Sometimes all you can do is cry. You can barely get through the day. Everything feels heavy.
On days like this, your emotional collapse feels like failure. It feels like one more thing collapsing on top of everything else.
But, feeling overwhelmed is not a failure. It’s not a sin. It’s not wrong. It’s something you’re experiencing—not something you’ve done wrong, and not something that defines you.
One person’s experience of feeling overwhelmed was a special prophet, chosen by God, called Elijah. After—ironically—a major victory against an army of strong and powerful false prophets, Elijah is targeted by the most powerful woman in the land:
Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” (1 Kings 19:1-2)
Perhaps you can relate to Elijah’s experience. Sometimes doing the right thing still leads to backlash. Narratives get reframed. People misunderstand. Pressure builds quickly, and soon many powerful people are aligned against Elijah. His reaction is completely human—and completely understandable:
Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. (1 Kings 19:3)
Oppression, bullying, and threats have placed such pressure on Elijah that he’s overwhelmed with fear. That fear drives him to isolate himself from others.
But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” (1 Kings 19:4)
You, reading this, may well know this feeling. So many of us do. Isolation. Emotional collapse. A desire that God would just take your life. You are not alone or unusual in having these feelings—here they are recorded as part of the human experience since the Iron Age. But even more importantly God knows and God understands. The fact that God gives us Elijah’s very human experience here in the Bible shows that even our feelings of being overwhelmed and isolated are not hidden from him—and he has something to say about them.
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—If you’re in immediate danger call 999.
—For 24/7 urgent support call the NHS Mental Health Crisis Line (111, option 2), the Samaritans (116 123) or text SHOUT to 85258.
—In Manchester you can also call Crisis Point Manchester (0161 238 5149) or Manchester Mind (0161 769 5732)
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And here’s how God acts, when Elijah feels overwhelmed:
And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God. (1 Kings 19:5-8)
Very simply—God cares for him. God looks after Elijah’s body. He encourages him to eat, to sleep, to rest.
God doesn’t analyse Elijah’s feelings, or try to fix them. He meets Elijah exactly where he is and loves him in it.
If you’re overwhelmed, this is not the moment to prove anything. You don’t need to fix yourself. You don’t need to climb out of it today.
The journey is too great for you—that’s exactly what God says to Elijah. It’s not a criticism. It’s a recognition. And instead of demanding strength from him, he gives him what he needs.
You are allowed to be overwhelmed. And you are not alone in it.
If you want to hear more about how God meets people in weakness rather than demanding strength from them, you can listen to this sermon:
Shouldn’t I be ashamed of how tiny my church is?
https://manchesterlutheran.church/sermons/shouldnt-i-be-ashamed-of-how-tiny-my-church-is/
Or join us:
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