Psalm 42:1-11

Depression is an all too common reality in today’s world.  There are many causes of depression ranging from physical illness and personal loss to pride and our own sinfulness.  No matter what started the original descent down the road of depression the result of it is an intense feeling that God is small and that people are large.  This backwards way of thinking only complicates our lives even more and the spiral down to the depths of despair goes even further.  Fortunately, God knows all about our hearts and He can not only see our problems, both spiritual and physical; but He can also provide the solutions that we so desperately need.  Through the power of God’s Spirit and the instruction of His Word we do not need to be overcome by depression.  God can give us victory as we obey Him no matter how we feel.

WE MUST RECOGNIZE THAT WE ARE DEPRESSED: As children we all learned to use our imaginations.  We would cover our eyes and pretend that others could not see us because we could not see them.  Unfortunately, we continue to hone our skills as pretenders all the way to adulthood so that we will often try to hide from the realities of the pain and heartache that we face.  As long as we insist on pretending that everything is fine, we will only fall deeper into depression.  We must learn to admit to the reality that our souls are “cast down within.”  We must recognize that our longing for the Lord and our thirsting after Him is real to us because He seems to be far away from us during our bouts with depression.  Until we are willing to admit to the fact that we are drowning in our own tears there is very little hope that we will be able to have victory in our lives. God always knows exactly where we are in our relationship with Him.  There is no point in pretending that He cannot see us because we are only fooling ourselves.  In our depression we must learn to admit to the truth and they cry out to the Lord for help.

WE MUST REJECT THE VOICES OF DOUBT: Our doubt of God’s goodness and presence in our lives is both a contributing and complicating factor of depression.  These voices of doubt come from within our own heart as well as from the mouths of the enemies of God who question His love and goodness.  The further we go down into depression the louder these voices become.  We begin to get absorbed by our own self-importance and the opinions of others begin to drown out the voice of truth that comes to us from God’s Spirit and His Word.  We must learn to reject these lies that flow from our saddened hearts.  We must learn to turn a deaf ear to the voices of deceit that come out of the pit of hell.  God has always been where He always will be.  There is no change in God.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  If there is distance between us; it is because we have moved.  God is not to blame for our depression and we must learn to reject the voices from within and without that try to say that He is.  

WE MUST REMEMBER THE BLESSINGS OF GOD: There is an old hymn that instructs us to count our blessings and to name them one by one.  This is very good advice for anyone who is depressed.  Many times our depression comes from looking back at all the things that have not happened according to our desires for our lives.  We begin to ignore God’s blessings and focus solely on the things we wish were different.  Then we start to project those bad memories onto the future and hope begins to escape from our hearts like air from a punctured tire.  These selective memories do not reflect the truth because between each of our disappointments there have been numerous blessings that we simply choose to ignore.  When we look back we must remember the times when we were full of joy in the presence of God.  We must remember His steadfast love and the songs that He has placed upon our hearts.  Our sins have been washed away by the blood of Christ and we have an eternal hope that can never be stripped away.  No matter how difficult our present circumstances may be we must constantly remind ourselves of God’s many blessings and then be confident in the promises of God for a very blessed future in His presence.     


WE MUST RESTORE OUR HOPE IN THE LORD: The problems we face in this life on this sin cursed planet are all temporary and passing.  They last longer than we would prefer, but they are short lived in comparison with the hope that God has promised us.  We must learn to ask ourselves why we are allowing our souls to be brought low and then tell ourselves to place our hope firmly on the Lord.  We will, in a very short time, once again lift our voices in praise to him and have our hearts be filled with the joy that only He can provide to us.  The tears on our faces will fall off and dry out in the wonderful light of His love.  Our fears and doubts will be stripped away as we see the glory of God’s presence and our voices will be full of praise and worship of the One who give His life for us. The promises of the cross of Christ should restore our blessed hope in the Lord and fill our hearts with praise of His glorious name.  Our tears of sadness will be replaced by tears of joy as we restore our hope in the Lord.

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