God & MENtal Health by: Minister Nicholas C. Christian
God
& MENtal Health
1
Kings 19:1-8
Triumph Baptist Church
1648 West Hunting Park Ave.
The Sacred Desk
July 20, 2020
The Minister Nicholas C. Christian, M. Div
“1 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 like the life of
one of them by this time tomorrow.” 3 Then he was afraid; he got up
and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left
his servant there. 4 But he 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.” 5 Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell
asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” 6
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. 7 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.” 8 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.” (NRSV)
On November 29, 2017, the executive editor of The
New York Times, Dean Baquet would interview American rapper, CEO, and
successful businessman Sean “JAY-Z” Carter about his traumas and infidelities.
The interview itself was no shock to anyone, however, the answers JAY-Z
delineated would serve as an eye-opener to many men around the world. In JAY-Z’s interview with The Times, he ultimately
confirmed what, for years had been speculated – his infidelity. However, while
the interview exposed the world to the infidelities of one of the most known
American rappers in the world, it also exposed to men, the reality that has for
a long time been overlooked, or “swept under the rug” – the consequences of ignoring
painful and traumatic experiences, or being a “tough guy”.
After being questioned about whether JAY-Z had
sought therapy following the production of his therapeutic album “4:44”, JAY-Z
explained to Dean that his personal experiences with pain and trauma were revealed
to him through traditional therapy, not in simply the writing and producing of
his album. Even further, JAY-Z began to detail the nature of his traumatic and
painful experiences, and he did so in a way that enabled many men across this
nation to be able to relate. In the interview JAY-Z shared that when the pain
or trauma he experienced happened, his innate response was to simply ignore his
emotions and pain, and go into what he described as “survival mode”. Following
the acknowledgement of his traumas, he explained his mentality by stating:
“You have to survive. So you go into survival mode,
and when you go into survival mode what happens? You shut down all emotions. So
even with women, you gonna shut down emotionally, so you can't connect.”
While JAY-Z may be the first to coin “survival mode”
as a summation of one ignoring all emotions and disconnecting because of a
painful or traumatic experience, he is no pioneer in the carrying out of this
summation itself. This phrase “survival mode” is not a new one to the English
language and in the context of which JAY-Z applies it, “survival mode” becomes
a very poignant summation of how one responds to pain or trauma; particularly a
man who has subscribed to the ideology of “toughness.”
The belief that “toughness” is a trait displayed
through public masculinity is one that is typically endorsed by men to their
brothers, sons, nephews, cousins, and godchildren at a very early age. This
mentality is endorsed to teach young men and boys that to be “tough” means a
man does not cry, expose the existence of their pain, or even discuss any of
their fears, because doing so is a sign of weakness. Even in the realm of
sports, to voice your dislike about physical contact is considered “soft”, to
endure an injury while playing raises your toughness, and the player who gets
hit the hardest without showing its effect is considered the strongest.
Somehow, society and parenting have tragically subscribed and prescribed a
flawed diagnosis of toughness and vaccine for weakness. Survival mode as
demarcated by JAY-Z has become the innate reaction to painful or traumatic
experiences for men across this nation. Some have chosen to submerge themselves
in work, while others drench and numb themselves in alcohol or substance abuse.
We have let our traumas build to the point of impulsive decisions that harm or
endanger the persons we love. We have convinced ourselves to silently suffer
and sink into the darkness of depression, loneliness, anxiety, and mental
illness because of a poorly founded, and fundamentally wrong mentality. We have
subscribed to the idea that the toughness of men is defined by their ability to
endure pain and trauma. Thus, we have allowed that mentality to become the
foundational scapegoat for men all over the world dealing with seriously
painful, and traumatic experiences. This flawed mentality causes us to choose
silent suffering over healing and mental stability, but that is not God’s will
or His way.
The toughness of a man is not found in his ability
to create a fabricated façade of not needing to cope because he has no pain. But,
to be able to authentically come before the Throne of Grace, and share his
truths of depression, anxiety, and any other mental illness or traumatic
experience he carries and has endured, with the Lord. The persistent action of
ignoring the presence of pain and trauma in anyone’s life is, in essence, lying
to oneself, and leads to destruction.
“Keep me from
lying to myself;
give me the privilege of knowing your
instructions.” Psalm 119:29 (NLT)
To delay or run from the dealing or accepting of
one’s illness is to delay its healing and worsen its effect. If we as men are
going to step up as fathers, brothers, and men across this nation, we must
recognize that it is not God’s desire for us to be alone, suffering in silence.
We must come to terms with our pain, traumas, and illnesses, recognizing that
it is okay not to be okay. Even further, we must remember that we have a God
who sees our every tear, and who is listening to our every prayer, and who
desires that we cast our cares on Him, because He cares for us and that is what
clearly shows up in our text today.
At the time of our text, we find out that Elijah has
fled to Beer-Sheba, in an attempt to find refuge from the death threats of Jezebel.
The Bible teaches us that Elijah did not stay at Beer-Sheba when he arrived,
but that he went even a day’s journey in the sweltering and solitary conditions
of the wilderness where he settled under the white-leaved shade of a juniper
broom tree and requested that he might die. Look at the
irony here in this text. Elijah, the man used by God to validate God’s worship
over that of the Canaanite deity Baal, has activated his version of “survival
mode” and opted to run from the life threating circumstances existing in his
life, only to end up alone in the wilderness wanting to die or threatening his
own life? If Elijah desired to die, why didn’t he stay and allow Jezebel to
kill him?
We can
only conclude that the vehicle of clarity parks us at the belief that Elijah’s
desire for death wasn’t a constant mental state, but one that arrived gradually.
In other words, while Elijah was running from his problems, the weight of the
problems on his mental psyche began to run him. Eventually, Elijah made the
decision to stop running, but by then, the trauma and life threatening
circumstances he had been running from pushed him right into depression; one
that left him alone, sleepy, void of energy, purpose for life, and even an
appetite to eat. Elijah’s desire to run from one problem, eventually
created another, and that precisely was one of the foundational issues that led
to Elijah’s struggle.
For far too long, we as men have lived our lives
like Elijah. Many of us have experienced pain, trauma, or other problems that
felt easier to run from than to face and deal with directly. As a result, we have
chosen the option to run with the hopes that our problems, pains, and traumas
will somehow go away on their own, and in doing so, we have further strengthened
their strongholds on our lives. However, it is time that we stop running and
deal with the illnesses and issues in our lives. It is time to be delivered
from the myth and mentality that it is weak for a man to cry, get hurt, or even
seek medical professional help for the issues or illnesses in our lives. It is
time that we accept that Christ came so that we would not have to live life in
survival mode, or on the run, but that as the Bible teaches us in John 10:10,
He “came that we would have life and have it more abundantly”. That word
“abundantly” is not some random adjective that is unintentionally used, but one
that means more than simply surviving. In the context of life, abundantly means
to thrive or to live in the overflow. It reminds us that we who believe in
Jesus Christ have access to the fullness of joy, the fullness of peace, the fullness
of love, and the fullness of life. However, we cannot live in the fullness of
any of those things until we are truthful about where we are mentally and until
we are willing to face and do the hard work of dealing with our problems as
they come. Our fullness in Christ is tied to our ability to be truthful about
our victories and failures, at minimum, with ourselves so that we can journey
towards healing and loosen the strongholds of pain, trauma, mental illness and
other problems that have been created in our lives. Once we are truthful with
ourselves and decide to stop running, it is then that we can experience the
community of others and that’s what happens with Elijah.
God Does Not
Desire Isolation
The Bible
teaches us that as soon as Elijah stop running and went to the Lord, God sent
Elijah an angel. Notice the progression of the text. Elijah stopped running and
went to God about the emotions and feelings he had been dealing with, and the
moment he released it to God, help showed up. In other
words, is it possible that the help we need and are waiting for God to send,
isn’t coming because we have chosen the route of running, and stopped short of
giving our issues and problems to God? Today’s text reminds us that we need to
do more than simply stop running in order to solve our problems and deal with
the mental illnesses we face. It is not until we put those issues into God’s
hands, through both prayer and the work of seeking medical professional help,
that we will receive the help we need.
Furthermore, God is strategic in how the help is
given to Elijah. The Bible suggests that God sent Elijah an angel, not to deal
with his depression or his negative thoughts towards himself, but to strengthen
him to continue his journey and further carry out his destiny. This clearly teaches
us is that it is not God’s desire for any of us to suffer in silence or deal
with the mental illnesses of life alone. God desires for us to live within
community with one another, and He will always send us an “angel” whose job is
not to critique or undervalue our emotions, but to make sure we do not continue
to wallow in our feelings or sink deeper into depression. That is why we must
seek safe spaces and places to go where we can share that we are not okay and
that we need help to be okay. The enemy wants us to believe that we are better
off by ourselves, but the Devil is a liar. We should not be alone while
suffering from depression. Our ability to speak to ourselves about ourselves is
almost always distorted. The foundation of our depression is often because our
perspective about ourselves is negative. This alone magnifies the importance
and need for us to be in community, but also in relationship with God.
In closing, yes we need to pray because prayer
works. We must also pray because prayer is work. However, when it comes to
dealing with pain, trauma, and mental health illnesses, we must also understand
that our prayers need to lead to work. Work for us as men means debunking the
myth that weakness is found in our ability to be emotionally intelligent or
responsible. Work for men means seeking medical professional help regardless of
the poorly founded myths and stigmas surrounding the action. Work for all of us
means facing our problems and fighting for healing even when it appears easier
to run or enter survival mode. God honors those who choose to do the work. God
is on the side of those who choose to fight back for their healing and
stability. Even further, when we go to God, God specializes in fighting for us.
There is no darkness God will not shine His light on to save us. There is no
wall of depression, anxiety, pain, or trauma God will not kick down, and no lie
we have told to ourselves or the devil has tried to convince us of that God
will not tear down. When we operate with God, and live and lean on God, we can
have a peace that surpasses all understanding. Peace is what we need in our
minds today. Peace is what we need in our hearts today. Even if our illness
never leaves, even if our pain and our traumas never heal, God can grant us
peace. Peace chasing is work worth doing.
“Turn from evil
and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” Psalm 34:14 (NLT)
When
peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well, with my soul
It is
well
With my soul
It is well, it is well with my soul
Though
Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul
It is
well (it is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul
My
sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, o my soul
It is
well (it is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul
It is
well (it is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my
soul
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