Overwhelmed and Exhausted, Part 2 - "You Can Quit!"

            Last time we saw that God did not rebuke Elijah for venting when he was overwhelmed and exhausted by all that he had done for the Lord.  In fact, instead of rebuking Elijah and pointing out how incredibly sinful he was—God facilitated a time of rest for Elijah.  This might seem a little bit of a shock for some of us who feel guilty for relaxing and taking a little time to rest.  Even Jesus knew when He and His disciples needed rest saying to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest awhile.”  Vance Havner quotes the King James translation which says, “Come apart , , , and rest awhile,” which he then used to say, “If we do not come apart and rest—then we just will come apart.” 

            Here is the second thing you need to do when you are overwhelmed and exhausted according to 1 Kings 19.  God is OK with you resigning from everything.  That is what Elijah did when he sat under that juniper tree in the wilderness.  He said, “It is enough; now, O LORD, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers." (NAS)  That was a resignation from life itself.  We need to note that Elijah was not contemplating suicide.  He was asking God to take his life—not that he himself was going to do this.  Elijah was at the point of resigning from life itself.  He was exhausted, overwhelmed and ready to quit—everything.  And, for a period of time, God allowed Elijah to do just that—resign from life itself to get refocused.  Note the place of this resignation was before God, and that is imperative for us to see here.  Don’t do anything rash anywhere in this world.  Don’t turn your resignation in from all your positions with men—just before God.   Go ahead and turn them all in to Him.  Here is what I want you to understand with this very interesting section of Scripture.  There is a very real, very helpful time to get into God’s presence and resign everything—even life itself.  It is part of “venting” before Him.  The wisdom in this is that God will take the time to minister to you before accepting all your resignations.  When you turn them in to Him, there will be no long-term ramifications.  He is OK with you pouring out your heart to Him—including your desire to quit—even quit everything!  This is the BEST place to discuss your frustrations, hurts, fears, etc.  Just know, though, that this is not a permanent thing.  God is committed to loving, ministering, and restoring you to where you WILL be able to pick up your resignations later—and with His wonderful refreshing—be wonderfully refocused and re-energized to continue life.  Before God is finished with Elijah, he will nderstand what brought him to this point of being overwhelmed and exhausted.  But for now Elijah needs to know that someone will still love him even if he quits.  That One more than any other is God.  Too many walk away from everything—including God.  That is where they make their biggest mistake.  Getting over your exhaustion and overwhelmed-ness will be nearly impossible if you choose to leave God too.  He, more than anyone else, wants to help you through this time.  So, here is the biblical advice this week.  Go ahead and quit—resign everything for a time—just make sure that you turn those in to God Himself—and that you do not quit Him.  Talk TO Him about all this—and keep talking to Him.