The Journey is Too Much

Day 1:

I journey in the strength God provides

"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’” (1 Kings 19:7)

In conversation not long ago, a dear one described feeling helpless and overwhelmed. The issue seemed to compound itself—as the feelings grew, so did the "check-out" response, creating a never-ending loop of tension, anxiety, and immobility.

I understood so well. I have been on that carousel many times before. So I listened, gave suggestions when asked, and shared some of my strategies for interrupting the loop—praying, taking a walk, seeking the peace of nature (sometimes all three combined) ...

Yet, the last thing I wanted to suggest is that I have it all figured out. Even though I try to develop habits and behaviors to proactively manage stress responses and mental health, I still sometimes have days when I am "swimming in Jello" as someone so eloquently describes it.

So many of us guard as secret our struggles with anxiety, inertia, and "Jello pools," because they usually are accompanied by a healthy dose of guilt.

And impatience at our inability to "snap out of it." Because we have been told so often that "God helps those who help themselves." It is a "truth" that is part of our socialization, our vista, our lore...

In the Caribbean, for instance the story is often told of a woman who took her clothes to the river to wash. Overwhelmed with the volume of laundry, she dipped the clothes in the water, piled them on a huge river stone, and then waited for God to help her with the wash.

Well, last time everyone in the Caribbean checked, the unwashed clothes were still lying on the river stone.

The Caribbean story point is well taken—seeking God's help is not a way out of our responsibilities and our obligations—it is not an excuse to be idle, passive, lazy, or foolish. We only have to read a few verses in of the book of Proverbs in the Scriptures to see this.

Godly wisdom and prudence can help us guard against self-driven agendas that insist on miraculous interventions where God has already provided practical solutions.

But the logic that God will only help us when we "pull ourselves up by our own bootstrap" is unsound and unscriptural. We may encounter seasons when "the journey is too much" for us, and we just want to crawl under a bush far away into nowhere. And God does not withhold His help at these critical times when we have no bootstraps... or even boots.

Case in point—Elijah's breakdown (1 Kings 19:1-7). The chapter opens with Elijah fresh off a victory on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:20-39). God had answered his prayer, proving to a double-minded people that "the Lord—He is God" (1 Kings 18:20-39). He had simultaneously validated Elijah's role as a prophet of the Most High God. Yet immediately following all this, the threat of retaliation from Queen Jezebel sent Elijah running for his life in a state of total despair and depression:

"Elijah was afraid and ran for his life... He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. 'I have had enough, Lord,' he said. 'Take my life…'" (1 Kings 19:3-4)

God did not take Elijah's life as he requested. Instead, He sent an angel to give the prophet the strength he needed to go on. Not once, but twice, the angel woke Elijah with a touch. Both times the angel invited him to eat (vs. 5-7). With the second invitation, the angel explained that God was providing the strength Elijah did not have on his own: 'Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you’” (1 Kings 19:7).

Elijah was then able to continue on his way: "So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God" (vs.8).

And so, we too, journey on, in the strength and ability God provides; directly, or through others. We are not angels, but we can reach out to those under the broom bush of despair. We can exchange the wagging finger and the biting rebuke, "God helps those who helps themselves!" for the tender words of encouragement, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you."