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Questions: Ever known of someone diagnosed with PTSD? Ever known of someone who failed to address trauma in a healthy way? Ever known of someone you could see was struggling to find productive ways to process events? 

It is likely you answered yes to at least one of those questions. Perhaps you answered yes to all three. If we are honest, all of us likely know of at least one person who battles this. Perhaps it’s even you. 

Connection to Scripture: In 1 Kings 19, we have the account of Elijah (God’s prophet, God’s man) fleeing. Yes, you read that correctly. He fled from wicked Jezebel. Why? I mean, wasn’t Elijah literally just coming down from a mountaintop experience where he was used by God in a miraculous way? God utterly devastated false religion. The pagans were slaughtered. God’s holiness was vindicated. And Elijah was used by God in ways that rivaled and perhaps surpassed even the events in which God used Moses earlier. By all accounts, we would think that Elijah would have renewed faith, that he’d be riding high in his spiritual walk with the Lord. But instead we find a man who is utterly spent, exhausted, and emotionally wrung out. He has PTSD. He flees when he should ostensibly be feeling invincible and at peace. 

Scripture: 

19 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “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.” 3 Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down 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.” 5 And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” 6 And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” 8 And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.

The Lord Speaks to Elijah
9 There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 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 my life, to take it away.” 11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, 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. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.[a] 13 And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 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 my life, to take it away.” 15 And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. 16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. 17 And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. 18 Yet 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 19:1-18, ESV)

Encouragement: Sometimes after intense emotional highs and/or lows, we need to remember something: decompression and rest are essential. Do we know how to switch off and just rest? Really rest. For me, I hike, or read, or fish, or kayak. For Elijah, he needed to be reminded that he wasn’t alone, that God had his people then. And he has his people still today. “Taking a knee” is a spiritual discipline we need as soldiers in uniform and as soldiers of God.