Are you often gripped by sadness? Do you forget appointments or frequently cancel them? Are you increasingly irritable to those around you? Do you find yourself too busy to read Scripture, pray, or attend church? Do you feel inclined to take medication for anxiety or depression? Do you feel like quitting and or like a continual failure? If you answer these questions affirmatively, it may be that there is a problem of burnout in your life.

In this second article on burnout, let’s look at some of the causes of this malady from the life of Elijah.

1 Kings 19 begins with a message from Jezebel that sends Elijah on the run to leave him sitting under a juniper tree wishing he were dead. Elijah had just stood boldly for God against the idolatry of Ahab and called fire from heaven. His prayers then brought rain while ending three and a half years of drought. After this mountaintop experience comes the valley of discouragement. Elijah realizes that Ahab’s repentance was phony and Jezebel was still fixated on furthering her ungodly agenda.

The first reason for Elijah’s depression is a faulty expectation. After calling fire from heaven, Elijah expected the nation to turn to God. Ahab’s temporary allegiance was a sham of convenience as he told Jezebel “all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword” (1 Kings 19:1). Ahab failed to see the power of God’s hand but instead credits Elijah for all the mighty acts that transpired. Disillusionment sank into Elijah, and depression followed.

Has this not happened to us? When we expect one thing and receive the very opposite it can lead to a burnout moment. For instance, it is easy to have high expectations in a marriage relationship, and when these expectations are not met, discouragement may follow. The same is true when you join a new church, begin a new job, or start a new ministry.

Psalm 62:5 gives to us the best expectation of our soul: “My soul, with thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him.”

A second reason for Elijah’s burnout is a wrong perspective. Elijah has drawn strength from the belief that no matter where he was and who was with him, he stood first of all before the Lord (1 Kings 17:1; 18:15). Up to this point, Elijah sees the Lord, and like Moses “he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). Elijah’s perspective shift is seen in 1 Kings 19:3:

“And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.”

Rather than seeing the Lord, Elijah sees “that.” What’s “that”?  It is the death threat message from Jezebel. Focusing on “that,” he stops looking to the Lord. This reminds us of Peter who saw the wind and waves while walking to Jesus. When Peter saw “that” he began to sink. Like Peter, Elijah sees his circumstances, forgets the Lord, becomes fearful and it leads to burnout under a juniper tree.

A final reason from this text for burnout is physical exhaustion. Elijah was simply worn out. On Mount Carmel he was engaged in a great spiritual warfare which resulted in him overseeing the death of the prophets of Baal. Then he ran twenty miles from Mount Carmel to Jezreel. From there he fled to Beersheba. Elijah expended tremendous amounts of energy in each of these events.

The bottom line is our inner life is sensitive to our outward conditions. Life is a mixture of pain and pleasure, victory and defeat, success and failure, and sunshine and rain. When you are tired, shut everything down, get a good night sleep and eat a healthy meal. Refrain from junk food and eat fresh. Have a tall glass of vegetable juice! Spiritual people remember that they have a body and a soul and seek to take paper care of them both.

If a faulty expectation, wrong perspective, and physical exhaustion have overcome you, take time to go to Jesus and rest. “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished” (Isaiah 51:6).

In the next article we will continue to study Elijah’s burnout experience and discover the consequences of his burnout.