Rest and Nourishment are Good Medicine || Life is Worth Living || Part 4

Welcome to Part 4 of our “Life is Worth Living” Bible study! This series is in honor of Suicide Awareness Month happening. I have found six stories in the Bible that talk about people asking God to die, wishing they would die, and the intense feelings that fall in between. I want to share their story and discuss how God can help us when we feel like they did. Some disclaimers before today’s blog begins:

• I AM NOT A THERAPIST, PSYCHOLOGIST, PSYCHIATRIST. I have an extensive knowledge of mental health understandings and biblical connections, and I want to share my own testimony and knowledge of how we can understand and wrestle with the topic of suicide from a theological perspective.
• IF YOU ARE STRUGGLING WITH SUICIDAL THOUGHTS OR IDEATIONS, please contact your local helpline or seek a trusted person/counselor to walk alongside you:
  • You can call or text 988
  • You can call 911
  • You can reach the crisis text line by text at 741-741
  • If you’re outside of the US, please check out this Wikipedia link for resources in your country: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines

In each part, I will provide a complete list of the people we’re talking about and where their stories can be found. I do this to provide transparency and a trigger warning for those sensitive to this topic. I will also begin to provide a 1-2 sentence synopsis of those parts for continuity purposes.

• Part 1:   Judas (Matthew 27:3-8)
  • Judas felt remorseful about his actions and was in a situation where even the church had turned their backs on him. However, God’s mercy is so vast that it can cover even the most significant mistakes. This story is a beacon of hope, reminding us that peace can be found in our struggles.
• Part 2:   Job (Job 3:11, 20-22)
  • Job, despite the immense grief he experienced due to the loss of his possessions and the death of his children, never turned his back on God. This story is a testament to the resilience that can be found in faith. It’s a reminder that no battle is lost with God guiding our path.
• Part 3:   Moses (Numbers 11:10-17)
  • Moses, overwhelmed by the burden he was carrying alone, was shown by God the importance of community. This story reminds us that we don’t have to carry our burdens alone. People and resources are available to help us; seeking them out is a sign of strength, not weakness.
• Part 4:  Elijah (1 Kings 19:3-8)
• Part 5:   Jonah (Jonah 4:3-10)
• Part 6:   The Jailor (Acts 16:27-34)

Today’s passage takes us to the story of Elijah, where we’ll find that fear and panic can be resolved by a nap and a snack. Kind of, that is.

1 Kings 19:3-8

AMP	NLT	MSG
3 And Elijah was afraid and arose and ran for his life, and he came to Beersheba which belongs to Judah, and he left his servant there.	3 Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there.	3-5 When Elijah saw how things were, he ran for dear life to Beersheba, far in the south of Judah. He left his young servant there and then went on into the desert another day’s journey. He came to a lone broom bush and collapsed in its share, wanting in the worst way to be done with it all – to just die: “Enough of this, God! Take my life – I’m ready to join my ancestors in the grave!” Exhausted, he fell asleep under the lone broom bush. Suddenly an angel shook him awake and said, “Get up and eat.”
4 But he himself traveled a day’s journey into the wilderness, and he came and sat down under a juniper tree and asked [God] that he might die. He said, “It is enough; now, O lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”	4 Then he went alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”
5 He lay down and slept under the juniper tree, and behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.”	5 Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat.”
6 He looked, and by his head there was a bread cake baked on hot coal, and a pitcher of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again.	6 He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again.	6 He looked around and, to his surprise, right by his head were a loaf of bread baked on some coals and a jug of water. He ate the meal and went back to sleep.
7 Then the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Get up, and eat, for the journey is too long for you [without adequate sustenance].”	7 Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.”	7 The angel of God came back, shook him awake again, and said, “Get up and eat some more – you’ve got a long journey ahead of you.”
8 So he got up and ate and drank, and with the strength of that food he traveled forty days and nights to Horeb (Sinai), the mountain of God.	8 So he got up and date and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God.	8 He got up, ate and drank his fill, and set out. Nourished by that meal, he walked forty days and nights, all the way to the mountain of God, to Horeb.

Elijah had just experienced two of his great spiritual victories as a follower of God: the defeat of the prophets of Baal and the answered prayers for rain. Yet, he’s feeling extremely fatigued and discouraged. Discouragement sat in after these spiritual experiences, especially those requiring intense physical effort and emotion. How many of you have reached the end goal of what you were working on and not felt happy about it? We feel numb by accomplishing the task because we’ve spent all of our resources (physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually) trying to get there. We don’t have it in us to be happy, which leads to discouragement and self-defeating thought cycles. It’s unfortunate, but it’s widespread in our heavy production-centric world. For Elijah’s recovery, God provided Elijah some rest, food to eat, and water to drink. Sometimes, we need to do the simplest forms of care to help replenish our souls. This is okay, regardless of what you have been taught and what you see around you. Sometimes, we need an hour, an afternoon, a day, or even a week to recover those resources. We just need to remember that we can’t stay there.

After Elijah rested and replenished, God had more work for him. Elijah’s battles weren’t finished, but they had a spiritual guide to show him how to manage those battles and recover from them. We might want to give up after journeys we go through because it was uncomfortable to experience the first time, and we don’t want to put ourselves through that again. Yet, those battles are what strengthen us in life. While they’re not fun most of the time, they teach us about ourselves, our strengths, weaknesses, and more. They show us where God was and will be in the future. God has a purpose for us, and we must ensure that we stay ready to follow that purpose and recover properly when we feel exhausted.

When Elijah fled to Mt. Sinai, he was returned to the sacred place where God had met Moses to give his laws to the people. God gave Elijah the extraordinary strength to travel there from where he was. Elijah fled over 200 miles without any additional food. Like Moses before him and Jesus after him, Elijah had fasted for 40 days and 40 nights; centuries later, Moses, Elijah, and Jesus gathered together on a mountaintop – a story that we often refer to as the transfiguration (Matt 17:1-8, Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28-36). What can we learn from this? We must remind ourselves to rely on God in times of fear and panic. When we feel like we can’t continue, God will provide us the strength and resources to go further than we think we can.

We find a similar lament in the book of Jeremiah that Elijah shared.

Jeremiah 20:14-18

AMP	NLT	MSG
14 Cursed be the day on which I was born; Do not bless the day on which my mother gave birth to me!	14 Yet I curse the day I was born! May no one celebrate the day of my birth.	14-18 Curse the day I was born! The day my mother bore me—     a curse on it, I say! And curse the man who delivered the news to my father: “You’ve got a new baby—a boy baby!” (How happy it made him.) Let that birth notice be blacked out, deleted from the records, And the man who brought it haunted to his death with the bad news he brought. He should have killed me before I was born, with that womb as my tomb, My mother pregnant for the rest of her life with a baby dead in her womb. Why, oh why, did I ever leave that womb? Life’s been nothing but trouble and tears, and what’s coming is more of the same.
15 Cursed be the man who brought the news To my father, saying, “A son has been born to you!” Making him very glad.	15 I curse the messenger who told my father, “Good news—you have a son!”
16 And let that man be like the cities Which the Lord overthrew without regret. Let him hear an outcry in the morning And a shout of alarm at noon;	16 Let him be destroyed like the cities of old that the Lord overthrew without mercy. Terrify him all day long with battle shouts,
17 Because he did not kill me before my birth, So that my mother might have been my grave, And her womb always pregnant.	17 because he did not kill me at birth. Oh, that I had died in my mother’s womb, that her body had been my grave!
18 Why did I come out of the womb To see trouble and sorrow, So that my days have been filled with shame?	18 Why was I ever born? My entire life has been filled with trouble, sorrow, and shame.

The self-loathing that Jeremiah shares in this passage is surprising since it’s in stark contrast to the expression of confidence found in the previous paragraph (20:1-6). However, we can find hope in Jeremiah’s honest moments of despair. Suppose someone with such intimate awareness of God’s presence struggled with insecurity. In that case, we should be surprised by our failures and weaknesses. Jeremiah shows us not to excuse him but gives us an example. No matter how we feel about ourselves at any moment, God remains unchanged, loving, and present in our lives.

Philippians 4:13

13          For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

Paul says this as a reminder that even when we feel weak and in deep despair, there is a source of strength we find in Christ. Paul went through hell in his life with many near-death experiences, but he never found himself wishing for death. He knew that living and doing the will of God was a positive, and if it killed him, it was a positive also because he would meet Jesus in heaven. While this isn’t a healthy message at face value, Paul’s testimony shows us that the strength we find to continue in the moments of chaos is through Jesus. Whether finding the strength to carry on or finding the source to rest and replenish. Jesus often wanted to get away from the crowds to pray and recover his energy from his ministerial work.

That wraps us up here. In the next part, we’ll look at the story of Jonah and his own selfish desires that made him wish he were dead. Until then, stay blessed!