Have you ever felt like it would be impossible to be any more tired?  Have you ever felt completely wiped out, physically worn out, spiritually drained, and emotionally beat up? Well this is exactly how Elijah felt after the mount Carmel experience.

In the last 48 hours the guy had executed hundreds of pagan prophets. He had run down a mountain faster than a full speed horse carriage in blinding rain at night. And on top of that, he had spent a whole day running non-stop in fear for his life. Talk about stress!

In a just couple of days he goes from a ‘spiritual high’ to intense fear to profound dejection. He prays for fire, he gets it (1 kings 18:36-38) he prays for rain, he gets that too (1 kings 18:42,44) but now, he is praying for God to take his life (1 kings 19:4)

Before the mount Carmel experience, Elijah firmly believed that he was the only faithful person left in Israel, and he was getting tired of it. -It’s not easy to feel like you are the only one-

Then, at the summit of Mount Carmel (1 kings 18) he gets to witness to all the Israelites and restore the name of God among his people. However, after such spiritual success, he succumbs into a deep depression.

After having done “all the right things”, he now finds himself running for his life. So much for remaining faithful to God!  The king is persecuting him now! So he runs away, faith and courage suddenly seem to abandon the otherwise spiritually bold prophet. After getting to experience the power of God first hand he now feels the need to run and hide in order to spare his life.

Sound familiar?

Doing the right thing is not always easy

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” -Galatians 6:9

But it’s worth it

I don’t know what your mount Carmel experience looks like. Maybe right now you find yourself running for your life when all along you’ve done “the right things”. Maybe today, you find yourself beat up under a tree wishing to go to sleep and never again have to wake up to a world so painfully traumatized by the horrendous consequences of sin.

If you fell tired, today I would like to invite you to stop. Take a refreshing nap in the arms of Jesus, drink of His everlasting water, eat of The bread of life and then, go on.

Right when Elijah is at his utmost point of exhaustion the angel reminds him that his ministry is not over.

You see, he had a long journey ahead of him. He had work to do. So do you.

But just like Elijah, you’re  not on your own. (Isaiah 41:10)

To you, the one who is worn out, Jesus is saying today:

“come to me, and I will give you rest.”