1 Kings 19:4

A day’s journey. Elijah did not stop in Judah. His fear drove him on. Not until he had gone a day’s journey into the wild country of the south did he stop for rest. It seems that up to this point Elijah kept going by night as well as day, finding his strength in the fear that had so completely overwhelmed him. When he did sit down under a juniper tree he was completely exhausted.

He might die. The prophet’s depression here reaches its lowest point. At the hour of victory on Mt. Carmel he had been exalted to the skies. Now, as he recalls the experience of only a few days before, his spirits sink to their lowest ebb. He wishes himself dead.

His suffering is a reaction of overstrained feeling; it is the kind of experience that sometimes follows the lifting of a soul to heights of glory and victory; the aftermath of a great religious revival, when the soul gives way to the discouragements and depressions induced by the trials of everyday life. It is well to remember that no one in this world can abide forever on the mountaintop. The path of life at times descends into the valley, where hardships and disappointments are the unavoidable facts of life. It is easy to be happy and courageous when we are at the very top of the world, but it is not nearly so easy when spirits are low and all the world seems determined to bring one down. It is then that man needs most to keep his hold on God, that he may not give way to doubt and despair. When down, look up, and climb to the heights again.