own strength, we will retaliate with what we are receiving or fall into the trap of discouragement ourselves. In order to offer courage to those in need, we must rely on the source of courage. God offers courage that will never run out. He is the source of grace and selfless love that we need to bring to the discouraged. Reflection/Discussion Question: After reading the symptoms of discouragement, how have you treated people in your life who are discouraged?

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