Introduction to CH Spurgeon and His Struggles

[00:31]

And it's a pleasure for me, for myself, to deliver the Word of God to you, especially at the interim, as we enter a new book in Numbers two weeks from now. Today, my passage is 1 Kings 19. I start off by introducing to you a person, most of you will probably know who this person is, is…CH Spurgeon, or Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He's dubbed today as one of the greatest preachers that has ever lived, often dubbed as the prince of preachers. He has preached to a total of 10 million people, and he often preached about 10 times a week. So, to put 10 million into perspective, Pastor Jason was to preach every Sunday from now, three services with a totally new audience for the next 120 years. So that is 10 million people, and this guy has done that in history. 

But few may know that despite his great achievements, despite the great things that he has achieved, Spurgeon battled with depression. This what he says in his recall...recollection of his battles. He said, “I've suffered many times from severe sickness and frightful mental depression seeking almost to despair. Almost every year [I’ve] been laid aside for a season, for flesh and blood cannot bear the strain, at least such flesh and blood as mine. I believe, however, the affliction was necessary to me and has answered salutary ends.” not only of episodes of physical depression, but Spurgeon also faced much discouragement in ministry. And again, I quote a different quote from a different book. He says, “Our work,” in preaching and teaching and discipling, “when earnestly undertaken, lays us open to the attacks in the direction of depression. Who can bear the weight of souls without sometimes sinking to the dust? Passionate longings after men's conversion, if not fully satisfied, consume the soul with anxiety and disappointment. To see the hopeful turn aside, the godly grow cold, professors abusing their privileges, and sinners waxing more bold in sin - are not these sights enough to crush us to the earth…”.

Lest we think that lesser mortals, like we are, are spared from this, the Christian reality is that we are not because the Christian life is rated with much highs as well as much lows. There are times where we're depressed. We're in the pits of despair. Perhaps we're disappointed with the Lord that has been given to us. Perhaps our ministries may not be growing. Our kids are drifting further and further away from the gospel. Sick loved ones are not getting saved. My problems are not going away. My marriage is on the rocks, or perhaps at this point of time, we're simply exhausted. We do feel depression. We do feel disappointments and discouragement in life. 

Elijah's Despair

Well, our passage today speaks of a prophet of God who sunk to the lowest of lows, sunk to the pits of despair. His name was Elijah and what we know about Elijah is rather little, is only a few chapters in the Old Testament, but we know of this particular episode of his life, you see, Elijah loved the Lord. In fact, when you hear the passage, he was passionate for the Lord. He was passionate for people to turn from sin. He was passionate for Israel to turn away from the rebellion and turn back to Yahweh, but passion could only take him so far. Hearts were not changed. People were still in sin. People were still living in rebellion, and 1 Kings 19 shows us, his experience in that pit of depression. 

We start off with the testimony of Ahab to Jezebel. “Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with a sword.” [1 Kings 19:1]. Now, obviously the event that Ahab is referring to is in Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18, the chapter before. If you can remember the story, in 1 Kings 18, Elijah was facing 450 prophets of Baal, and it's kind of like a showdown, let's say who…which God is more powerful, Baal or Jehovah? And [then] in a not surprising turn of events, Jehovah wins. It's a total wipe out. God appeared to [be] the fire [that] consumed the altar, which resulted in the people coming to faith, to Yahweh, to worship Him, and the prophets of Baal being put to the sword, as Ahab had recalled. Could you imagine the conversation that Ahab and Jezebel had? Perhaps it was a lovely dinner that they were having, Ahab comes to Jezebel and says, “Honey, did you hear what Elijah had done? All the prophets are dead. Many have turned to Yahweh. Perhaps maybe we should turn to Yahweh too.”

Jezebel's Threat

But for Jezebel, this was just a minor setback, a bump in the road or a small detour, she did not budge, not faze at all but in fact, double down. This is what she said, “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 1:2]. She sends a message to Elijah with these exact words, may the God curse me if I do not kill you, Elijah. Elijah, tomorrow, only one of us will be alive and it will not be you. And so, Elijah runs away. “[Then] he was afraid, and he rose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba,” which is almost 100 kilometres away, “which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.” [1 Kings 19:3]. Now we found this really bizarre, isn't it? How could a threat of a godless woman shake the confidence of God's prophet, Elijah? This is Elijah! This is a guy who stood face to face with Ahab and Jezebel. This is the guy who raised the dead widow's son in history. This was the guy who warned against the prophets of Baal. Unquestionably, 450 prophets defeated but because of a message of one godless woman, Elijah rose and ran for his life. Didn't he forget the victory in Mount Carmel? Didn't he forget how God was with him all along? But why such a response, Elijah? Why run away? 

Elijah's Cry for Death

And I think we're given the reason, I think part of the reason in the next verse, in verse four, “[But] he [himself] went a day's journey to the wilderness [and came and] sat 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]. I wonder if you can picture the scene. Elijah runs about 80 to 100 kilometres, probably panting, with blisters on his feet. He bids farewell to his servant, symbolizing that he's resigning, that he's quitting, and without question, he looks to the sky and yells, “God, I've had enough. Kill me now. I'd rather die.”. It's not that…it's not because he was afraid of death. It's not because Jezebel was a scary woman. Actually, he's not afraid of death. In fact, he wants to die. [10:08] What he's afraid of, or what he's disappointed with is through all the efforts and the labours that he has done for God, nothing has changed. Ahab and Jezebel are still ruling. The people are still in sin and idolatry. The prophets of God are still being put to the sword, and despite the overwhelming victory that we see in Mount Carmel, it seems to be ephemeral or short lived, nothing has changed. And so, he cries out to the Lord, “God, I've had enough. I quit. I resign. I'm no better than the prophets who came before me. I'm as useless to you as anyone.”

I wonder if you could feel the frustration that Elijah is feeling. Perhaps there are times in your life where you done so much but things have not changed. I know it’s PSLE season recently, maybe you put your kids in the enrichment centres and every tuition centres that you can find but the results are still as mediocre as ever. Perhaps that's the feeling that Elijah was feeling, I've done so much, invested so much time, but nothing material has changed. Things are the way it is. But before we could fully empathize with Elijah in his predicament, I think the Bible does not let him off the hook, because this is Elijah we're talking about. This was a prophet in chapter 17 commissioned by God to preach against Ahab, and therefore he understood his assignment. This is not any guy who probably did not have an understanding of who God is, probably did not have a theology of God, but this was a prophet who knew the assignment, who knew God was, who knew that God could do what he wants to do. He saw the power straight away in Mount Carmel, but in the face of disappointments, discouragement and despair, his mind was so warped, dejected that he threw everything he knew about God out of the window. [12:43] I had enough so God just kill me at this moment. 

God's Response

The question is how did God respond? Well, if I'm God, I know how I would respond. [13:01] I would play the God card. Elijah, do you know who I am? I am the God who fed you in the famine. I'm the God who gave you the victory in Mount Carmel. And now you're crying foul because things are not going your way. That's what I probably would do. That's what we would expect because the issue was a spiritual issue, his disappointment with God. But I like how God responds in this passage, it's not retributive. He didn't respond by punishing him or being dismissive of his problems. But God sends an angel, probably the Gordon Ramsay equivalent of an angel. The angel doesn't come to Elijah and preaches to him a sermon. Elijah, this is three ways to overcome discouragement. Point one…nothing of that sort. The angel does not come as a therapist or a counsellor. Doesn't say, “Hey Elijah mate, you want to talk about it. You want to tell me how you're feeling”, but the angel does something rather, maybe to us, really, really unspiritual, isn't it? The angel lets Elijah sleep, and while he's sleeping, he cooks for him, prepares for him a nice bread on hot stone, sounds appealing, and gives him a glass of water. And when he has enough sleep, he touches Elijah and say, “Arise and eat. Elijah, arise and eat for the journey will be long.”

Holistic care in dealing with despair and depression

For quite a couple of years now, I've been struggling with haemorrhoids or piles. I think that's the other way to call it. It's a condition where sometimes your blood, your veins are swollen, and whenever I go to the toilet, I poop, sometimes there will be bleeding or blood, and sometimes it's uncontrollable to the point that when I do the deed, it may look like a crime scene. So, I went to the doctor a couple of times, and the doctor will always say the exact same thing, you need to stop eating your mala [spicy and numbing seasoning], your Mac Spicy [burger], your chili, and you need to take this medicine. Usually, they provide a cream and this very weird looking packet of…looks like…which look like orange juice but it's called fibre gel, and I've been taking that quite religiously for a period of time, just to kind of overcome that issue that I had. And we might ask ourselves, why does the doctor actually do this? Why do they give you many, many ways of restoration? It's not that they distrust their own prescription. It's not because the medicine is not enough to answer the problem that I had, but it's because in order to get well, sometimes we need a holistic approach. We can't just get medicine. Medicine is great, but for my case especially sometimes changing your eating patterns also help. So not eating mala, Mac Spicy or your chili is helpful. 

And I think when we look at Elijah's case, this is the exact same thing. Elijah's issue was spiritual. Don't get me wrong, his issue was between him and God, and his thoughts against God, but how God dealt with Elijah was rather physical. It was rather tender and gentle. And sometimes when we're in that pit of despair and depression, this is what we need. Not more Bible study - That's great! Not another hour of prayer. But sometimes it's just means taking a walk, taking a nap, having a chat with a person, stepping away for a season, taking a break from the thing that's stressing you out. The point is this how God dealt with Elijah in his moments of despair, I think is instructive for us when we also encounter moments of despair, but that sometimes, although the issue is big, spiritual and perhaps physical, the remedy might be something that's so mundane as taking a break. 

Elijah's Journey to Horeb

The Bible also says that Elijah ate and drank and went into the strength of that food 40 days and 40 nights to Horeb, the mount of God [1 Kings 1:8], must be some super power food because 40 days 40 nights is quite a long time. But Elijah now is being brought to this place called Horeb. Now, we don't quite know where Horeb is, but we perhaps know it better by Sinai, isn't it? And Sinai, in history of Israel has a lot of significance. For example, Sinai is the place where the Lord met Moses, and Sinai is the place where Moses pled for the sake of Israel. And even if you look at the passage, actually, there's a lot of similarity between Elijah and Moses, [the] 40 days and 40 nights obviously recalls for us the fast, the duration of Moses' fasting. He goes to Horeb and he goes into a cave. In Moses’ time, it was not really a cave but a cleft. And in the same vein, the Lord passes by and reveals something grand and spectacular, [which is] also the same in the story today. Now I want you to kind of see that the…Elijah's journey to Horeb is not something that is incidental to the passage. It's not that he's just going to Horeb because he has no other place to go. It's not that…okay, it's better than the wilderness, therefore go to Horeb. But Horeb does have a significance or Sinai does have a significance, for Moses and also for Elijah because this was a place where Moses gained an audience with Yahweh. And for Elijah, I think the underlying sense here is the same. Elijah, you're going to Horeb or to Sinai not to take a break but I'm giving you a chance to have an audience with me. It's a place for you to process your thoughts. It's a place for you to plead your case as Moses pled for the case of Israel. It's a place for you to unburden your soul with the feelings that you're experiencing right now. It's a place for you to state your case against Israel to me. 

And so, Elijah goes to Horeb and the Lord asks him, in verse nine, Elijah, what are you doing here? Which is an odd question to ask because it was the Lord who brought him there. So obviously, it's not that the Lord didn't know, and it's not the fact that Elijah shouldn't be here, but it's a question of invitation. In other words, Elijah, what are you actually here for? Elijah, state your case, and Elijah does. This [is] how he responds, “He said, ‘I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people [of Israel] have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek to take my life away.’” [1 Kings 19:10]. Can you hear what he's saying? God, I'm passionate for you. I loved you. I've done wonderful things for you. I have been an instrument for your use. But nothing has changed. Things have remained the same. People are still forsaking your covenant. They're throwing and desecrating your altars and temples. And my friends, my other prophets are being killed. And to top it all off, there's a sense of loneliness. Even I alone, am left. There's a lot of words there but if you could read behind the lines or read between the lines. This is what Elijah is really saying. God, where are You? I've done so many things but You've done absolutely nothing. And so how does God respond? Well, God responds in an unusual way, unusual because it's nothing verbal. Unusual because this is something that is reminiscent of Moses' experience. 

God's Presence

[22:58] In a passage it says “…the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains [and] broke [in] pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire”, this enigmatic phrase “the sound of a low whisper.” in the King James Version, “a still small voice” [1 Kings 19:11-12]. What does this mean? That’s rather baffling but what does it mean for Elijah and to us? It's not that the Lord was not in the fire, because we know the story, he was in the fire in Mount Carmel. It's not the Lord was not in the whirlwind, because when he met Job, he appeared to [23:50] him via a wind. It's not that the Lord was not in the earthquake, [23:58] because when Israel sinned in Mount Sinai the whole earth trembled. What he's saying is that he's not just in those things but he's also in the low whisper. He's not just in the spectacular, the grand, the stupendous and the impressive. But the Lord works, the Lord reveals himself through quiet, hidden and unassuming ways as well. So not just in the grand…Elijah, this is the problem with you. You think that I always do things spectacularly. Oh, Mount Carmel, raising a dead widow's son, announcing a famine to the land. These are wonderful, spectacular things. But that's not the only thing I could do, and I'm here to show you how narrow your perspective is to the way I work out my purposes. So, the Lord had to remind him that’s not in the wind, the earthquake, the fire, but is in the gentle and low whisper. 

Elijah, how am I working in the low whisper? I may not work in Mount Carmel but this is how I work; I will work through a guy called Hazael. Now no one knows who Hazael is but he's a Syrian king whom, as we know, did not bow the knee to Yahweh, but the Lord worked through Hazael to bring about the death blow to Baal worship in Israel. I will work through a king called Jehu, who…yes, was the king of Israel but he was a flawed king at best. He was rather blood thirsty. But through Jehu, Ahab's dynasty will fall. Now I will work through Elisha, whom Elijah you probably don't know, but he will be a man that will take your mantle and judge the people of Israel as you go on [1 Kings 19:15-17]. Oh, and by the way, Elijah, you think you're the only one left in the world, the only prophet left in the land. ‘News flash’ - I have 7000 other people who have not bowed the knee to Baal and have not kissed or worshiped him [1 Kings 19:18]. Elijah, I don't just work in the great, grand and spectacular, but I'm working through the quiet, hidden and unassuming ways beyond what the discerning eye can see, and this is what you need to understand. And in fact, the passage ends like that, nothing much is said about Elijah's case. Nothing much is said about whether Elijah had any rehabilitation, any consequences to his depression, or any follow up needed. But the passage ends with just Elijah picking up where he left off, doing and obeying what the Lord had commanded. I think for many of us, it's like that as well. We enter periods of depression and discouragement for a season to kind of refine us. And maybe, like Elijah, we just needed a bigger and greater perspective of how the Lord works. This is 1 Kings 19 in a nutshell and I want to end off with a couple of applicatory thoughts for us to consider. I started by saying that the Christian life is riddled with much highs and much lows. It's riddled with successes and failures. There are times where we are really in the pits of depression and despair. 

The Bible speaks honestly about depression

And I want you to know that in this passage, we see that the Bible speaks honestly about depression. In fact, the Bible is no stranger to people who have sunk into despair. For example, you look at David in one of his psalms, it says, “I'm feeble and crushed. I groan because of the tumult of my heart.” [Psalm 38:8]. Is that not…is that not despair? The great Apostle Paul experienced lows as well because of the affliction and the persecution, and the challenges that he's received in his ministry. This is what he says he was burdened beyond strength and despair of life [2 Corinthians 1:8b]. Now, don't get me wrong, he was not like Elijah who complained about his lot, but this was a guy who went through the lows of life. This is the great Apostle Paul and who are we to say that we don't experience depression, we don't experience discouragement and depressing moments in life. The Bible speaks honestly about depression. 

Now, this is why I love about the passage of 1 Kings 19, because it's almost unapologetic that a godly man could enter into such things. And it's a wonderful reminder, isn't it? That the Christian life is not just about the roses, the rainbows, the victories that we all encounter, but it's also the lows, the periods of discouragement, disappointments and failure. Many will say, how can Christians be sad? How can we be melancholic? Isn't the gospel great news? It offers life, forgiveness, redemption and freedom. Yes, we should be happy about these things because these are objective realities that gives us much joy. But it's not just about these things, the reality of life is that it's difficult and tough and at times depressing. And so, depression hits all of us. So today, we don't have to be so taboo about it when we're facing difficulties in life. We don't have to force a smile in every circumstances. We don't have to put an air of invincibility all the time, because this is a real thing that we all commonly experience and that the Bible honestly speaks about. 

While the Bible is honest about depression, we should not confuse depression with resignation

The second thing that we see is do not confuse depression with resignation. In a nutshell, what I want to say here is don't give up even the difficult and distressing times you're experiencing. Elijah’s issue was his…not his passion but his overreaction. All of us can be passionate for something. We can be passionate for Singapore to be greener because global warming is real. We can be passionate for our migrant welfare. We can be passionate for better work life balance for our teachers. But what if all these things [don’t] happen or change? What if Singapore has not become greener? What if our migrants are getting ignored day by day, and what if teachers still do not have that work life balance that they hope? Do we like Elijah complain and say, “God, how can this be? Just kill me.”? My point is this, in the Christian life, we always don't get what we desire. We can pray earnestly for the souls of our loved ones but they perhaps won't get saved. We can pray for the sick to get better but they won't get healed. We can pray for our marriages to improve but they don't improve. We can pray for the great to overcome temptation and sin but sometimes we can't. What do we do? Do we say, “God, this is so absurd. Just kill me.”? Well, what we can do is control the way we react to these things. It sounds so stoic but it's not, because we have a God who has good and great purposes even in the depressing moments in our times of failures and misery. We have a God who knows and has ordained all things to happen, and therefore in your moments of despair, this is my plea to you, fight till the end. A reminder of a psalm that says, The Lord is near to the broken-hearted, and he saves those who are crushed in spirit. Fight till the end, think about the wonderful goodness of God in the gospel. This is how you will tide and battle things through. 

God not only works in the loud and the spectacular, but also in the quiet and unassuming

Finally, I'll end by this point that God not only works in the loud and the spectacular, but also in the quiet and the unassuming. Whenever I have friends and family who visit Singapore, two places that I’ll bring them to is the Merlion Park and the Rain Vortex in Jewel [Changi Airport]. Singaporeans, these are your historical sites or your iconic sites. And when tourists come to Singapore, they always exclaim the exact same things, why it's so clean? So nice and it's just a nice sight to behold especially when it comes to these two iconic places, especially Jewel, right? Grand gushing rainfall and Merlion perhaps, as people kind of like, you know, do that cringy poses. But have you seen Jewel at 10pm past at night, absolutely dark, quiet, there's no rainfall, just like there's a…there's a hole in the ceiling or have you seen a Merlion undergoing maintenance? It's like another statue. Nothing nice and impressive about all these things. What am I trying to say? I think if we're honest with ourselves, we prefer a God who works in the impressive and grand. And as much as we like to look at Jewel and Merlion, and all that water flowing and all those great things, this is the kind of God that we want. That's why we prefer mass revivals, isn't it? Because we think God is working. We like loud and emotional music because… God…feels like He's in there. We like it when many people come to church like this because we think that God is in our midst and is working. We like miracles of healing, miracles of salvation because… Wow! God is so great. But what if in those revivals, no one gets saved? What if in the midst of the loud and emotional music, our hearts are not moved? What if no one appears at church? What if there's no miraculous healing or salvation?

The quiet, unassuming presence of God draws striking parallels to the humble cross of Jesus

[36:07] Friends, God not only works in the grand, the loud and spectacular, but he also works in the quiet and unassuming ways. Isn't this what the cross is all about? When Jesus Christ came to earth, there was no edict that went to the nation that said, ‘This is the King of the world therefore worship him’. But Jesus was born in a lowly manger. No one knew who he was. When he came to the apostles, remember what Nathaniel said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”. Even in his ministry for three years, no one cared about who Jesus Christ was, only a few. Perhaps today, Taylor Swift would have more concert tickets. And in his trial before the Sanhedrin, they all thought that Jesus was just this petty, filthy criminal that's worthy of the Roman cross. But on the day that he was crucified, that's where all made sense that this was not just some petty, filthy criminal, but the Savior who ruled the world. Was it impressive? Hardly. Was it humiliating? Absolutely. That it took the death of an innocent man to bring about the salvation of those who would believe and repent. This is how God works all along to the quiet and unassuming ways. There's nothing impressive about the cross. It's just a wood and a man dying there. But were men saved from sin? Were people given new life, redemption and forgiveness without a shadow of a doubt? If you're new here with Gospel Light [Christian Church], welcome. This is really the message of the whole Christian faith. It's not about wild revivals and fanaticism but it's about worshiping and loving this humble crucified Savior who through his death changed the entire world. This is the message of the gospel. My plea for you is to look at it and embrace it for yourself. 

1 Kings 19 is a story about a godly man who struggled in the pits of depression, and this is a story that reminds all of us that we can fall into moments of depression but we don't have to be taboo about it. We don't have to force our way to be happy, but at the same time, it does not mean that we resign and give up. There’s lots of encouragement in the Bible, in His Word, to persevere and see the goodness of God and Jesus in the gospel of Lord Jesus Christ, which in history past is not something grand and spectacular. It's not going to be in billboards, there's no 10 million followers. But this is a gospel that is humble, quiet and unassuming, but has drastically changed the course of the entire world. This is 1 Kings 19 and I hope you find hope and comfort for you in these difficult times. Will you join me in prayer together?

Closing Prayer

[40:37] Father, we thank you for the words of the psalmist, that You are near to the broken-hearted, and You save those who are crushed in spirit. Thank you, Father, that in the depressing moments of life we can cling on to the hope that You are working things in quiet, modest and unassuming ways. So, we ask that You give us the grace to understand and embrace what we don't see, and the faith to embrace what we can see. And again, we thank you for Your Word. Thank you for the gospel. Blessed into our hearts. May we be found continually obedient and faithful to you. This we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.