Remedy for Burnout

Following up on yesterday’s post that outlined some of the ingredients for Elijah’s burnout, I’m glad it was not the end of the story; I’m glad that Elijah was proven wrong. God had an answer. God had a remedy.

Refreshment (food and rest)
First God attended to Elijah’s most basic needs. What do you need when you are tired and hungry?

Then he [Elijah] lay down under the tree and 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, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then 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 forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night. (1 Ki 19:5–9)

I suspect that a lot of you are a lot like me. When I’m desperate to do something extraordinary, I forget to take care of the ordinary. The first to go for me is recreation, then exercise, then nutrition (I didn’t say food… food and nutrition are two entirely different things)… the final thing to go, for me, is good sleep.

I know for others it may be in a different order, but in desperation to do something extraordinary, we forget to take care of the ordinary… and the ordinary usually includes of recreation, exercise, nutrition, and sleep.

When finding ourselves in a state of burnout, we probably need to start with regeneration at the most basic level just like Elijah did.

Reflection
Once getting his basic needs attended to, Elijah had to think. Picking up in verse 9 of 1 Kings 19:

And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

This wasn’t a call for information; it was a call for reflection. Elijah’s response reveals something of what Elijah was wrestling with:

And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” (1 Ki 19:9–10)

An important ingredient in the remedy for burnout is to lay it all out before the Lord. We need to confess our disappointments, and confess our sin. We need to identify how we see things and, even if we don’t see things clearly or even rightly, we ought to lay it before the Lord.

Renewal
Listen to what God says, and does, in response to Elijah’s reflection.

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 an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a 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 and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. (1 Ki 19:11-13)

Everything had changed. God fixed it all up and Elijah was able to return home in safety. Well… no… not exactly.

After Elijah had witnessed the powerful wind, earthquake and fire, yet found God in the gentle whisper, that still small voice of assurance heard with the ears of faith, God asked Elijah the very same question. And Elijah, a second time, gave the very same answer.

And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
  Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”  (1 Ki 19:12-14)

I’m sure I’ve read this many times, of course, but when I read it again more carefully in this study, I first thought I misread it. Surely something should have been different in the response after meeting God. But the answer was the same, and the circumstances were the same too.

I think we find ourselves in similar positions, waiting on God to do something extraordinary and fantastic like winds and earthquakes and fire that reduce mountains to rubble. We wait on the sidelines for God to get in there and dramatically change the circumstances before we’re willing to get back into the game.

But God didn’t change the circumstances that day for Elijah; He changed Elijah. Elijah didn’t need God to fix things; Elijah needed to fix his eyes on God. There was no renovation of Israel that day, but there was a rebirth and renewal of Elijah.

Redeployment
God’s final ingredient for the remedy for Elijah’s burnout was redeployment. The answer is the same for all of us; eventually we need to get back to work.

God told Elijah to anoint kings and anoint and train a successor. The circumstances hadn’t changed and the work needed to continue. Elijah never was alone, and God’s call reminded Elijah that he shouldn’t be alone. Kings were to rise up to do their work, there were thousands reserved by God himself that had not bent a knee to Baal, and Elisha would be Elijah’s successor. The work that Elijah thought was his alone would continue with the help of many… and continue after Elijah was gone, living on through his successor.

From our position of burnout, are we merely going to pray from the sidelines and ask God to change our circumstances? Are we going to pray down fire from heaven, like the fire that consumed the sacrifice or the fire that passed by Elijah on Mount Horeb? Are we going to pray for a wind to blow away the mountains in our path, or an earthquake to reduce the mountains to rubble?

Is that the kind of answer we want? Could God do it? Might He do it?

Or could there be something better, something higher? Isn’t the lesson learned here that the certainty of knowing that we are God’s and He is with us, a certainty that comes from the whisper of God heard by the ears of faith, is God’s best?

(This article was adapted from a talk at Pleasant Bay Church 11/30/11 available on iTunes here)