The Whisper That Soothes Spiritual Burnout

Elijah had a tough job. He had to preach against the king and queen of Israel. They had introduced a false fertility god named Baal among the Israelite people. The Israelites accepted this false god and were led astray. Elijah preached and preached. Then he preached some more. But no one seemed to listen. No one seemed to care.

Elijah confronted the Israelites, saying, “How long will you stagger around on two crutches? If the Lord is God, follow him. If Baal is God, follow him.” But the people did not answer him a single word (1 Kings 18:21). So, Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a contest of gods. Whichever god rained down fire from heaven upon their sacrifice was the true God. Baal was impotent – no fire from the false god. The Lord was potent – he rained down fire to burn up Elijah’s sacrifice. Then Elijah had the 450 prophets of Baal put to death.

Elijah had experienced a great victory on Mount Carmel! But the people did not respond with faith in the true God. And Queen Jezabel was ticked! She responded with vengeance for the killing of the prophets of her fake god. She put a bounty on Elijah’s head. She vowed, “May the gods punish me severely and even double it, if by this time tomorrow I have not made your life like one of theirs” (1 Kings 19:2).

Elijah was afraid! He ran for his life (1 Kings 19:3). He ran into the wilderness to hide. He sat under a broom tree and prayed that he would die. He asked the Lord to end his life. He said, “I’ve had enough, Lord. Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers” (1 Kings 19:4). Instead, the good and gracious Lord sent an angel to feed Elijah twice with bread – all carbs and no veggies. Then with the strength gained from that powerful food, Elijah walked for 40 days to Mount Horeb, which is the same as Mount Sinai, where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. Elijah spent the night there in a cave.

God asked him, “Why are you here, Elijah” (1 Kings 19:9)? God was implying with his question that Elijah should not have been running away. Elijah replied with this grievance, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of Armies, but the people of Israel have abandoned your covenant. They have torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking to take my life” (1 Kings 19:10).

Elijah was experiencing spiritual burnout. He was stressed – he was opposing Israel’s king to his face. He was scared – the queen wanted him dead. He was defeated and despairing – even though he had just won a great victory on Mount Carmel, the people did not convert from their paganism. He felt like he was alone – the only believer in all of Israel.

Do you ever feel like you’re suffering spiritual burnout? Burnout is a state of chronic spiritual, physical, and emotional exhaustion. Left unaddressed, it triggers a severe domino effect that can damage your spiritual fitness, physical health, mental well-being, relationships, and employment.

Perhaps you’re stressed because you want your business or school athletics or family to succeed. But everything is so expensive recently. So, it’s hard to make any monetary headway. You work hard to make the team, but you’re just smaller, slower, or less talented than your teammates. You pour yourself into your family, but your kids are naughty, your spouse is busy, and your in-laws are … you know.

You’re filled with grief at the loss of a loved one. He or she was a rock and a steady influence on your life. But now they’re gone. You’re afraid. Your business isn’t doing well. Your credit cards are maxed out. Your physical health is failing. You put so much effort into caring for your children, but now you’re caring for your elderly parents – and that’s consuming even more of your time and energy.

You feel defeated and despairing. You pray daily and weekly in the Lord’s Prayer for God’s Kingdom to come, but our culture is becoming more ungodly. A spiritual darkness has descended upon our nation. You want your church and church body to grow, but confessional Lutheran church bodies have decreased in membership in the past two decades.

We find ourselves sitting with Elijah in a cave – spiritually burnt out, isolated, irritable, despairing, doubting, dissatisfied. What do we want God to do for us? Well, we would love for God to perform a miracle, turn things around, make things easier, less complicated, less stressful, more successful, and more enjoyable.

But that’s not the way God works. God deals with you the same way he dealt with his despairing cave-dwelling prophet. The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is passing by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains and shattered rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind came an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire there was a soft, whispering voice. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak, and he went out and stood at the entrance to the cave. (1 Kings 19:11-13)?

God was not in the wind, earthquake, or fire. God can certainly send and use the forces of nature, but that’s not how God fixes problems, communicates with us, or heals our hurting hearts. God soothes our spiritual burnout in the same way he did with Elijah. Not with great signs or wonders by resurrecting loved ones, miraculous restored health, inexplicable improved income, astounding athletic prowess, phenomenal family fulfillment, or wondrous numerical growth within the WELS. God can certainly do all those things. But that’s not typically how our God works. God doesn’t usually sustain his people through cultural earthquakes or political fires or the winds of change in civilization. The Lord sustains those within his Christian Church through the quiet, ordinary, unassuming preaching of the Word and the faithful administration of his Sacraments.

God soothes your spiritual burnout by whispering into your ear: “I love you. You are never alone. I’m with you under the broom tree of despair, along the long walk of persecution, and in the cave of fear. I’m with you in your home, at work, school, the athletic field, the hospital room, and at the funeral home. I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

He whispers into your ear: “I baptized you. You belong to me. No one and nothing can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus your Lord.”

He whispers into your ear: “Come to my table. There I’ll give you food and drink to sustain you on your journey, just as I sustained my prophet for his 40-day journey with bread and water.”

God whispered, but Elijah still whined, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of Armies, but the people of Israel have abandoned your covenant. They have torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking to take my life” (1 Kings 19:14).

That’s when the Lord encouraged his burned-out prophet by giving him a vocation and the assurance of his divine providence. The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came and go to the Wilderness of Damascus. When you get there, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram. You will also anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah as prophet in your place. Whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill, and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. But I have preserved in Israel seven thousand whose knees have not bent to Baal and whose lips have not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:15-18).

God cures Elijah’s stagnation by giving him a vocation. A job to do. He would anoint Hazel as king over Aram – a heathen nation. He would anoint Jehu as king over Israel, taking over for Ahab’s son, Joram. And he would anoint Elisha to be his pastoral and prophetic successor. Most important, Elijah would continue to serve the 7,000 people the Lord had providentially reserved in Israel who had not bowed down to Baal.

Idleness breeds despair. If you find yourself in Elijah’s cave of spiritual burnout, God is giving you something to do.

Listen to the gentle whisper of his Word regularly in weekly worship, in one or some of our upcoming Bible studies, and in your own personal Bible reading and daily devotions.

Then fulfill your vocation wherever God allows you to serve him and those around you. It’s easy to become depressed when we’re looking at the pile of our problems. But it’s hard to have time for despair when we’re helping others sort through their problems. Find someone who is in need, possibly sitting in his or her own cave.

Whisper into their ears the good news that the Lord has whispered into your ears.

Whisper, “You are never alone.”

“Jesus is the Lord of light who dispels all spiritual darkness.”

“Jesus is the God-Man who walked on water and who answers your passionate plea, ‘Lord, save me!’”

Remind them that when faith fails and doubt takes over, Christ’s grip on you remains completely unbroken. Your security is not found on your hold on Christ, but on his hold on you.

Retell how when Peter was sinking in the water, “Immediately, Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.” Jesus doesn’t let his scared friend drown a little bit to teach him a lesson. He immediately saves his drenched disciple. And Jesus does the same thing with us.

So, call out with an entirely passive but passionate plea, “Lord, save me!” Jesus will reach out with his nail-scarred hands to save you, pull you to safety, and place you into the boat of his Holy Christian Church. Now, you may still be on the water in the middle of a storm, but Jesus will eventually and always get you safely to the shore of his heavenly paradise.

The Lord told Elijah, “Go back ...” During your tough life, the Lord whispers the same thing to you. “Go back.”

He whispers, “Go back to where you have my promises.”

“Go back to the cross of your Savior, Jesus Christ, where he has swept away your sins and forgiven them.”

“Go back to the empty tomb where your worst enemies, the ones who have put a bounty on your head are defeated – Sin, Satan, and Death.”

“Go back to the baptismal font, where your self-pity is drowned, and a vocation of serving of God and your neighbor arises anew.”

“Go back to the Lord’s Table where Christ nourishes you for the journey of life with his body and blood.”

“Go back to see all those whom God has reserved for himself within his Holy Christian Church. Those here at Lord of Lords, those within the other WELS Wyoming churches, those within the Wisconsin Synod, and those around the world who are united in the Christian faith.”

Fellow Christian cave dwellers, go back again and again to hear God whisper his gospel into your ears to soothe your spiritual burnout. Amen.