Faithbase

Hey, faith-based friends and family. Hey, today I just want to remind you of a story that you've probably heard. There's a prophet in the Old Testament named Elijah. Some concern him the greatest prophet. Actually, at the Mount of Transfiguration, he appears with Jesus representing all the prophets. So there's kind of an easy argument that he's the greatest. Well, in the Old Testament, he has this incredible challenge. He challenges these false prophets of Baal. He said, let's prove which God is actually God. Your God or my God? And he says, you prepare a sacrifice. I'll prepare a sacrifice. You call down your God to consume it with fire, and I'll do the same thing with my God. And maybe you've heard this story. They try to call down fire. They cut themselves. They scream. They yell. He mocks them. He teases them. Nothing happens. But then he calls down fire, and it consumes the entire sacrifice. And he had saturated it, made a ditch, filled the ditch with water. It's an amazing story, right? And we love to preach about the power of it. But if you keep reading about Elijah two chapters, one or two chapters later, he is so depressed that he asks God to take his life. Isn't that incredible? He's just seen the Lord send fire from heaven to consume a sacrifice, licks up all the water, even the stones. And he's so depressed that he wants to die. And I share this story for a couple reasons. You know, first off, to normalize just sadness, disappointment, and discouragement. I know I've gone through plenty of seasons of depression and sadness and discouragement. So to normalize it, for me, it's encouraging. The greatest prophet in all of Scripture sometimes struggle with depression. Oh man, and he can still use them in incredible ways. He can use us. But also, just as an invitation for us to love our friends well, to press into the awkward. If we see our friends struggling, whether it's sadness or patterns of unhealthy rhythms and routines and habits and hang-ups, to press into the hard. And I know that it's awkward, but I assure you that the awkwardness pales in comparison to the results of not pressing into the hard. If you see someone struggling with deep sadness, struggling with habits they can't seem to break, just press in, even though it's hard. Love them, show them grace, but point them to the Lord. Remind them that we can come to the Lord just as we are, with our anguish, with our sadness, with our joy, with our goodiness, with our frustration and rage. And He's a loving Father with arms open wide. So I hope you're encouraged today. Whether you're in a place right now filled with joy and hope, or you're in a place filled with discouragement, the Lord just invites you into intimacy. He loves you. He delights in you. Blessings to you today. May the Lord encourage you and refresh you, but He just reminds you as love, and just in more intimate and deep meaningful ways today. Have a great day.