Tag Depression

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

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.

An Ebenezer in the Sky

Todd R 1 Comment
Photo by Stainless Images on Unsplash

Ebenezer the squirrel, the blog’s mascot, represents memorials of God’s intervention in the world and in our lives.  The times when He changes the course of events, and when the narrative is changed by the words “but God.”  In the ESV Bible, this phrase appears 43 times, including:

“But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.” – Genesis 8:1

The phrase first was used in Genesis 3:3, when Eve says to the serpent, “but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”  As we know, Adam and Eve fell to temptation, eating the fruit and therefore providing us a warning that we should live by God’s words, not just quote them.

However, the second time we see “but God” it is a reminder that God intervenes to save sinners.  Sin started with one rejection of God’s word, but by Noah’s time, “the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.  And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.”[1]  God had Noah build an ark for his family to escape the coming flood of judgement, and the last verse before Genesis 8:1 says, “the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.”[2]  Even for Noah and his family, the ones God chose to save, 5 months alone in an ark may not have felt like salvation.  “But God…made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.”

Today, if salvation seems far away, if the flood around us feels like it’s not going away, even if it’s been months since we’ve had a “good day”, God gave us an Ebenezer especially for this occasion: the rainbow.  Genesis 9:14-16 says:

“When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.  When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”

When you see a rainbow, in the sky or anywhere, remember it as a sign of God’s love for His people, for sinners who rejected Him, but who He chose to save anyway.  He will deliver all of God’s children from the flood because His covenant is everlasting.

Also, keep an eye out for Ebenezer (still the blog’s mascot) as an ongoing series here, covering the 43 direct “but God” references, but also others.

[1] Genesis 6:11-12
[2] Genesis 7:24

The Reality of Depression

Todd R 4 Comments

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).

On Spiritual Mood Swings

Todd R 3 Comments
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

Life is often a battle with inconsistency.  We go from feeling good about our situations and God’s favor, to feeling like we are in a spiritual desert, and back again like a pendulum.  Knowing this, God provides verses like Psalm 126:4-6, which says:

“Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
            like streams in the Negeb!
Those who sow in tears
            shall reap with shouts of joy!
He who goes out weeping,
            bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
            bringing his sheaves with him.”

The metaphor is a comparison to the south of Israel, which has a very dry climate, yet experiences flooding in a rainstorm.  The Negeb also is mentioned in the story of Caleb and his daughter Achsah.  Her inherited land was in the infertile Negeb, and she asks him also for springs of water, which he gives her.[1]

Like Achsah’s father Caleb, our Father God also provides for us in our seasons of trouble.  Here, the Psalmist compares tears to seeds, reminding us that in the dry times as well as the times of overflowing blessing, God is with us, using those circumstances.  Our current loss is future gain, and our current time of suffering is bound and measured by God’s will, like the Babylonian exile was measured at 70 years[2] and the year of Jubilee came after every 49 years[3].  After our time, we will enter His rest and rejoice eternally.

In this life we may experience spiritual and emotional extremes, like drought and flood in the desert.  Don’t overreact to the pendulum swing but count your tears as seeds.  Pray that He will restore your fortunes and thank Him that our seasons are in His hands.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” – Matthew 5:4

[1] Joshua 15:18-19
[2] Daniel 9:2, 9:24
[3] Leviticus 25:8