Week 3: Elijah's Burnout

“I have had enough, Lord” (v.4). How many of us have uttered those words before? How many of us have hit a wall after a tough day, week, month, or year and said, “God, that’s it! I can’t take any more of this. It’s just too much. I can’t go on.” Elijah had had a rough season of ministry. From poverty to starvation to drought, to conflict with the king, to a showdown with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel where he was outnumbered 850 to 1, the odds seemed ever against this prophet of Yahweh. And finally, he hit his limit, lying down under a broom tree and begging the Lord to take his life.

The beauty of this story, however, is that God meets Elijah at the bottom of the barrel. In the wake of the prophet’s weakness, we might expect judgment and rebuke. What we get instead is a gracious God who sends an angel to bake Elijah a cake (v.6, KJV) and instructs him to take a nap. That’s not an exaggeration, it’s the text itself speaking. God sees the emotional state of his prophet, and he acknowledges the reality of his pain, even affirming Elijah’s complaint: “…the journey is too much for you” (v.7).

To those in the throes of burnout, God’s advice is not “try harder,” but rather, “I see you. I love you. Your suffering is real and I will walk through it with you, providing you what you need day by day.” God meets our exhaustion with the inexhaustible riches of his mercies, which “are new every morning” (Lam. 3:23).

Reflection Questions

1. What challenges you about Elijah’s story? What encourages you?

2. Where in your life do you feel exhausted? What has God been teaching you in the midst of this?

3. How does Lamentations 3:19-24 apply to your life right now?