Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Can Serious Christians Be Depressed? | Historical Books | 1 Kings 19:1-18

Episode Date: September 15, 2025

Can serious Christians be depressed? Is it okay to not be okay? How does God treat his people's frustrations? In today's episode, Keith shares how 1 Kings 19:1-18 reminds us of God's love and care for those who are struggling. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 Kings 19:1-18

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. Okay, let's start our time together by playing a game. It's called Two Truths and a Lie. See if you can identify the lie out of these three statements. First, mental illness is not due to a person's sin. Second, it's okay to not be okay.

Third, if you're serious about Jesus, you won't get depressed. Which two of those statements are true? and which statement is the lie? Let's go through them. First, mental illness is not due to a person's sin. That's true. Mental illness is not the direct result of anyone's sin. We wouldn't, or at least shouldn't,

see someone with cancer or heart disease and conclude that they got that disease because they sinned against God. And the same goes for mental illness. But we have to be careful here because while mental and physical illness is not the result of a person's sin, it is the result of living in a world

that has been affected by sin. We live in a broken, fallen world. This world is not the way it's supposed to be. Jesus is redeeming the world, and when he returns, there will be neither cancer nor mental illness. The second statement, it's okay to not be okay.

This one is tricky because it depends on the community you're in. It should be true. I hope it's true that in your small group or in your friend group, that you don't have to always be okay, because the freedom to not be okay is a sign of healthy relationships. But unfortunately, a lot of people don't experience the love and grace that comes through the ability to live transparent lives without the fear of condemnation and

rejection. The reality is that no one is always okay. But is it safe to admit that you're not okay in your small group or in your church? The third statement, if you're serious about Jesus, you won't get depressed. This is the lie. There are a whole host of genuine Jesus-love, living Christians who struggle with depression. In Psalm 63, David said, My soul is in anguish. He said, all night long I fled my bed with weeping and drenched my couch with tears. Psalm 88 says, I am overwhelmed with troubles, and my life drawn nears to death.

You have taken from me my friend and neighbor. Darkness is my closest friend. Jonas said, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live. The great pastor Charles Spurgeon wrote openly about seasons that he went through deep depression. C.S. Lewis suffered depression while he was recuperating from his wounds experienced in World War I. Mother Teresa said, I went to smile even at Jesus and hide, if possible, the pain and darkness of my soul, even from him. There are lots of people who experience depression. If you experience depression, that doesn't mean you're not a Christian.

there's nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed of. Now, when we talk about depression, we might mean different things. Sometimes depression can be used to refer to discouragement, all the way to something far more serious and scarier that is completely debilitating. Depression is not simply a bad day or even a bad few weeks. No, depression is a haunting presence. It's a grayness that covers all of life. It insulates you from joy, even under the best of circumstances.

and it makes you feel as though joy has left you forever. Look, I'm not a trained counselor. This isn't a counseling appointment. I'm not talking about depression in a technical sense. I use depression to talk about the broad range of emotions common to human experience. In James 517, it says that Elijah was a human being even as we are. And that just means that he dealt with a lot of the same issues that we do. After Elijah had embarrassed the prophets of Bail on Mount Carmel,

we pick up the story in 1 Kings 19. It says, now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with a sword. So Ahab tells Jezebel all that had happened on Mount Carmel. It doesn't lead them to repent, but instead to get angry. It turns out the miracles they saw God do didn't soften their heart, but instead heartened their heart. Verse 2. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say,

May the gods deal with me be it ever so severely if by this time tomorrow, I do not make your life like one of them. Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day's journey in the wilderness. So here we see the humanity of Elijah. The day before he had stood fearless on Mount Carmel, fearless before all the false prophets of bail but now he trembles at the threat of jezebel some days

were full of faith other days not so much our feelings are fickle they're out of control back to the story when elijah runs into the desert he comes to a big bush he sits down under it and he prays that he might die here's the prayer i have had enough lord he said take my life i am no better than my ancestors. So Elijah's like, look, I've had enough. I've reached my limit. I can't handle any more. Why do you think Elijah wanted to die? Well, when he had performed the miracles on Mount Carmel, he expected God to bless him. And yet, here's Jezebel threatening him. He probably was extremely discouraged. And he thought, no matter what I do, I am going to end up losing. Nothing I do really matters. Nothing has value. Nothing really makes a difference. Notice, though, Elijah doesn't feel the

freedom to take his own life. He has this deep sense that his life is a gift from God. He didn't determine when he was born, and he won't determine how many days he lives. That's up to God. We're not going to talk much about self-harm today, but it does come up in this passage. If you have feelings like you want to hurt yourself, you should talk to a friend or a counselor. We, we're not going to be a self. We want you to know that God cares about you, and so do we. Back to our story in verse five. Then Elijah lay down under the bush and he fell asleep. All at once, an angel touched him and said, get up and eat. He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals in a jar of water. He ate and drank and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came back a second

time and touched him and said, get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you. So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Horeb the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him. What are you doing here, Elijah? Why did God ask Elijah, what are you doing here? Didn't God know the answer? Doesn't God know all things? Well, I think God asks us questions so that we can do a little self-reflection and ask what's going on in my life. That's what he does for Elijah. And here's how Elijah responds to the question. Elijah says in verse 10, I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant. They've torn down your altars, put your prophets to death

with a sword. I am the only one left. And now they're trying to kill me too. How would you describe Elijah's attitude here? Don't you think he has a lot of self-pity in his heart? He's like, I've done great things. Everyone else failed. I'm the only one left, and I'm not being appreciated. Woe is me. Verse 11. The Lord said, go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by. Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was a great earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake gave a great fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire came a gentle whisper.

When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face, went out, and stood at the mouth of the cave. The Lord said to him, go back the way you came, go to the desert. When you get there, anoint Hazel king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu, son of Nishmi, king over Israel. Jehu will put to death any who escaped the sword of Haziel, and Elisho will put to death any who escaped the sword of Jehu. Yet, now this is the important part, yet I reserve 7,000 in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed down to bail and whose mouths have not kissed him. All right, so let's go back to our question. Can genuine Christians get depressed to the point where they are angry,

where they want to quit everything, when they want to withdraw from people, when they even consider harming themselves? And the answer is absolutely. While everyone doesn't have the same experience Elijah did, many people go through seasons of despondency and discouragement. Elijah had stepped out in faith. He had obeyed God on Mount Carmel, and now Jezebel is trying to kill him. And what happens is Elijah kind of gets mad at God. Elijah thought, look, I've done the right things. Shouldn't everything work out for me?

And when it doesn't, he runs from God. But notice this. When he runs from God, God doesn't run from him. That's good news for you and me. God doesn't run from us when we run from him. God doesn't run from runaways. Elijah does not go out seeking after God. Instead, God seeks out Elijah.

And the way he does it is that God sins an angel. And what does the angel do when he shows up? Well, he cooks for Elijah. Right. He cooks food. He bakes bread for him. He comes to Elijah in mercy and tenderness, and he recognizes that Elijah is tired.

God isn't like a lot of Christians who think that all depression is exclusively a spiritual issue. A lot of Christians come across someone who's depressed or discouraged and they say, have you confessed your sin? Have you thanked God? Have you rebuked the devil? Have you read your Bible? Have you prayed? I mean, all those are fantastic things to do. But the reality is that we're complex beings. We need to pray, but we also need to sleep. We need spiritual food, but we also need physical food. Sometimes what we need is just be drawn in relationship with other people who will listen to us. And so God addresses Elijah's discouragement and depression with both physical and spiritual solutions. One thing God does for him is he just listens to him. Like most of this

passage is just Elijah pouring out all his feelings, his anger, his frustration, his confusion, his loneliness? And God just listens. He allows Elijah to just blow off steam. God wasn't shocked by all of Elijah's varied feelings. Instead, what God does is he asks questions to draw him out. God listens while Elijah vents. And God never criticizes him or condemns him. When we stuff and hide our emotions, well, we're just harming ourselves. Often what helps is to share your feelings with a trust Christian friends. It allows us to clean out what's inside of us, to get out what's damaging us. What we're pushing down inside sometimes is related to our depression. If you have a friend that's somewhere between discouraged and depressed, one of the best things you can do for them is just to listen.

A lot of people are afraid to process their emotions with other people and with God. They don't have anybody to be honest with. So what if we just showed up for other people? And we didn't feel like we had to have all the answers. We just listened and let them pour out their heart to us. I heard about a guy who'd been through some really hard times, really dark times, and he described himself as being depressed. And he wanted to hide. He just wanted to be away from everyone.

And he had a friend who would drive over to his house and just park in his driveway. And the guy would just sit there in his car. And so the depressed guy would look out the window and see the friend sitting in his car in his driveway for hour after hour, day after day. And he knew that his friend was trying to say to him, look, you're not alone. I'm in this with you. I will give you your space, but I refuse to abandon you. See, sometimes depression and isolation and loneliness go together. Elijah felt like he was alone, but that wasn't true. God told him, there are 7,000 other prophets who have not bowed down to bail. You're not alone. I don't know if you can say that Jesus was depressed, but I'm not sure you

can't say it either. Isaiah 53-3 talking about Jesus says he was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. And Jesus was closer to the father than anyone, but he's called a man of sorrows acquainted with the deepest grief. See, it's okay to not be okay. Sometimes it's our discouragement. Sometimes it's our sadness that is the doorway to God. See, what if the goal wasn't to end our discouragement, to end our depression, but instead to walk through them into a deeper relationship with God? Jesus said, come to me, all who are weary and have you burdened,

and I will give you rest for your soul. Let's pray. Father, I pray for everyone who is listening to this, who would think of themselves as discouraged or maybe even depressed. And I pray that they would know that you are with them and that you love them and that you will never forsake them or abandon them. That in Jesus you've forgiven them and that you care deeply about what they're going through. Father, I pray that you would also send a human friend,

someone who would listen and process, someone who would pray for and encourage them. Father, we thank you that you experienced sorrow on the cross so that we might experience the joy of forgiveness. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.