“I, even I only, am left” (1 Kings 19:14).

Think back to the last time you felt discouraged, lonely, or misunderstood. At some point, we all have emotional lows. You try so hard to serve and do the right thing; you spend yourself, and then you hit a wall and wonder, “Is this even working?”

Elijah knew that feeling, and it’s quite a reversal. In one chapter, he’s victoriously calling fire from heaven on Mount Carmel. The next chapter, he’s alone in the wilderness asking God to take his life. How do you go from the mountaintop to the cave so fast? And what does God do with his servants when they’re spent and disheartened?

Retreat & Collapse

In 1 Kings 18, Elijah was part of God’s victory over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. But when Jezebel sent a messenger swearing Elijah would be dead by the end of the day (1 Kings 19:2), he ran. He didn’t suddenly become a coward; he was exhausted!

What does God do with his servants when they’re spent and disheartened?

So he runs. The weary prophet leaves his servant (1 Kings 19:3), wanders into the wilderness, and collapses under a broom tree. “It is enough; now,” he says, “O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers” (1 Kings 19:4). We all try not to “grow weary of doing good*” (Gal. 6:9), but sometimes even the strongest among us falter.

Eat & Sleep

But God doesn’t lecture Elijah about his weakness. He gives him bread, water, and rest. “And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Arise and eat’” (1 Kings 19:5). A second time the angel says, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you” (1 Kings 19:7).

Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap, eat a meal, and let God tend to your humanness.

There’s a contrast in the story: Jezebel’s messenger comes to fill Elijah with fear (1 Kings 19:2); God’s messenger comes to fill him with food (1 Kings 19:5–7). Same Hebrew word — two messengers, two voices.

Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap, eat a meal, and let God tend to your humanness. So Elijah went “in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God” (1 Kings 19:8). Renewal takes time.

“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 the sound of a low whisper” (1 Kings 19:11–12).

Lament & Quiet

At Horeb, two times God asks, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:9, 13). And both times, Elijah pours out the same lament: “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 my life, to take it away” (1 Kings 19:10, 14).

That’s how discouragement works: it isolates and spirals us into dark narratives. Then God appears to Elijah on the mountain: “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 the sound of a low whisper” (1 Kings 19:11–12).

Think of Aesop’s fable of the North Wind and the Sun. The wind howled, trying to rip the traveler’s cloak away. The harder it blew, the tighter he clung. Then the sun simply warmed him, and he let it go. Where all that force failed, quiet persuasion won.

“And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave” (1 Kings 19:13). Like Moses in the cleft, he knows he’s before God.

Yet even here, there’s no instant fix; he’s still lamenting. Healing comes slowly, as we sit in the quiet, telling God the truth, and hearing the truth of his word. I’ve been there, and maybe you can see yourself in that cave, too. But if we seek him, God will meet us in that place of loneliness and discouragement. Usually not in a big spectacle, but we can hear his voice in the quiet of a verse. We can find his mercy and help in prayer, or even in a friend’s steady presence.

Return & Serve

Then God sends Elijah back north. “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha … you shall anoint to be prophet in your place” (1 Kings 19:15–16). Elijah’s story isn’t over. And the Lord corrects Elijah’s confused story that has him spinning (thinking he’s serving God all alone). “I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:18). We all need to remember that! God always preserves a remnant, and you aren’t alone! He often has companions for you that you can’t see yet. Elijah gets Elisha to walk with him. You and I get the body of Christ.

Healing comes slowly, as we sit in the quiet, telling God the truth, and hearing the truth of his word.

So discouragement isn’t the end. God restores us and gives us what we need, whether it’s bread, silence, truth, or a newfound clarity about our mission. He doesn’t leave his weary servants on the sidelines. Instead, he sends us back renewed. Jesus doesn’t say, “All you who are weary and heavy laden—what’s the matter with you?” He says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). Jesus knew lonely nights, none darker than Gethsemane, with the betrayal and cross that followed it. He bore them so you could find grace in your weakest moments. He doesn’t just offer physical rest, but soul rest. And he gives us a promise greater than even Elijah heard on that mountain: “behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).