When struggling with a serious problem and seeing no solution, one often has the depressing feeling of being completely cut off from God. It can seem as if everything he or she has learned about man's true, spiritual being up to that point has vanished into thin air. So what do we have to do to get out of this kind of mental haziness, which seems so formidable?
The experience of the great prophet Elijah is a striking example of how such a confused state of mind can be overcome. Depressed and full of fear, he sat under a juniper tree and wished that he might die. But as he slept, an angel—a Truth-illumined thought—touched him and commanded him, "Arise and eat." Elijah was thus roused from this dreamy state. We read further, "And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God." I Kings 19:4-8.
If we find ourselves in a similar mental state, it is absolutely essential to rise up, like Elijah, and partake of spiritual nourishment. To persist in resigning oneself to gloom will do nothing to change the confused situation. We must take the first step toward firmly trusting in God. And solving a problem doesn't have to involve a long journey; it can happen instantly when spiritual truth suddenly lights up our consciousness.
