Christians are not immuned to stress

As we saw last week, stress is a predictable problem in every area of our life, and yet for the Christian stress can be overcome by having the right attitude. In 1 Kings 19:1-ff, we find a man by the name of Elijah, not an ordinary man, but the prophet of the Living God who has experience a great victory over the prophets of Baal. In fact, Israel has witnessed the God of Israel pouring fire out of heaven and consuming the altar. Then, over 400 false prophets are killed, followed by the first drops of rain in 2 1/2 years. This is a great time of worship and revival. Yet what follows in the life of Elijah a week of more stress followed by a break down emotionally, spiritually, physically, and mentally. In O.S. Hawkins' book High Calling High Anxiety, he identifies four sources of stress: forgetfulness, fear, fatigue, and failure. This is followed by five symptoms of stress: detachment, despondency, a defeat mentality, deception, defensiveness.
When Elijah forgot about the past victories and allowed the fear of death to overtake his thinking; and while pouring himself out physically to the people for days, and the end result seems to be a death sentence, it is no surprise that Elijah was overcome by stress. And as stress settles in, then we see this prophet's attitude change from one of victory to one of negativity, even negativity toward's self and God. It is from his own mouth he declares, "God kill me, I don't want to live anymore. Yet, God understood what he was facing and feeling, and God understands what you are facing as well. Notice what God did for Elijah. First, He made him eat and rest. Second, He appeared to him in the most personal way (still small voice). Third, God gave Elijah a new task. He wanted His servant to know that his life was not used up, and that He wanted him to continue representing the true and Living God in this stressful world.
Let me encourage you not to give up and let stress overwhelm your life. God is not done with you. If He was, then He would have called you home. He still wants you to be a faithful witness is this very hostile world. But for now, He might be telling you to refocus your attention to Him. If you are weary and heavy laden, give your burdens to Him and He will give you rest. If you are constantly worrying, God's Word says, "Do not be anxious about anything...but pray" (Phil 4:6). Hold tightly to Is. 26:3, the Christian key for dealing with stress - "You (God) will keep him (God's child) in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you (God) because he (God's child) trusts in you (God)." Until next time, keep walking with Christ.