WALDROP: Depression and the ‘still, small voice of God’

The Rev. Russell G. Waldrop, D. Min., LPC, is a pastoral counselor and is chaplain of Western State Hospital. Contact him at 332-8004 or at .
Published: October 30, 2008

Elijah, the great Old Testament prophet, is exhausted, paranoid, malnourished and close to losing his faith (1Kings, Chapters 18-19 NIrV). He is living in the back of a cave at the foot of Mount Sinai to avoid any more demands of faith and discipleship. He has been traveling in the wrong direction, but the Lord has finally caught up to him, asking: “Elijah, what are you doing here?”

Elijah was using Mount Sinai as a “spiritual retreat”; but, in reality, he was “retreating spiritually” from his calling. He had sacrificed his personal relationship with God upon the altar of traditional religion, a rather common temptation today.

Elijah replies with his oft-repeated grandiosity: “I am the only one left and they are trying to kill me” (1Kings 19:10b). He actually thinks that he is the only true believer and that all the non-believers are trying to kill him. In reality though, God has some serious work for him to do in the opposite direction ... back where 7,000 other believers were waiting.

So God tells him: “Go outside. Stand on the mountain in front of me. I am going to pass by.”  What a treat ... or is it? Elijah will have to leave his cave for this experience, not an easy thing for him to do; probably not for us either if “leaving our cave” means standing before God in complete openness and vulnerability.
When Elijah does come out of hiding, God puts on quite a demonstration, “passing by” him four times. For the first pass, God sends a powerful wind that “tears the mountains apart.” “But,” the Scripture says, “The Lord was not in the wind.” For the second and third “passes,” the Lord brings a Richter-size earthquake and a 10-alarm fire, but the Lord was not in them, either.

Do we assume that Elijah cowered in fear at these natural phenomena? Scripture indicates nothing like that. Some people can sit on the edge of Niagara Falls for hours without acknowledging God. But when God whispers their name, they, too, have an “Elijah moment.” This was the only time he buried his face in his coat. Wind, fire, and earthquake spoke nothing compared to God’s “still, small, voice” in the depths of Elijah’s conscience. Is it ever so with us?
More than likely, God used natural phenomena to prepare Elijah, diverting his attention away from his depression. With Elijah attending to fantastic audio, visual and tactile sensations, God practiced a little ancient psychology: “If you want someone’s attention, whisper.”

Having gotten it, God repeats his original question. “Elijah, what are you doing here?” Again, Elijah claims to be the only true believer whom everyone else wants to kill. 

But he is more receptive now, so God tells him: “Go back to the Desert [Wilderness].” This is the famous “rubber band” theory of disobedience. The farther away we move from God, the more painful is the experience of being “snapped back” to reality. Any further away and he may have snapped completely.

God told him to return to his personal Wilderness, the same one he had just left in rebellion; and, depressed as he was, Elijah returned there, anointed kings over Israel and Judah, and named Elisha as his successor, the next great prophet in the land.

How do we remember Elijah today? One New Testament writer introduces him to us in all of his humanity. Before even mentioning his faith or accomplishments, the Apostle James begins, “Elijah was just like us” (James 5:17).

(Next week: stage five of grief — acceptance)