BACK to EDEN: Horror, Stress, Depression, and Resting in the Lord

We all go through a phase in life where you feel discouraged, depressed and unworthy. For some, it might be a day, for others, might be weeks or even months. While doctors call that phase “Depression”, I call that state of mind “Juniper Day experiences”. You might wonder, where in the world did I get such a definition. In this lesson, I would like to explain that more and help you understand how to overcome those days in our lives. Let us turn our attention to 1 Kings chapter 19. There you see the prophet of God, Elijah fleeing from Jezebel into the wilderness. Now remember, this is the same prophet who prayed and prevented the rain for three and half years. This is the same Elijah who prayed once again and heaven sent rain according to his request. This is the same man of God who performed a great miracle in the Mt. Carmel and showed the difference between the people of God and the people of Baal. At Mt. Carmel, Elijah destroyed 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah. At his word, God opened tongues of fire from heaven and burned up the sacrifices on the altar even though it was drenched in water. (1 Kings 18:38). Yes, Elijah was truly a mighty man of God. Heavens responded to his requests and he preformed many miracles. It was through him that the Lord spoke to the Nation. But in the book of James, we read that Elijah was a man in our nature. Can you visualise Elijah , just like an ordinary man at Mt. Carmel? To me, he looks like a superhero. In the 19th chapter , you see a different picture of Elijah. He is hiding within a cave in Mt. Horeb. But God strengthened him in that mountain with His presence. Between these two mountain experiences, something happened. There was a phase of discouragement in Elijah’s life a time under the Juniper tree.