May God give you the blessing of training up the next generation of servants who will continue to live and preach the truth to His church as well as continue the work of His kingdom.  I thought I was finished with the series of articles on being overwhelmed and exhausted.  But as I thought about the directives that God gave to Elijah to get him back on the track of serving Him—I was amiss in presenting one last thing about how God deals with our sense of being overwhelmed and exhausted.  This last thing has to do with God telling Elijah to find Elisha and anoint him as the one who would be prophet in his place.

Training up our replacement may seem like a task that will add to our being overwhelmed and exhausted, but as I hope you will see, such a task refocuses us on what is important—vitally important to the work of God.  In addressing Elijah’s exhaustion and sense of being overwhelmed, God did one of the most wonderful things He could do—He gave Elijah a protégé—a servant—a disciple if you will.  Elisha was that disciple.

One of the reasons that we get overwhelmed and exhausted is because we try to do God’s work, our way.  We think that we are supposed to foster massive movements and set up awesome “ministries” for God.  Yet, when you look at what Jesus Christ did while on the earth (and He said He lived to do the Father’s will), it might amaze you what He devoted Himself to doing.  He did spend large amounts of time teaching and           ministering to those who came around Him, but not in the way of fostering a huge movement or organization like we do today.  He spend the majority of His time ministering to twelve men—seeking to reproduce what He did and was doing through them.  If anything, He actually shunned the idea of building a huge organization.  In short—He disciple men.  This is what God was doing with Elijah as well.  He would pour the last months and years of his life into a young man, Elisha, who would continue his prophetic ministry afterward.  What is even more wonderful to see is that by the time Elisha moves into the full swing of his ministry for God, he has a group of men with him which we could loosely call, the school of the prophets.  Elisha’s legacy would be not just his own ministry as prophet and a replacement—but a wonderful ministry—and multiple prophets who could spread the Word of God far further than he could do alone. 

Sometimes we are overwhelmed and exhausted because we see NO END in sight for us to carry the ministry we have—ALONE.  Even Jesus did not do that.  He gave Himself to raise up 12—and actually by the time they were praying in the upper room prior to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit—there were 120.  That would definitely lessen our load and help preclude further exhaustion and a sense of being overwhelmed.  So, as I close this week’s article I only have one question.  “Who are you working with to be your replacement in the work of the kingdom?

God had brought Elijah to Mt. Horeb where He revealed Himself to Elijah.  That revelation reminded Elijah that God moved in quiet ways—often behind the scenes of the big and the spectacular.  But there was one last thing that the Lord did to help Elijah.  We remember that God made Elijah rest and sleep and that He addressed the performance orientation Elijah had.  He also helped Elijah see that He was at work whether Elijah saw it or not—and that God’s work did not rest on Elijah alone.  The other thing that the Lord did was to get Elijah back into doing God’s will.  He also gave Elijah hope that God would finish the work of judgment and revival—even though Elijah would not be there.

After hearing Elijah’s complaints we need to see that God did not directly address Elijah’s gripes.  He simply acted as He is—God—and He gave Elijah a will to follow.  Yet in giving these assignments God gave Elijah enough information to know that God was going to complete the work He began through Elijah.  The      instructions were simple—anoint Hazael king over Aram—and Jehu king over Israel.  In addition to the anointing of these two kings, he also was to anoint Elisha as prophet in his place.  There is something we should learn from these directions.

When we are exhausted and overwhelmed—God wants us to rest—but not forever.  Elijah had lost his way because God did not solve things completely—the way Elijah wanted.  But after God had addressed Elijah’s spiritual condition, God knew that Elijah needed to get back on track and begin serving the Lord again in the things he did.  But as God did this—he unequivocally let Elijah know that He was going to work in perpetuity.  Judgment would come on the wicked—that was assured.  But, it would come in God’s way, according to God’s timing, and through God’s chosen instruments. 

Elijah unfortunately fell into the thought that everything had to be done through him and while he was alive.  God’s plans and purposes go far beyond any one man or woman.  They have been carried out in the past—and they will be carried on in the future.  No one man can claim to have all the truth and also lay claim to all God wants to do.  Our job is simply to take the baton from those in the past—and run the race faithfully until we are to hand the baton to the next person.  Elijah had struggled with the passing of the baton.  We may be overwhelmed and exhausted because we think God’s work in our area—in our state - and even in our nation and world.  Our job should be to run faithfully our leg of the race—and pass the baton.  God will eventually finish every race in His own way - with His own chosen people.  We would have much more peace and rest if we would once again recognize that race.

            This is part four of a study on what to do if you are overwhelmed and exhausted.  This week we need to look at a question that God asked Elijah twice in dealing with his sense of being overwhelmed and exhausted.  You might be surprised at what God was trying to do to help Elijah.

             One of the problems that happens when we are overwhelmed and exhausted is that we lose    perspective on life.  We become so burdened and weighed down by our present circumstances that we cannot see where we are any longer.  God asked Elijah a simple question.  His question is one we need to ask when we get this way.  “What are you doing here, Elijah,” God posed to his exhausted servant.  What is fascinating is that God asked this question twice. Elijah spoke of his great zeal for God—Israel’s great sin and unfaithfulness to God—of Israel’s rejection of every prophet sent to them—and finally of the fact that now they are seeking to kill him too.  This was Elijah’s answer to God both times he was asked the same question.  Notice anything about these answers?  Let me help you if you’ve missed it.  Neither of them answered what God was asking.  God wasn’t asking Elijah what he had been through recently—but why he was where he was now.  Elijah answered both times with the circumstances that were overwhelming him.  Let’s look at how this should instruct us.

Elijah was focused on what had happened in the past—not on where it was landing him right now.  That is a sign of someone who is overwhelmed.  They cannot see past what has happened—to where they are now.  Elijah’s   answer is telling though.  Where he was had to do with what he thought about God.  He was zealous—He addressed Israel’s unfaithfulness—He was persecuted—and He was facing death threats.  Notice something about this answer.  It was all about what HE had done—and—how God was not coming through like He should be based on what Elijah was doing.  One of the reasons we get overwhelmed is because our “expectations” are not being met the way we think they should be.  Part of our problem is that we have entered into strong labor—exhausting labor—even labor in obedience to God—but we have entered into it with expectations of what God should do because we are laboring.  What happens to us when God does not come through with OUR expected results?  Often we get seriously stressed out.  Most think that maybe they just need to work harder, which does not help our stress level at all.  Each time God does not come through with the expected results we get even more stressed.  Finally, we snap and wind up under a tree or on a mountain side having God ask us what we are doing there (well, actually that was Elijah—but we have our places too, don’t we). 

Here is God’s wisdom for us.  We are servants—and we serve as our Lord has commanded.  We serve in faith desiring good results.  We labor in the strength He provides—hoping for an outcome.  But we labor leaving the results up to Him—even if they are not what we want—or they don’t come as soon as we think they should.  If we do not take this view . . . we will end up with unmet expectations that stress us out.  But our stress is not due to what God has     commanded.  It is due to our unmet expectations.  Lay down the expectations and serve Him without them—and you will be amazed at how your stress level—your exhaustion and overwhelmed level will drop.