Testimony Tuesday - Get Up and Eat

    This week's mental health story is a little different than it has been in past weeks. Rather than hearing the testimony of someone within our local Vancouver archdiocese, we are reading the story of the prophet Elijah. Though it far preceeds 2025, Elijah's experience with suffering and the response of the Lord is an appropriate example of how God cares for our suffering, and how we ourselves should respond to it.

    To explain some background information that is necessary for understanding the context of this passage, Elijah, a Jewish prophet, was just threatened by Jezebel, the daughter of a ruler of a nearby area. Jezebel is upset with Elijah because he reconverted a number of people who were worshipping pagan gods that she had introduced to them. Now, rather than believing in Baal and Asherah, these people believed in Yahweh/God.

    Because of this, Jezebel threatens to kill Elijah, and he flees out of fear. In the face of this threat, Elijah was overwhelmed, sad, and filled with fear, and so he asked for God to kill him. As for what happens after that, see for yourself!

A Reading from the First Book of Kings

But [Elijah] himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.”

Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.”

He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again.

The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.”

He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

The Word of the Lord 

Thanks be to God.

    Elijah's despair left him unmotivated to live, and yet God would not grant him his wish for death. Instead, God sent an angel who encouraged Elijah to eat and drink the food which God provided for him. Having taken time to rest and eat, Elijah is strengthened, and able to travel for 40 days to his next destination.

    So, what can we learn from Elijah's story?

    I would say that this bible passage displays empathetic instruction for those experiencing mental health troubles, and also instructions on how to care for friends who are suffering. 

    For those who are feeling anxious or depressed and without energy, we need to take time to rest and feed ourselves, even when doing that feels like the hardest thing in the world. Even nourishing ourselves just a little can help a lot, and taking a little bit of time to sleep can rejuvenate us.

    Furthermore, the angel of the Lord demonstrates how we must meet those who are suffering where they are at, with gentle prompting and patience, to help them get back on their feet.

    May the Lord walk with you this Easter season, God Bless!


Source: NRSVCE 1 Kings 19:4-8

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