"Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are..."~ Ja. 5:17
Our title, I’m sure, is familiar to most all of my readers. The old spiritual, “Nobody Knows the trouble I see,” has more truth in it than some would like to admit.
No one can deny Elijah had his highs and lows. He could go from the mountain top to the valley of despair in no time flat. One minute he's praying down fire from Heaven; the next he's praying to be taken to the funeral home!
If this man's man were with us today, I'm certain all the amateur, self-appointed psychologists among the saints would dub him "Bi-polar." That is, one with opposite extremes, a person who alternates between hopelessness and elation. To be sure, there are legitimate cases that need professional help, but not nearly as many, I think, among believers as some would have us believe.
I have learned in my own life by calling too much attention to a minor condition can make even the normal seem abnormal. Overemphasis can cause one to be overwrought. Some of us are quick to diagnose another's so-called ills, while shifting attention away form our own pitiful condition. "Physician heal thyself," is good advice for all of us.
History also reveals scores of individuals who experienced exceptional highs and lows in life. Mozart, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Poe, and Churchill, to name a few. Yet, in spite of this (or because of it) they somehow produced and left us with something.
Let's face it; all of us are on a roller-coaster. It's just that some have higher highs and lower lows than others. A bi-polar to most Christians is anyone who has more emotional ups and downs than they do.