Morning Devotional

June 1, 2005
"Recovering From Burnout" (Part 1) 
    by Don Emmitte

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When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel what Elijah had done and that he had slaughtered the prophets of Baal. So Jezebel sent this message to Elijah: "May the gods also kill me if by this time tomorrow I have failed to take your life like those whom you killed." Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. Then he went on alone into the desert, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors." (1 Kings 19:1-4 NLT).

As we see in today’s reading, burnout can affect anyone. Either the challenge of the task, or the well-placed attacks of Satan, can leave you depleted and vulnerable. Life takes a turn for the worse, and you find yourself feeling empty, used up, useless, and burned out. What can you do when sleep does not replenish your sense of exhaustion? What do you do when you don’t have the energy or will power to quit but dread every sunrise, which reminds you of your inadequacy and failure? What do you do when you’re spiritually burned out? While there are no easy answers, the story of Elijah gives us five actions we can take to rise out of the ashes of burnout.

Immediately following Elijah’s great victory over God’s enemies at Mount Caramel, evil Queen Jezebel threatened his life. He ran for his life. Jezebel had killed hundreds of God’s prophets during Elijah’s time. He ran from her threats. He ran until he fell exhausted and defeated. He collapsed a burned out wreck. He had fallen from the height of victory’s mountain to the valley of defeat’s despair. But God’s grace led him to a better place. Elijah’s recovery offers us some insight for our own way back from spiritual depletion, burn out, and exhaustion.

First, Elijah was honest with God. He told him the frustrations and discouragement of his heart. He whined and moaned and felt sorry for himself in the presence of God. While I’m not big on anyone having a pity party for themselves, it is necessary for us to be honest with God, and with ourselves, about how we feel. It may not be right or righteous, but it is where we are. So often we don’t feel we can be honest with God, so we are never honest with ourselves. The way back from burnout is honesty with God and with ourselves; honest about our limitations, our frustrations, and our inadequacy.

Quite often, however, we can’t be honest with ourselves until we’ve been honest about our own unrealistic sense of self-importance. Be honest in the presence of God reminds us how petty our perspective might be. The truth is that none of us are indispensable. God is perfectly capable of caring for every challenge in our lives and that of others without us. By acknowledging our weakness, we take the first step toward regaining our strength. It may not make sense now, but when you see the other four steps, you will see the wisdom of it all. If you are feeling burned out, be honest with yourself and God today.