Overcoming the Law of Undulation June 27 2008

Scripture reading Psalm 9: 9-10  

          You’ve all heard the old saying whatever goes up must come down. When we were kids we always thought that it referred to rocks out of sling shots, bb’s and arrows. Anyone ever do that with a bow?  We had a big field behind our house and I remember shooting an arrow straight up one time to see how high it would go.  It was no sooner out of the bow when I realized that was a bad idea, and running with my arms over my head trying to get away before I got shiskabobed.  As adults there is still this law of what goes up must also come down and we realize it pertains to more than just arrows, it also pertains to the highs and lows of our spiritual journey and the ups and downs of life in general. We realize it is just the natural ebb and flow of life.  The reason I’m bringing this up is that as we are returning from camp this is what many of us will all be dealing with.  Unfortunately we cannot live at camp all year long. We had a very pleasant camp this year, and even as early as Sunday night Cheryll was lamenting the fact that camp was over. She is already buying supplies for next year.  We have just returned from one of those wonderful mountain top experiences and now we get slammed right back into the everyday mundane life, from which we had the opportunity of leaving behind for a week.  Can I just ask for a show of hands; how many were sad camp was over, and how many of you had a hard week last week?  This is to be expected and is totally normal, and in fact God actually uses these down times to bring us closer to Him.  I would like to illustrate this in the life of Elijah.  1^st Kings Chapter 19   Page 245. Elijah has just had a great victory over the forces of evil that were trying to woo the children of Israel away from worshiping the one and only true God.  We read of that showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel in the 18 chapter of 1^st Kings.  We cannot serve two Gods, and it was time for the children of Israel to choose. They set up two altars one for Baal and one for the Lord, spread wood out and sacrificed two bulls and arranged then on the wood, and which ever God lit their sacrifice was the true God. The priest of Baal went first and for hours they danced and cut themselves and prayed to Baal to light the sacrifice while Elijah taunted them. Maybe he is asleep or deep in thought shout louder. Maybe he’s busy or away traveling.  Then Elijah arranged the sacrifice and had the altar with the wood and the meat soaked with water and he prayed. The Lord not only lit his sacrifice but consumed the rocks of the altar, the soil under the altar and lick up the water that was in a trench that was dug around the altar. The drought which had lasted several years was ended, the prophet of Baal and Asherah were not only defeated but were taken away and killed. The Lord was again the only God worshiped in Israel. Great victory, Elijah should have been on top of the world, and he probably was for a second. Let’s read.   

19 Ahab (he was the wicked king of Israel at the time) told Jezebel ( his equally wicked wife) all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. ² Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” ³ Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.  

⁴ But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” ⁵ Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” ⁶ He looked, and there at his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. ⁷ The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” ⁸ He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. ⁹ At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.  

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁰ He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” 

     Elijah has just witnessed the awesome power of God in defeating the prophets of Baal and Asherah, and now he’s feeling so sorry for himself  he wants to die. Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I think I’ll just go out and eat some worms. He let Jezebel, one person; rob him of the joy of the Lord from this huge victory.  Up to this point Elijah was very responsive to God’s will. God said come, Elijah came; God said do this, and that was what he did. Now when Jezebel threatens him instead of asking what God wanted him to do he resorted to his own reasoning and ran.  Elijah fixed his eyes on the problem instead of the problem solver, and hence suffered the consequences of his actions.  Don’t let some person com steal your joy.  Great thing it’s the same for us when we face trails, we need to focus on the problem solver not the problem.  Even though Elijah’s faith has faltered God was still with him.  It’s true for us too, He promises us he will never leave us or forsake us but will stay right with us in the good times as well as bad. In fact these trials that we experience, are often the periods of our greatest growth.  So while the mountain top experience is grand, growth happens when we come back down and put it into practice all the things we’ve learned. Just because we’ve had a great victory or a grand time of spiritual renewal it doesn’t mean that we will be immune from further trials. In fact Satan will do all he can to try and rob us of our joy and bring us down as fast as possible so we don’t infect others with our enthusiasm.   

Trials will come, its part of life in this old world. I can’t tell you how many times this has happened in my life.  

Whenever we have a great spiritual experience, be it a victory over sin, or some other spiritual breakthrough, maybe a time when we feel a real closeness to God, watch out. The attack may be just around the corner. This happens on such a regular basis I come to expect it. Watch and be ready because our adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he shall devour.  The good news is we don’t have to fight the battle alone, because the battle belongs to the Lord.   

This passage, the battle belongs to the Lord, comes from another great example of a tremendous victory ending with a trial. You might remember Saul became jealous of David and tried to kill him with a spear shortly after David killed Goliath.  Here David comes and rescues the Israelites, and the king thanks him by trying to pin him to the wall with a spear. It’s normal to have this happen. Even Jesus, after he fasted for 40 days and had this great time of prayer and communion with the Father, came back and was tempted by Satan. Peter walks on water, and then wavers in his faith.  Joshua has a mighty victory over Jericho and then got spanked by little old Ai. Remember that story they entered the Promised Land after wandering for 40 years in the wilderness and they came to this fortified city.  This is one of those great stones.  The children of Israel, all 6 million or so of them are about to enter their promised land and only Jericho stands in the way.  Only trouble is Jericho is impenetratable.  Great example for us, when our problem seems impossible, when the trials too tough to handle, when we see no way out, when we come to the end of ourself, we are just coming to the beginning of God.  We have an awesome God and there is no such thing as a big problem for Him.  All the children of Israel had to do was be obedient and  march around Jericho for 7 days and the walls fell down.  “We’re awesome no one can stand in our way” they said.  The old pride thing again. God gave them the city and He wanted all the spoils, unfortunately Achan decided he couldn’t live without a certain suit of clothes and some silver and a wedge of gold.   So because of this disobedience  God didn’t go with them to fight Ai, and this little city that was going to be a pushover sent them home with their tails between their legs.  When one member of the body sins the whole body suffers-I’ll get back to this on another day though.   Trials after the victory.  It’s just part of life, no one is immune.  

    James tells us, “Consider it pure joy my brothers when you experience trials of various kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.”  Then he goes on to say this happens so we will be mature and complete in the faith, not lacking in anything. 

Back to Elijah; let’s look at how God is dealing with Elijah as he is experiencing this trial or crisis of faith.  First notice that He doesn’t preach at him, doesn’t call his faith into account, doesn’t try and make him feel guilty, no He watches over Elijah, feeds him and gives him water, and rest.  This is a great prescription for all of us as we come down from the mountain only to fall into the slough of despond.   We just need to hang on and let these feelings pass.  Most rapids don’t end in a waterfall, but rather a nice calm pool. The tumultuous periods we experience in life don’t normally end in disaster but in a strengthening of faith as we see Gods helping us through these trials of life. Don’t let it get you down, don’t become depressed and downhearted, just hang on, hang on to God. 

  There are two kinds of depression, situational depression, and clinical depression. Right now I’m only dealing with situational depression.  You’ve had a great spiritual experience and Satan is trying to rob you of your joy.  Don’t let him, this will pass. It’s ironic that he doesn’t bother with us when we are in the valley, but when we are on the mountain.  When we are living out our faith, this worries him and he goes on the offensive.  Watch out, it can happen to anybody, no one is immune.  

I even read that the great reformer Martin Luther suffered severe depression once. Couldn’t pray, couldn’t write, couldn’t read, he just sat in his study, for days. His wife came in with tea one day all dressed in black complete with veil.  Luther asked what was wrong with her and she replied, “I’ve gone into mourning.”  “Over what?” Luther asked. “I’m mourning because God is dead.”  Luther said, “Woman that is nonsense, God is not dead, He is alive.”  “Martin if you believe that, then act like it and live like it.”  Even great pillars of our faith have experienced these down times, these periods of gloom. But take heart there is a God in heaven who loves us and he doesn’t want us to live with the gloom despair and agony on me attitude.  

 If you are suffering from clinical depression though, that’s a whole other ball game, please get some professional help.  It you want to stay in bed all day, if you keep your house so dark you could grow mushrooms inside, if you don’t want to go out even to have fun with friends, your sleep is disrupted,  you’re overcome with apathy, get some professional help, you don’t have to live like this. Ir you’re just are feeling blue it’s just the normal ebb and flow of life,  the letdown after a spiritual high, don’t let this rob you of the joy and the spiritual growth that was gained from that experience.  

Elijah felt alone, he felt weak, and powerless against the forces of evil in the land. He had the blues. He had been on the mountain, had experienced a great victory and now only gloom and despair.  He overcame this by resting, and eating, and by taking time alone, where he could hear God speak to him in that still small voice. That little 40 day walk in the sunshine on the way to Mt. Horeb may have rejuvenated him as well. I’m sure he spent a lot of this time in prayer as he walked. Food, water, rest, exercise, sunshine, spending time alone with God, and a quiet time to listen for His voice. All these things Elijah did and they are a good prescription for all of us in beating the blues.  

Gal 6:9 tells us, Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  We are going to have some disappointments along the way, that’s to be expected but keep going.  The great Babe Ruth hit 714 homeruns, but no one tells you he also struck out 1330 times.  Bret Farve has the record for most touchdowns passes over 425 about 2 weeks after he broke the record, but he also set the record for most interceptions.  You see disappointment come when we’re in the game; the alternative is to sit on the sidelines. This is right where Satan would like us to be. 

          I would like to close today by looking at a favorite passage found in Philippians 4, page 832 in your pew bibles.  The church of Jesus Christ is under attack, just like Jesus said it would be, in this world you will have tribulation John 16:33 reads, but take courage Jesus tells us for he has overcome the world.  Philipians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.  We mistakenly have the notion that joy is a feeling, and how can we be commanded to have certain feelings?  But joy in the Lord is not a feeling it is the unshakeable confidence that is in the heart of every believer; God is in control. The Lord is our fortress and our strong tower, we will not be moved.  Rejoice in the Lord. 

On April 9th 1963, the nuclear submarine the Thresher's was engaged in a deep diving exercise in the North Atlantic when her nuclear engine quit and the diesel backup also failed, and it could not get back to the surface. It sank deeper and deeper into the ocean. The pressure became immense. The heavy steel bulkheads buckled; the Thresher was crushed with 129 souls on board. The Navy searched for the Thresher with a bathyscaphe which are much stronger than submarines. It was shaped like a steel ball with lights and cameras, and was lowered into the ocean on a cable. They finally located the Thresher at a depth of 8,400 feet: one and a half miles down. It was crushed like an egg shell. That was not a surprise, the pressure at that depth is tremendous—3,600 pounds per square inch. What was surprising to the searchers was that they saw fish at that great depth. And these fish didn’t have inches of steel to protect them. They appeared to have normal skin, a fraction of an inch thick. How can these fish survive under all that pressure? How come they are not crushed by the weight of the water? They have a secret. Their secret is that they have the same pressure inside themselves as they have on the outside; survival under pressure.  John assures us, "The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." We will be victorious in the battle against Satan because Jesus poured his Spirit into our hearts. "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." 

We exist in a pressure cooker world, and the only way any of us are going to get through this life with any degree of sanity is to trust in the Lord with all our heart, and lean not on our own understanding, in all our ways acknowledge Him and He will direct our paths.  We don’t know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future.  Life is going to have its ups and downs.  When we are filled with the fullness of God, only then will we be able to withstand the pressures from without. Whatever life chooses to throw at us.  We are to be transformed by our trials not beaten by them and with the Lords help we can have victory. 

Let’s pray: Lord I just thank you for life, help us through your power to embrace the trials and the triumphs.  Thank you for loving us and thank you for the promise that you have overcome and in you we to can be victorious. Lord protect those who are weak and use the rest of us to encourage those who may be faint of heart right now.  Lord we want to be salt and light in our little corner of the world.  Lord if there is anyone here who has never committed their life to you may they do it now.  So that they won’t be crushed y the pressures of this world, and Lord I just pray now that your will be done in each of our lives and may we glorify you in all that we say and do.  In your precious name we pray.  Amen.