Leading Despite Exhaustion and Doubt

Merida explores the struggles that Elijah, one of the most celebrated prophets in the Bible, encounters as he moves from clear, obvious, physical or material victories empowered (and enabled) by God to what can be considered to be waiting or pause periods designated by God. This is surprising, to a degree, because Elijah is one of only two ordinary men (the other being Enoch) who were directly assumed into Heaven without dying. “Following the events at Mount Carmel, Elijah gets extremely discouraged, but God graciously renews His servant” (Merida, 2015). Elijah experiences frustration, exhaustion, doubt, and depression following a concentrated period of time during which God worked through him, or at least, in his presence by rebuilding the altar of the Lord (1 Kings 18:30), destroying the altar of Baal (1 Kings 18:38), slaying the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:40), and bringing rain to a famine-stricken land (1 Kings 18:45) Elijah forgot to keep his mind, his life, focused on God and God’s perfect will (English Standard Version Bible, 2001).

With this lack of willing focus,