Life Between The Trees: The Broom Tree - 1st Kings 19:1-10




We are journeying, in this sermon series, and in life itself, “between the trees.”  It began in Eden, with the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, as we witness the gift of free will that God offers us, giving us the ability to choose His way of life or out own way, that leads to death.  With the olive tree, we found the promise that God will rescue us from the floods of life and sustain us until the floods recede.  Ezekiel’s vision of the cedar tree assured us that God will keep His promises and restore that which was broken, in order that all the world might come to know that He is God.  The oak tree reminded us of our call to selfless hospitality.    The encounter with Deborah and Barak beneath the Palm Tree taught us that we need to trust in God and rely on Him as we face battles in this life, knowing that He has already won the victory.  Today, as we are halfway through the trees of this series, I ask once more, how many of us are ready to proudly be called “tree-huggers”?

For years it has been a taboo subject.  Families and individuals would hide it because they were ashamed.  Many folks just could not understand how a person could be like that.  Couldn’t they just choose to be different.  Some have even gone as far as to call it sin.  Then in August of 2014 something happened that caused this nation, if not the world, to take a hard look at the subject.  On August 11, 2014, the iconic funny man, Robin Williams, after struggling with depression, took his own life.

Clinical depression, situational depression, bi-polar disorder and the like have for so long been subjects that no one wanted to talk about, and those that did often talked without truly understanding it.  Some of you have heard parts of this, others may not be aware of this part of my story.  I am diagnosed as bi-polar.  I know in my own case, after I was able to come off the medicine, I had a family member that suggested that maybe I was misdiagnosed and ought to go get my records changed.  They did not understand that it continues to be a daily battle, and I am only off medicine because of the other tools I have been given to manage it, and the agreement with my doctor that I will go back on the medicine if I find myself where I previously was.  Earlier than that, while I was still on medication and in counseling, I had been open about my struggles, and had it used against me, causing an application I had made to be declined.  So I hid it.  I didn’t tell anyone about it.  When I had to undergo psychological testing, I knew enough about the tests (that I had taken repeatedly when in counseling) to answer the questions in such a way as to make sure they wouldn’t indicate the battle.  It was not until my third year of ministry, which one of the matriarchs of the church I was serving started talking to me about her grandson that had apparently been diagnosed with depression, and how she did not understand, that he ought to be able to choose to be happy.  I decided then that I had to share my struggle to help her understand that it was not as simply as just waking up and deciding to be happy, especially in the case of clinical depression or bi-polar disorder.  One of the biggest struggles of depression, at least from my own experience and those that I have talked with, is the feeling of being alone and isolated, a feeling that the person struggling can have, even in the middle of a social gathering that is wall-to-wall people.

The battle of depression should never have become a subject that brought shame upon the person engaged in the struggle, whether that shame has been forced on by strangers, friends, family members, or even self-imposed.  It is a battle that has gone on for all time.  It is a battle that can be found in the God’s Word in several places, including our reading this morning.  Among those who struggled with depression, though in this scene it seems to be situational as opposed to clinical, was the premier prophet of God’s people, Elijah.

Elijah had just come off what had to be the spiritual high of all spiritual highs.  With the power of God backing him, Elijah had taken on 440 prophets of Baal—brought into Israel by Jezebel who had married King Ahab, Elijah humiliated them in clear defeat and then oversaw their execution.  Elijah ought to have been basking in that victory, reveling in the fact that with this display of the power of God, there was nothing to fear. 

However, that is not the way it worked.  Word of his victory over those prophets of the false god got back to Queen Jezebel.  When she learned of Elijah’s involvement in the slaughtering of her priests, she vowed that she would execute him in the same way he had had all of the Baal prophets.

That’s when it happened.  Elijah became afraid.  He took off to the wilderness, a day’s journey from Ahab and Jezebel.  Suddenly a wave of depression overtook him, as he felt all alone there in the wilderness.  He found a lone broom tree there in the wilderness and sat under it, and began wishing he was dead, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.”  Then, as is a common habit among many who struggle with depression, he laid down and went to sleep.

It is in the midst of that depressive sleep that God makes His presence known to Elijah.  Twice an angel of God came to him.  Twice the angel brought food to Elijah.   God sent His angel to come alongside Elijah in his battle with depression, and in doing so not only took care of Elijah’s physical needs that Elijah could not do on his own, but assured Elijah that he was not alone.  Then, strengthened physically, spiritually, and emotionally, Elijah was able to get up and embark on a journey to meet God at Mount Horeb.

Those of us who battle depression need to hear this story.  When those waves of depression cause us to feel deserted and alone, we need to remember Elijah under the broom tree…not his cries of anguish, but the fact that God saw him and responded to him, sending angel to assure Elijah that he was not alone.  That is the assurance that God would offer us, that we are not alone.  We are called to recognize the people that God sends into our lives to come alongside us as we fight the battle with the darkness.  And when that darkness tries to make us think that even God has abandoned us, when all we see and since is the darkness of a void, we need to remember that we are looking the wrong direction, that we need to turn our faces away from the darkness and set our sights on our Mount Horeb, on the places where we know that we have and can encounter the presence of God.

For others who encounter someone who is struggling with depression, we have to remember God’s response to Elijah’s cry of despair and hopelessness as he curled up under the broom tree.  God did not try to shame Elijah.  God did not revoke Elijah’s status as a prophet.  God did not condemn Elijah for sinking into a depression. God did not tell Elijah to “just choose to be happy.”   God did not tell Elijah it was a sin for him to feel that way.  God simply came alongside Elijah in the presence of his angel.  God took note of Elijah’s needs and provided food and water for Elijah.  God’s angel came alongside Elijah and stayed with Elijah until Elijah broke free of the bonds of depression, and then God called Elijah to come and spend time in His presence.

My brothers and sisters, as we encounter the broom trees in this world, let us remember Elijah.   If we are among those feeling deserted by everyone, even God, sinking under the tree, wanting to die, let us remember that we are not alone, let us remember the promise that God made through Jesus, called Emmanuel (God-with-us), over and over again:  “I will be with you always,[1]” I will not leave you orphaned,”[2] and as Hebrews tells us,  “I will never leave nor forsake you.”[3]. If we are among those who encounter someone who has sunk under the broom tree, let us, without judgment but in compassion, come alongside them, offering them the loving presence of God, and do all that we can to strengthen and encourage them, until they are able to walk away from the broom tree assured of the presence of God.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.



[1] Matthew 28:20
[2] John 14:18a
[3] Hebrews 13:5

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