Eat a Burger February 17, 2015

The Initiative against Depression

All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 1 Kings 19:5 ESV

The angel did not give Elijah a vision, or explain the Scriptures to him, or do anything remarkable; he told Elijah to do the most ordinary thing, viz., to get up and eat. If we were never depressed we should not be alive; it is the nature of a crystal never to be depressed. A human being is capable of depression, otherwise there would be no capacity for exaltation. There are things that are calculated to depress, things that are of the nature of death; and in taking an estimate of yourself, always take into account the capacity for depression. When the Spirit of God comes He does not give us visions; He tells us to do the most ordinary things conceivable. Depression is apt to turn us away from the ordinary commonplace things of God’s creation, but whenever God comes, the inspiration is to do the most natural simple things—the things we would never have imagined God was in, and as we do them we find He is there. The inspiration which comes to us in this way is an initiative against depression; we have to do the next thing and to do it in the inspiration of God. If we do a thing in order to overcome depression, we deepen the depression; but if the Spirit of God makes us feel intuitively that we must do the thing, and we do it, the depression is gone. Immediately we arise and obey, we enter on a higher plane of life.

Chambers, Oswald (2011-05-01). My Utmost for His Highest, Classic Edition (pp. 34-35). Discovery House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

How often I have looked, prayed, and hoped for the miraculous.  A life-altering revelation.  A career- changing bit of new learning.  A self-improvement lightening bolt.  God can work in these ways, but more often it is through the day-to-day "ordinary" obedience that God works to improve, transform, and renew.

While the Bible is replete with miraculous visions and occurrences, it also reminds us that God works through the mundane.

Daniel just ate a healthy diet.  The disciples went fishing.  Haggai wrote letters.

We can spend our lives looking for flashes of lightening, reports of thunder, and paths through seas, or we can take walks, enjoy meals, and fellowship with friends. God is just as easily found in a spring breeze as He is in a lion's den.