Tag Depression

Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad News?

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One day when my son was almost 4, he greeted me at the door after work, crying, and said “mommy turned on CNN!”  It wasn’t CNN in particular that was the problem.  It could have been any network, and we watch a variety of news outlets in our house.  While they each have their own point of view, the one thing they all seem to have in common is described in this 1974 quote from CBS journalist Eric Sevareid:

“The biggest big business in America is not steel, automobiles, or television. It is the manufacture, refinement and distribution of anxiety.”

It’s a sad truth that news outlets know that if they get an emotional response from us, we’re more likely to keep watching, which is how they make money.  This is nothing new.  They also know we’re more likely to respond to bad news than good news.  It’s sometimes enough to make anyone cry, not just a 3-year-old.

The problem also has a lot to do with the subjects covered.  Much of what’s in the news has to do with politics, which reminds me of this 1923 quote from H.L. Mencken:

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”

Just like anxiety is big business for the media, keeping us “alarmed” is big business for politicians because if they can make us terrified of something and present themselves as the only solution, they can keep us hooked to their side, sometimes for life.  They’re after our undying allegiance and if fear of the enemy is what gets that allegiance, then fear of our enemy is what they’ll create.  The bigger the hobgoblin the better, even if it’s bad for the viewer’s health.

However, we don’t have to be anxious and alarmed by everything we see in the news.  Psalm 112:7 describes a particular sort of person:

“He is not afraid of bad news;
            his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD.” – Psalm 112:7

Who is this fortunate person?  Does this person really exist in this hyper-partisan, 24-hour news cycle world?  The author (unnamed) begins Psalm 112 with this verse:

“Praise the LORD!
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
            who greatly delights in his commandments!”

So, who is not afraid of bad news?  The one who fears the LORD and delights in His commands.  With God’s help, we can overcome the fear and anxiety generated by our politicians and their media outlets.

The “man who fears the Lord” knows that God is capable of overcoming these problems, and if there’s something wrong in the world there’s a reason for it.  He’s in control.  They not only know that He is capable, but also that only He is capable.  No politician can do everything they promise to do, including getting rid of the hobgoblins.  Sometimes political promises are so outlandish that believing them would amount to idolatry.  Only God will keep all of His promises and can handle all of the world’s bad news.  If we really believe this, we will not be afraid of bad news.

The one who “greatly delights in his commandments” knows that nowhere does God command us to address every problem we’re aware of, everywhere in the world.  Nowhere does God command us to swear blind allegiance to any politician who warns us of “an endless series of hobgoblins,” because only He can ultimately deliver us.  They know that although God commands us to love our neighbor, we all have limits in what we are able to do.  But the person in Psalm 112:1 also knows that we have no excuse to ignore the problems we can address.  We don’t need to have anxiety about things we can do nothing about, because nothing escapes God’s attention and in His commands to His people, He has considered all possibilities.

So, does the news cause you alarm and anxiety?  If you do, you’re definitely not alone.  I struggle with it.  The solution can be found in cultivating a deeper relationship with, and reverent fear of, the Lord.  Spend regular time in the word, rather than in the TV, to build confidence in God’s character.  Spend time praying and meditating, sharing with God your concerns.  Spend time with God’s people and avoid rabid political partisans who draw your attention away from God’s peace to the hobgoblins and the pretend saviors.  It’s hard, because there’s an entire industry designed to make us fearful and anxious.  But over time, while we may take 2 steps forward and one step back, we always know that He is with us.

Does the news not cause you alarm and anxiety?  Count yourself blessed.  But for all of us:

“Praise the LORD!
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
            who greatly delights in his commandments!”

The Reality of Depression

Todd R 1 Comment

October 10 is World Mental Health Day, a time to raise awareness globally about its importance.  In his commentary on 2 Corinthians 1, Warren Wiersbe wrote on the subject of depression:[1]

“’You seem to imagine that I have no ups and downs, but just a level and lofty stretch of spiritual attainment with unbroken joy and equanimity. By no means! I am often perfectly wretched and everything appears most murky.’
So wrote the man who was called in his day ‘The Greatest Preacher in the English-speaking World’ – Dr. John Henry Jowett. He pastored leading churches, preached to huge congregations, and wrote books that were best sellers.

‘I am the subject of depressions of spirit so fearful that I hope none of you ever get to such extremes of wretchedness as I go to.’
Those words were spoken in a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon whose marvelous ministry in London made him perhaps the greatest preacher England ever produced.”

Depression is real and is not a sign of spiritual failure, as shown by these quotes by people we might consider spiritual giants.  Therefore, how should we respond?  This next quote points us in a good direction:

“People don’t fake depression…they fake being ok.  Remember that.  Be kind.” – unknown

[1] Wiersbe, Warren.  Be Encouraged (2 Corinthians) (1994).

When We Feel Downcast

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We all have bad days.  Sometimes on those days it’s hard not to dwell on what’s gone wrong.  It’s hard not to make a list of the reasons why we’re feeling bad and focus on them.  It’s hard not to think about ways to immediately fix whatever problem we’re having.  However, Psalm 42 recommends a different approach.  Verse 6 of that Psalm ends with:

“My soul is cast down within me;
            therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
            from Mount Mizar.”

When we feel like our “soul is cast down,” we might say therefore we need to spend our time thinking about why.  We might say therefore I’ll just feel bad for myself.  We might say therefore the world is a bad place, or therefore the universe is conspiring against us.

But I got helpful advice from a friend years ago that when you find a “therefore” in the Bible, you should ask what it’s there for.  Everything in the list above are not what this “therefore” is there for.

According to Psalm 42, the right “therefore” is to remember God.  The therefore is there to give us something to think about when we feel “cast down.”  But what does it mean to “remember” God?  How is it helpful?  It means to meditate on God’s works, in the world, in the Bible, and in our lives, as reminders that He is bigger than our problems.

We may have many, many reasons to feel down, and the Psalmist knows this.  In verse 7 is written:

“Deep calls to deep
            at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
            have gone over me.”

Breakers and waves – difficulties in life – can constantly come one after the other and can seem to have no end, especially if we dwell on them, but note that the Psalmist refers to the breakers and waves as “your breakers” and “your waves.”  They belong to God, and do not come to us without His permission.  Often its more natural for us to think “I need a solution” than to think “I need God,” but He is always what we need.

While difficulties can go on and on, God’s love has no end either, as written in verse 8:

“By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,
            and at night his song is with me,
            a prayer to the God of my life.”

His love is steadfast, meaning He cares for us “by day … and at night.”  He is always with us and ready to remind us of His love, even when all we can see are waves crashing over us.  If your soul is cast down, remember Him and His works.

Amen.

Things God Counts

Todd R Leave a comment

Fellow travelers,

Are you ever so fearful or anxious about something that you lose sleep about it? Are there things out of your control that you toss and turn over? Maybe it’s so bad that you even cry. If you’re like this, you’re definitely not alone, and in fact, King David struggled with this kind of anxiety.

In Psalm 56, David laments that his enemies are constantly out to get him, and then in verse 8, David wrote about God:

“You have kept count of my tossings;
            put my tears in your bottle.
            Are they not in your book?”

What David means is that God sees all of our anxiety and every detail about how it affects us.  He counts every time we toss and turn at night.  He counts every tear you cry, and keeps track of them all, because he cares.

This realization causes David to write in verses 10 and 11:

“In God, whose word I praise,
            in the LORD, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
            What can man do to me?”

Prayer or any religious practice won’t always cure anxiety, but as long as we suffer, God knows and cares about it.  We can trust Him to provide for us, sometime between now and eternity.

As Paul wrote about the glory of our salvation:

“If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”[1]

Amen

[1] Romans 8:31b-32

Don’t Let the Stink Stop You – Blessed are the Meek #5

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Here’s a review of the series on meekness so far.  The first two posts contrasted two characters from the movie The Matrix, Agent Smith and Neo, to Jesus.  Agent Smith was the “Malevolent Incarnation,” who used and enforced rules to keep people in their place.  Smith can’t stand the stink of humanity and just wants to be free of it.  Neo, the hero of the Matrix series, is the “Ambivalent Incarnation” who wants to free mankind from rules, but otherwise wants to let them be as they are.  However, under Neo’s no-rules philosophy of “everyone should do what they want,” there is no foundation from which to object to anything someone else does, including brutal oppression.  Any objection is also an objection to the same philosophy Neo claims to hold, and “no city or house divided against itself will stand.”[1]

Jesus, contrasted to these, is the “Benevolent Incarnation.”  Jesus is more aware of the problems that make Agent Smith repulsed by us and that make him want to control us, but He also does not leave us alone with no way to overcome our problems.  He rules us for our good, and because we cannot meet His perfect standard, He lived it in our place, then died to cover the cost of our failure.  He wants to fix our stink, not because He hates us as Agent Smith does, but because He loves us in spite of our stink.  He refuses to allow us to stink forever, as Neo would.  He is benevolent, not malevolent or ambivalent.

Meekness is the third step in the Beatitudes, an intentionally sequential series of statements that describe what’s involved in following God, like gears in a machine: “First, being poor in spirit means that we have emptied ourselves of all illusions that our plans are better than God’s.  Second, mourning the state of ourselves and our world means we are emotionally engaged.  That we care.  In the third Beatitude, being meek is where we begin to engage our will, submitting it to God as our benevolent Lord.”

He wants us to also be benevolent incarnations, however we often don’t want to engage the third gear of meekness, where “the rubber meets the road” so to speak.  But if we don’t embrace it “the first two Beatitudes alone can leave us in a place where we’re a mess and the world is a terrible place and there’s nothing we can do about any of it.  It can be a place of depression and despair.”

Martha almost found herself stuck in this place when Jesus returned to Bethany after the death of Lazarus, her brother.  Jesus found the family mourning, then: “Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”  (John 11:39).  Jesus intended to raise Lazarus from the dead, but for Martha the stink was all she could think of.  Patently, Jesus encouraged her, the stone covering the entrance to the tomb was moved, and Lazarus walked out of the grave alive!

Don’t Let the Stink Stop You
Does the stench of sin keep us from being meek?  Do we, like Agent Smith, just want people to behave so we can go about our way?  Or does our obedience come first?  Jesus wants us to live as He lived, but we only can if we accept His righteousness and become invested in it at all levels of our being.  If we are truly poor in spirit and mourn our sin, what’s stopping us?

God won’t tell us to move the stone from Lazarus’ grave – that was Martha’s task. It also was not Jesus’ task.  We don’t do what Jesus would do, but what He would have us do.  He could have moved the stone Himself, but He wanted Martha to participate in His work, but to do that she had to be willing to be uncomfortable.

We all are often in Martha’s place, struggling with what Jesus wants us to do.  He asks us to do things that don’t make sense to us, that don’t make sense to the world, and sometimes it stinks (sometimes literally).  Jesus wants to bring His people to life, as He did with Lazarus, but there may be a stone He wants you to move, and it will only move if you have faith in Him stronger than the stink involved.

Meekness is the Cross
Meekness means carrying the cross the Father assigns to us.  For Jesus it was taking on all the sin of the world, not just by His death on a literal cross, but also by proactively taking on the consequences of it for the benefit of others.  We stink but He did not leave us alone.  For us, carrying the cross involves taking on some of the stink of the world, stepping into the suffering of others and offering the life that only Jesus can give.  What an amazing contrast this is to what’s so common today: pointing out sin everywhere and demanding those “other sinners” pay the price, or demanding that government solve the problem somehow, or withdrawing from problems that seem too big to do anything about.

Is there a stinky situation you’re aware of, but avoiding?  Being meek toward Jesus means we’re on board with His plan of salvation and willing to do our part, whatever that is.  Sometimes all that’s needed to bring someone life is moving a stone and enduring the odor.  While the smell was enough for Martha to hesitate, to Jesus it was part of the cost of living and dying for us.  He was willing to bear it, and if we meekly move the stone, Jesus will do the rest.

[1] Matthew 12:25