How to Get a Grip on Mood Swings
Elijah had an amazing day. He wiped out 850 idolatrous prophets and ended a 3 1/2 year nationwide drought by one prayer! Not bad, huh? Why in the world is he praying to die the next day?
Mood swings. They are real. It feels like the floor disappeared and you are in a free fall.
What was the source of Elijah’s downward spiral and how did he come out of it?
1. He reacted out of fear.
Fear is a voice telling you, “It’s over.” Perhaps it’s a report about your company, your health, or your finances. You proceed to fill in the blanks and in your mind suddenly the deck is stacked: “It’s over.”
It’s never as bad as it appears. Get perspective. Put God in the middle of your mental “equation.” Nothing is 100% sure. Why not let a green sprig of hope grow up out of the muddy swamp of your mind?
2. He let himself get exhausted.
When you’re physically tired you become mentally tired.
Six hours of nightly sleep for a week. Fourteen hour workdays and one nonstop project. You’re ready to throw in the towel on your whole life!
It took an angel giving Elijah just two good meals and a couple of long naps to snap him out of his deep low. He stood up from the ground and started walking toward an encounter with God.
Check your diet. Check your sleep. Check your exercise. They can all contribute to a deep, dark, “funk” and they can also be the cure for it as well.
“When you discover your purpose, you’ll conquer your pit.”
3. He returned to God’s presence.
Perhaps God has gotten “put on the shelf” during your overstressed, under-rested season.
Go home to God. Mt. Horeb in the desert was where Moses received the Ten Commandments. Elijah walked there, found a vacant cave, and went in to find God (no cellphone, distractions, or notifications by the way).
Go find your Bible. Start back where you left off in your reading plan. Go into your backyard and spend a quiet 15 minutes alone with the Lord. Things seem clearer and better almost instantly.
4. He heard God’s voice.
He didn’t hear some powerful, magnanimous “Richter scale” voice. It was a “quiet, low whisper.”
He could barely hear it. God’s voice requires silence to hear it is so soft. You have to get quiet, strain your inner ears. It is a leading, an impression, a thought, a Scripture, a “key.” It’s the key to coming out of your whole deep, dark season.
5. He got his next assignment.
That “key” is your “next.” Your next assignment is what snaps you out of your hopelessness.
Elijah heard God’s voice tell him to go participate in the “changing of the guard”: coronating two kings and anointing a young prophet who would be his successor. Big stuff. Strategic, world-changing stuff.
What is your “next?” What is your assignment, your unique contribution, your passion to accomplish in your lifetime?
When you discover your purpose, you’ll conquer your pit.
Rise up, Elijah. Get back in the game.
Your destiny is waiting for you to fulfill it.