Burned Out? God Has Bread for That

Feeling drained by the demands of daily life? You're not alone. Even the strongest spiritual warriors experience moments of complete exhaustion.
In this powerful morning reflection, we explore the surprising story of the prophet Elijah's breakdown after his greatest spiritual victory. Despite witnessing God send fire from heaven and defeat 450 prophets of Baal, Elijah finds himself running for his life, collapsing under a tree, and asking God to let him die. This dramatic contrast between triumph and despair reveals profound truths about human resilience and divine restoration.
Take five minutes today to reset your perspective and discover how to find renewal when you're "tired of the stress of being you."  Join us every weekday morning to start your day with encouragement and wisdom that will sustain you through life's challenges.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Good morning and welcome to Starting Right.
I am Danny Mac and I'm going tobe here every Monday to Friday
to help you get a great start toyour day.
So grab your cup of coffee, sitback and relax for the next
five minutes as I help you startyour day by starting right.
Good morning everyone, andwelcome to another day.

(00:36):
Hey, have you ever felt likeyou're just tired with the
stress of being you?
I think most of us have at somepoint or another.
Today I want to talk about afellow from Scripture who was
exactly like that.
His name happens to be Elijah.
We're going to pick up hisstory in chapter 19 of the book
of 1 Kings, but we need toremember the setup here as we

(00:57):
get to it.
Elijah had just won the battleon Mount Carmel with all of the
prophets of Baal, and thoseprophets were now dead because
God had just sent fire down fromheaven to receive Elijah's
sacrifice, whereas the prophetsof Baal could get nothing to
happen with their gods.
But now in chapter 19, startingin verse 1, it reads this way

(01:19):
Ahab told Jezebel everythingthat Elijah had done and how he
had killed all the prophets withthe sword.
So Jezebel sent a messenger toElijah to say May the gods deal
with me, be it ever so severely,if by this time tomorrow I do
not make your life like that ofone of them.
Elijah was afraid and he ran forhis life.

(01:41):
When he came to Beersheba andJudah, he left his servant there
, while he himself went a day'sjourney into the desert.
He came to a broom tree, satdown under it and prayed that he
might die.
I have had enough, lord, hesaid.
Take my life.
I am no better than myancestors.
Then he lay down under the treeand fell asleep.
An angel touched him and saidGet up and eat.

(02:04):
He looked around and there, byhis head, was a cake of bread
baked over hot coals and a jarof water.
He ate and drank and then laydown again.
The angel of the Lord came backa second time and touched him
and said Get up and eat, for thejourney is too much for you.
So he got up and ate and drank.
Strengthened by that food, hetraveled forty days and forty

(02:26):
nights until he reached Horeb,the mountain of God, and there
he went into a cave and spentthe night.
Well, we can sometimes criticizeElijah for being afraid of
Queen Jezebel when he had justseen God bring such a tremendous
victory up on Mount Carmel.
I think most of us canunderstand how we react when we

(02:47):
are exhausted, when we're tired,when we're under pressure.
It's at those times that we aregenerally far from our best and
we need to have somethingrefresh us on the inside.
We will never be able toproduce results outside of us
when the inside of us is weak,and Elijah had just spent a
tremendous amount of physical,emotional and spiritual energy

(03:08):
in his battle on Mount Carmeland now he was drained inside.
We can get to that point, too,where we have been giving out to
others.
We've been pouring into otherpeople, trying to touch them and
impact them in some way.
We've been serving our family,we've been serving our community
, we've been serving our church,and we just get drained on the
inside and we just get tired ofbeing who we are.

(03:32):
Can I give you three quickthings this morning that will
help all of us when we're atthat place.
First of all, we need to keepour proper perspective.
In those moments, it's notabout us, it's about what God
has for us.
We need to be able to seek Himfirst in all the things that we
do.
Secondly, we need to rememberthat our walk with God is a

(03:52):
journey.
It's not about being great inevery moment, but it's all about
having a life of faith.
David is known as a man afterGod's own heart, and we know how
badly he messed up in his life,but those moments did not
define him.
It was his life that definedhim.
Thirdly, we need to make surethat we preserve some strength

(04:13):
in us, that we don't use it allup too fast, and I'm talking
about emotional and spiritualand physical strength, all of
those things.
If we use it up, we need totake time to get it refilled and
refueled within us before we goon.
Otherwise we will step out andwe will feel defeated and
struggle and a sense of failureand negativity can overcome us.

(04:34):
So today, my friends, Iencourage you with this let's
learn from Elijah, who obeyedGod, did everything God had told
him to do, but he still gottired and depressed and he
needed to be refreshed.
And I encourage you this morningif you need to be refreshed,
you take some time to do justthat.
Step back from what you arepushing into and let God refresh

(04:59):
you.
Don't let yourself get to thepoint where you're just tired of
the stress of being you, butknow that in that place, at that
time, that's when God will comeand will minister to you the
most and will give you thestrength that you need.
Have a great day, my friends.
We'll talk again tomorrow.
Have a great day, my friends.
We'll talk again tomorrow.

(05:23):
Thank you for listening todayand I invite you to join me
Monday to Friday, right here on,Starting Right with Danny Mac.