Singing the Blues with Elijah
I Kings 19:1-9a (The Message)
Psalm 69:1-3 (Good News)
March 11, 2007
For the last couple of weeks, we have been talking about how the “Blues” as a musical genre’ has its roots in West African rhythms which came with the slaves to the southern plantations of the United States. The “Blues” speak about the depths of struggle and strife and the feelings of hurt, abandonment, and depression.
A minute ago, we sang “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.” It was written in 1932 by Thomas Dorsey, an African-American who is known as the father of gospel music. The song was written following the death of his wife and first son in childbirth. The song is a recognition that he could not continue on by himself. The only way to survive the heartbreak was to trust in God to hold his hand and walk him through the trials.
What we don’t always remember about Thomas Dorsey was that he began his musical career as a blues pianist when he was known as “Georgia Tom.” He realized that “Blues” and “Spirituals” come from the same source. Dorsey’s father was a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Tom was a faithful Christian all his life. He understood that even Christians face unimaginable trials from time to time.
Alberta Hunter was another great African-American “Blues” singer who said, “The blues? Why, the blues are part of me. To me, the blues are like spirituals, almost sacred. When we sing blues, we’re singin’ out our hearts, we’re singin’ out our feelings. Maybe we’re hurt and just can’t answer back, then we sing or maybe even hum the blues.” She said that when she sang the blues, she was letting her soul out.
We all sing the blues from time to time. We are now in the midst of this Lenten sermon series on “Singing the Blues with God’s People.” We know that some of our biblical ancestors faced terrible periods of doubt and depression. But they all found ways to overcome. By doing so, they have left us with a legacy of hope for those times when we too sing the blues.
Have you ever been in the company of someone who has described a mountain-top spiritual experience? Don’t you just want to say, “Boy, if I had a story like that, I would never doubt God? I would never be depressed. I would never feel left out or alone. I would have it made.”
I attended License to Preach School down at Depauw University during the summer of 1972. I had just finished my freshman year of college and had made the decision to embark on the journey toward ordained ministry. There were probably about twenty of us young men there for those two weeks. Yes, at that time, we were all men.
I remember one evening when the professors gathered us around in the parlor of the dorm in which we were staying. We went around the room and told our stories. What had brought us to this place? Why had we made the decision that we had made. Was there an event or events in our life that pushed us toward this goal?
I don’t remember any specifics of the stories. I only remember that some of them were very dramatic. One of my fellow classmates told a story about being deeply involved in drugs. Just when he was at his lowest point; when he thought that he couldn’t break out of the destructive cycle of abuse, he heard the unmistakable voice of God calling him.
Another talked about the fact that he had been intentionally running away from God for many years, only to hear God calling him out of his sin and into the ministry.
Another said that God spoke to him in a way that sounded like a thunderbolt. The fellow said that he turned his life over to Christ at that very minute.
Another was an athletic trainer for his college basketball team. He said that after his conversion, God had used him to lead a number of the members of his team to Christ.
I remember thinking, “Wow. I wish I had a great story to tell like that. I wish I had a dramatic Damascus Road type experience. I wish God had come into my life with thunder and lightening. I wish I had great stories to tell about my evangelistic successes.”
Compared to my friends, my own story was rather ordinary and mundane. I thought that if I had a great testimony, there was nothing on earth that could shake me. If I had a great story to tell about my conversion or my call, I would be set, and nothing would bother me or get in my way. If I could experience some of the spiritual victories of my friends, I would forever be a champion for God.
I wonder if Elijah felt that way. What a great story he had. What tales he could tell. What a witness he made.
Elijah was a prophet of God during the time when the kingdom that had existed under King Solomon had been split in two. The northern kingdom was called Israel and the southern kingdom was called Judah. Elijah was ministering in the northern kingdom during the reign of King Ahab. In fact, Elijah was a real thorn in the side of the king.
If you remember, Ahab was a wicked king who didn’t fear or worship God. He was so wicked in fact, that he married a foreign woman named Jezebel and allowed her to bring in her own pagan prophets and to set up centers for the worship of pagan gods. There seemed to be nothing that Elijah could do that would cause the king to listen to reason. So it finally came time for a showdown.
In the eighteenth chapter of I Kings, Elijah told the king to have the pagan prophets meet him on the top of Mt. Carmel. I have been to the top of this mountain which overlooks the present day city of Haifa. It provides a gorgeous view of the city on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
Imagine, if you will for a moment, an old cowboy movie in which two men would square off in the middle of the street for a gunfight. That was sort of what was going on here. They brought two bulls out; one for Elijah and one for the four hundred and fifty prophets of the false God. Elijah said that they would each sacrifice a bull and lay it out on a bed of wood. Whichever God came and devoured the bull by fire would then be recognized as the real God. Would it be the pagan god Baal, or would it be Yahweh, the God of the Israelites?
So the prophets of Baal went first. They sacrificed their bull, laid it out on the wood, and commenced to call on their god. They cried out, danced and pranced back and forth, pleaded with Baal to come down and accept their sacrifice. They went into a frenzy, flagellating themselves with swords and lances until their own blood flowed, but nothing worked. This went on from morning until noon. Nothing happened.
Now the story gets really funny. Elijah started taunting them. He said stuff like, “Perhaps you need to yell louder. Your god may be on a journey. Or he may be taking a nap. Maybe he went on vacation. He could be meditating. I’m not sure what is going on with him, but he’s can’t hear you. Yell louder.” But nothing that the false prophets did could bring their god down to burn up the offering.
Finally Elijah had enough. He laid out his offering and ordered water poured over it. In fact, there was so much water that it filled a trench around the altar. Then, following his prayer, fire from heaven came down and consumed the offering. At that point, Elijah order that the false prophets should be killed. What a demonstration of the power of God.
This is the point at which Elijah should have been really feeling his oats. He had been used by God in such a powerful way that he couldn’t even have dreamed of it. He must have been sitting on top of the world. What a great testimony he had. He must have been feeling that no one or nothing could touch him. He must have been feeling like a true champion of God, just like I wanted to feel on that night long ago at Depauw University.
The problem with Elijah was that the feelings of euphoria didn’t last. He started singing the blues before the ashes from the sacrificial altar were blown away by the wind. He couldn’t understand it. The show on Mount Carmel was supposed to bring revival to the land. It was supposed to turn the tide from pagan ways back to the worship of the one true God. The problem was Jezebel. She was livid that all of her prophets had been killed, so she vowed that she would see Elijah dead. So he fled for his life. Talk about disappointed. Talk about depressed. Talk about singing the blues. Elijah was doing all of that and more.
He fled all the way down to Mount Horeb, down in the Sinai wilderness. This was the mountain of God, the place where Moses had received the Ten Commandments. On the journey, he felt physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted. He just couldn’t go on anymore. So he sat down under a bush and said to God, “Enough of this…Take my life – I’m ready to join my ancestors in the grave.” If you remember the message of a couple of weeks ago when we talked about Moses; Elijah here echoes his words. He felt that he was completely alone. Just kill me. I can’t take it anymore. I’m done. I’ve had it. No one can be expected to put up with what I have put up with. Just kill me. You’ll be doing me a favor.
I have a feeling that Elijah might have been experiencing what some mental health professionals call “post-adrenaline blues.” After a period of intense activity when a person has been operating at peak performance and meeting high expectations, there is sometimes a letdown.
This is a physiological reaction. Following any activity that demands a high level of energy, the endocrine system lets you know that it has been working overtime. The endocrine system is that bodily system that secretes hormones into your body when you need them. During a time of intense activity or stress, all of these hormones are dumped into your body and, suddenly, when the stress or high activity level is over, these hormones are no longer needed, and you may feel this letdown. It is the body telling you that you need time to recuperate. You need time to rest and relax. You need time to heal.
It is not only a physiological phenomenon; it also affects your emotions. You can feel sad, angry, confused, or even hopeless. I have a feeling that this is what happened to Elijah. I think he was experiencing post-adrenaline blues. At the lowest point of his energy, Elijah prayed to God to end his life because he had had enough.
In his state of mental and physical exhaustion, Elijah needed four things. First of all, he needed rest. He sat down under a broom tree in the desert for some much needed sleep. He needed the time for his body to begin to recover its strength. Recent studies have found that one of the major health issues facing Americans is lack of sleep. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, a report came out that said that an afternoon nap is one good technique to lessen one’s chances of having a heart attack.
Secondly, he needed to eat. After a period of sleep, God woke him up and provided him a good, solid meal. You’ve got to keep your body chemistry from getting all messed up. A healthy diet is vital for both emotional and physical health.
Third, he needed exercise. God told him to get on his feet because he was sending him on a long journey down into the Sinai desert. Exercise not only builds up your strength, but it acts as a mood-enhancer or an anti-depressant.
Finally, he needed to talk to God. This is the one constant among all of our blues-singing biblical characters. They all needed to talk to God. They needed to work things out. They needed to ask questions and receive answers. They needed to know that they were not alone in the world.
It was in prayer that Elijah heard the still, small voice of God. The prophet was being told to allow God to take his hand and lead him home. There was still more work to do.
So it is possible that before the periods of our blues-singing or our periodic times of depression when we sing the blues, we may have felt on top of the world. We may have felt like we could accomplish anything we set out to do. We may have just achieved a great victory of some kind or another.
Maybe we get depressed because of a natural bodily process of a post-adrenaline letdown. If that happens, there is good counsel in the Scripture lesson for today. Always remember:
Those techniques will enable us to hear God speaking to us in the still, small voice that says, “You are precious to me and I have meaningful work for you to do. Take my hand and walk with me.”