“Burnout is what happens when our inner life with God is no longer able to sustain our outer work for God. A misalignment between our inner life and our outer work leads to a hollowing of the soul as we expend more emotional and spiritual energy than we take in,” writes Sean Nemecek in A Weary Leader’s Guide to Burnout.  

He further expounds, “Burnout is the condition of having your personal identity overwhelmed by the anxiety of life – a total depletion of self. It’s like you have been separated from yourself in the smoke and fires of life. You keep looking for yourself, but it’s too dark and you can’t breathe. To survive, you eventually give up, stop looking for your true self, and become someone else. You abandon yourself to the smoke and fire and start to live a lie. When that lie catches up with you, you become alone, exhausted and afraid. Burnout is losing yourself in the fire.” 

I wonder if you have lost yourself in the fire: alone, afraid, and exhausted? 

Is it possible that your inner life with God is no longer able to sustain your outer work for God? 

Has your soul become hollowed?  

Sitting beneath the broom tree with Elijah, we join company with one who has lived and breathed our utter exhaustion. One who has crossed the line of “this is all I can take,” ready for his life to be over. All of his spiritual and emotional energy spent in the standoff on Mount Carmel, the threat of Jezebel taking his life is too much, and the once-courageous Elijah becomes the now-terrified Elijah.  

Aware of his depleted state and attuned to his needs, a Heavenly Messenger provides him physical touch, deep sleep, food, and water. Strengthened by additional sleep and even more nourishment, Elijah then begins his 40-day trip to Mount Horeb where Moses received the Ten Commandments. 

Twice, on the mountain, the Eternal One asks him why he is here and what it is that he desires. Elijah discovers that God is not in the wind, the earthquake or the fire, but surprisingly in the quiet voice of a gentle breeze. At this point of regaining God’s perspective on his still-valued life, he is able to receive His instructions for the next steps.

If you were to spend some time in 1 Kings 19 today, I wonder how the strength and wisdom in God’s gentle whisper might speak to you, possibly providing you sustenance in a season that feels unsustainable?