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 Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 4:28 pm
Last year I was reading through Psalms and I got to chapter 69. As I was reading it all I could think of was "Man, this dude was a serious Deby Downer."
"Save me, O God,
For the waters have threatened my life. I have sunk in deep mire, and there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters, and a flood overflows me. I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched;
My eyes fail while I wait for my God. Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head;
Those who would destroy me are powerful, being wrongfully my enemies;
What I did not steal, I then have to restore. O God, it is You who knows my folly,
And my wrongs are not hidden from You. May those who wait for You not be ashamed through me, O Lord GOD of hosts;
May those who seek You not be dishonored through me, O God of Israel, Because for Your sake I have borne reproach;
Dishonor has covered my face. I have become estranged from my brothers
And an alien to my mother's sons. For zeal for Your house has consumed me,
And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. When I wept in my soul with fasting,
It became my reproach. When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them. Those who sit in the gate talk about me,
And I am the song of the drunkards." Psalm 69:1-12
I'll admit it, lately I've been going through some stuff that has made me depressed and this chapter has given me comfort for it says everything I am feeling. Why should I feel ashamed for being depressed when there is nothing wrong with depression. Even Jesus became depressed.
"For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted." Isaiah 53:2-4
Yet some of us have found ourselves being on the edge of being dragged to the point where a person is overwhelmed by every essence that makes up depression. All to the point where one wants to stay in the corner of a dark room and block everyone and everything out. In a sense it's like building a brick wall safety bubble around yourself so no one and nothing can get through.
And there lies the problem. We are so busy blocking everything out that we end up blocking God out. Just like us this Psalmist is going that sinking feeling yet he realizes that when he is at that stage he doesn't have to go through it alone.
"But as for me, my prayer is to You, O LORD, at an acceptable time;
O God, in the greatness of Your lovingkindness,
Answer me with Your saving truth. Deliver me from the mire and do not let me sink;
May I be delivered from my foes and from the deep waters. May the flood of water not overflow me
Nor the deep swallow me up,
Nor the pit shut its mouth on me. Answer me, O LORD, for Your lovingkindness is good;
According to the greatness of Your compassion, turn to me, And do not hide Your face from Your servant,
For I am in distress; answer me quickly. Oh draw near to my soul and redeem it;
Ransom me because of my enemies!" Psalm 69:13-18
"But I am afflicted and in pain;
May Your salvation, O God, set me securely on high. I will praise the name of God with song
And magnify Him with thanksgiving. And it will please the LORD better than an ox
Or a young bull with horns and hoofs. The humble have seen it and are glad;
You who seek God, let your heart revive. For the LORD hears the needy
And does not despise His who are prisoners. Let heaven and earth praise Him,
The seas and everything that moves in them. For God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah,
That they may dwell there and possess it. The descendants of His servants will inherit it,
And those who love His name will dwell in it." Psalm 69:29-36
Has anyone ever done the trust exercise where you have to fall backwards and trust the people behind you are going to catch you? Well it's exactly like that. When you think you can't stand it anymore God is there saying "Come on. Trust me. I got your back. Not only do I have your back, I will carry you the whole way." For when we are weak, we are strong because He makes us strong.
"And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
But if we are to busy building that brick wall bubble to shut everything out, even His voice, then how can we hear Him saying that He has our back.
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Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 9:32 pm
Depression is not a completely bad thing, but at times it can be and it can lead to self-pity. A lot of times we go to music for our self-comfort when we should go in prayer. Leonard Ravenhill prayed for 1-3 hours a day, while most people can't pray for 10 minutes. The book of Psalms is mostly written by King David, so this might be him who wrote this psalm. No matter what situation they were in, they cried out to God and God saved them: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+107&version=ESVDepression usually leads to suicide, and one reason can be this: James 4:2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.
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Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 1:20 am
Ransom3d Depression is not a completely bad thing, but at times it can be and it can lead to self-pity. A lot of times we go to music for our self-comfort when we should go in prayer. Leonard Ravenhill prayed for 1-3 hours a day, while most people can't pray for 10 minutes. The book of Psalms is mostly written by King David, so this might be him who wrote this psalm. No matter what situation they were in, they cried out to God and God saved them: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+107&version=ESVDepression usually leads to suicide, and one reason can be this: James 4:2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You did not grasp the point I was making at all. Your post seems to have a judgmental tone as well. Please remember that a lot of people go through depression and the last thing they need is someone looking down on them because of it.
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Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 7:55 pm
Unfortunately, you do not know what the Bible says. I was depressed as well in my life, and I almost committed suicide myself. The Bible says, you murder, because you do not have. People kill themselves because they don't get what they want. When stock markets fell in the Great Depression in United States, millionaires killed themselves. They killed because they could not have what they wanted; their money. Depressed or not, depression comes from a desire. Most of that desire comes from an idol, some of that desire is good but in most cases it is not.
Depression comes from self-pity, which comes from pride. Worrying about yourself becomes and idol, and that is why, "We have a brick wall" because of that idol. And when I mean pride, I mean it like I'm depressed because I don't have this or that. When in reality, we don't deserve any of what we have in life! It is God's grace and compassion that leads me to repentance. Instead of pointing the finger, realize I am pointing something important out.
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Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 12:26 am
I see your point.
Very well done.
Actually I went through a pretty depressing stage in my life a while back and I wish someone would have slapped me right out of it, but instead I had God do it. So it's all good.
Being depressed because of things out of our control and having grief are two very different things though.
That's probably what will cause some argument on this issue.
Jesus was never depressed nor did he ever approve of it, it's true we may all at some time go through that stage (or went through), but if you are strongly rooted in God and you are surrounded by people that will support you, he will pull you out of it.
Also I want to make it clear that when I use the word depression, I use it a clinical term the same way as defined in modern society and also as a state of mind.
"A condition of general emotional dejection and withdrawal; sadness greater and more prolonged than that warranted by any objective reason.
A condition of mental disturbance, typically with lack of energy and difficulty in maintaining concentration or interest in life." - Thank you Dictionary.com
Just know that God really cares about you and if you give all your worries to God he'll free you from any worries you may have. Just like Shelby said, we gotsta' tear that brick wall bubble.
God's got our back.
All we have to do is trust him.
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 11:39 pm
Ransom3d Unfortunately, you do not know what the Bible says. I was depressed as well in my life, and I almost committed suicide myself. The Bible says, you murder, because you do not have. People kill themselves because they don't get what they want. When stock markets fell in the Great Depression in United States, millionaires killed themselves. They killed because they could not have what they wanted; their money. Depressed or not, depression comes from a desire. Most of that desire comes from an idol, some of that desire is good but in most cases it is not. Depression comes from self-pity, which comes from pride. Worrying about yourself becomes and idol, and that is why, "We have a brick wall" because of that idol. And when I mean pride, I mean it like I'm depressed because I don't have this or that. When in reality, we don't deserve any of what we have in life! It is God's grace and compassion that leads me to repentance. Instead of pointing the finger, realize I am pointing something important out. Depression comes from a great many sources. Desire for the wrong things is not the only road to depression. Desire even for the right things may lead to it in itself. Desire and pride are not not all that there is that leads to depression. You, and your experiences, unfortunately, do not translate to everyone else.
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Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 9:03 pm
For those who say grief has nothing to do with depression I would like to remind you of the 5 stages of grief. They are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. There is biblical evidence that Christ went through the 5 stages before his death, after all he's fully man, but that is for a different lesson.
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Posted: Sat May 26, 2012 7:11 pm
Depression can be awful to deal with. I've struggled with it for about as long as I can remember. I tried to kill myself twice, and thankfully was obviously unsuccessful.
Depression comes in many forms, for many reasons. It can be situational, it can be chemical/biological, it can be both. I would disagree with Mr. Randsom3d's blanket statement. It may indeed prove true in some cases, but because the reaons and manifistations of depression are so broad and varied, any generalisation is just that: a generalisation of something that can't really be generalised.
You're not automatically sinning just by being depressed. The only thing worse than being depressed is being depressed and feeling as if you're not "allowed" to feel that way. Believe me, been there.
For those struggling with depression: remember that you are never, ever alone. Reach out and hold onto God for dear life. He's always there, He loves you, and He will not abandon you, so long as you let Him in, as the OP said. smile
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