Depression

This morning I'm going to talk to you about depression. Or, better said, I'm going to talk to you about one man's depression. Will his description of his depression describe every depression? No. Will the ways in which he responded to his depression be the only ways that everyone should respond to their depression? No. This is not a 'one-size-fits-all' kind of situation. But there are some things that we can learn from him. What you will find helpful will depend on the particulars of your situation. But I think that there are some things here that will be of benefit to all of us. After all, life is hard. We’ve all experienced that. And at times it gets to be a bit much. So, here is one man's situation and what he did in response to that situation. Please listen as I read Psalm 42.

It seems clear to me that the writer of this psalm is depressed. But it will be good to mention the reasons why I think that. First, there is the tone of the psalm. This isn't one of those psalms filled with bright colors because the author is excited about some great thing that God has just done. No, the author is struggling. You can feel that as you read his psalm. That tone shows in some of the words that he uses: 'cast down', 'turmoil', 'tears'. And then, there is how he pictures his experience. '… all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.' He feels as if he is caught in the ocean's powerful waves, picked up by its breakers, dashed against the shore and then pulled back out so that it can happen all over again. Add to this the accusations of his enemies. They mock his faith. 'Where is your God?' And what they mean is, 'If your God were taking care of you then you wouldn't be in this mess.' And, of course, the psalmist repeats those accusations to himself and struggles to find an answer. 'Yes, where is my God when it is so obvious that I need Him?' I think that it's quite clear that our friend is depressed. Life has gone from being hard to being too hard.

So, how does he respond to all of this? There are several things here. First, there's his honest admission that life isn't going very well. In fact, he acknowledges that, at the moment, life pretty much stinks. His soul is 'cast down'. He doesn't try to put a smile on it all. He acknowledges reality. There will be no progress, no solution, until the problem is honestly faced. That is always the first step. And our friend has taken that important first step.

Another part of his response is continuing to pray. That is crucial. He is not trying to solve this all on his own. He knows that he can't. And so, he discusses it with his God. And please note that his prayers are real prayers. That is, they are honest prayers. They are filled with questions, the right questions.

I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

He doesn't understand what God is doing. He knows that his God is doing something, but he doesn't know what. He is confused. But that doesn't cause him to turn away from his God. No, he is still facing toward his God, pleading for some answers. This is important because finding a solution to his problem will be impossible without the intervention of his God. So, there still is faith. He continues to trust his God. And this faith shows. He prays.

Our friend not only talks to God, but he also talks to himself. And what does he tell himself?

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

Now, understand what he is saying. Asking 'Why?' here is poetic. He knows why he is cast down. He is cast down because he has hit the wall. Life has become too hard. The 'why' here is about looking to the future. 'I shall again praise him…' So, to translate that into something much more prosaic, the psalmist is telling himself, 'Yes, life is hard now, but God will show up. The day will come when I will again be praising God for the good He has done for me. So, hold on to that thought.' This man's faith in his God is what is keeping him going, even in the face of such great difficulties. And it is because of this faith that he can hope.

And remember, hope is not wishful thinking. Hope is waiting for God to keep a promise that He has made to you. This God makes promises to all His people. After all, there is a covenant relationship between Him and them. 'I will be your God and you will be my people.' So, the psalmist is reminding himself that he can have a real hope because his God has pledged Himself to him. 'I will be your God.' He has promised to fulfill whatever it means to be God to our friend. And that is why the psalmist labels Him as 'my salvation'. God has promised and so, at the right time, He will act to rescue our friend, to save him, from all these things that are depressing him. And when that happens he will praise his God for what He has done. So, there is hope for our friend because of his God.

Now, who is this psalmist? What's his name? The psalm is not written by David as some others are. Let me suggest a name that fits what we see here. He didn't write it, but it would make sense if He had. Jesus. This psalm describes quite well Jesus' situation while He was on the Cross. So, first, the Father was distant - infinitely distant - because Jesus was bearing our sin. And so, Jesus was cast down. His life was out of His control. The waves were breaking over Him. And His enemies were standing there taunting Him, 'He trusts in God; let God deliver him now...' or in the words of our psalm, 'Where is your God?' Along with all the rest that Jesus was struggling with while He suffered on that Cross, He was also struggling with the same things that our psalmist friend was struggling with. Jesus was cast down. He was depressed. How else can we understand, 'My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?'

As odd as it may sound, seeing Jesus in this psalm is a very encouraging thought for any saint when he struggles in any way like the psalmist. When you pray about these sorts of struggles, you are praying to a Savior who understands exactly what you are dealing with. He knows all about it not because He read a book about it or because as Creator He's supposed to know these things. He knows what you are feeling because He has experienced what you are feeling. And so, He is sympathetic to your situation. He understands. At the very least, that will encourage your prayers. You are talking to someone who really does know what you are feeling. He gets it.

So, is there a solution to the plight of our psalmist friend? Is there a solution or is he just stuck? There is a solution, and our friend knows exactly what it is.

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. ​My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

The solution for our friend is all about his thirst for God. Satisfying that thirst is the key. And his thirst will be satisfied when he appears before his God. Now, for our friend, experiencing the presence of God was all about the Temple, the house of God.

These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.

And that makes sense when you remember that God had determined that His Name would dwell in Jerusalem. He told Moses all about that. So, for our psalmist to think about the house of God in Jerusalem makes sense. It's where God lives. The psalmist knows that the solution to his depression is being once again there in the presence of God instead of being far away in the land of Jordan and of Hermon. The problem is exile, and the solution is restoration.

But doesn't the author know that God is everywhere? Oh, of course, he does. And that's why he prays, even at a distance from the Temple. But there is something special about the Temple, the house where God lives. Think about Daniel. Where did he spend most of his days? In exile in distant Babylon. And you'll remember that it was his praying that got him into trouble and resulted in his faceoff with those lions. But do you remember how he prayed? He opened his windows and faced Jerusalem to pray. Why? That's where God's house was. That's the place of God's special presence. The solution for the psalmist was for him to be, once again, in the house of God, appearing before his God.

That, of course, is a picture of a deeper reality. The solution to our troubles is, likewise, being in God's presence. And more than anything else, that is what the age to come is all about. Heaven and earth will be re-united and God's true house, now in heaven, will be here on earth, and we all will appear before God, enjoying Him. That's the ultimate solution, the solution that comes when Jesus returns.

Did you notice that there is no resolution within the psalm? There is no coda that says, 'Then, God showed up, fixed everything and the psalmist lived happily ever after.' And the reason why it doesn't say that is because it's still future. It was for the psalmist, and it is for us. One day we will live happily ever after. But not yet. We can have times of refreshment from the Spirit, times when feeling cast down departs and it's replaced with happy rejoicing. But those times of life being hard will return. And there may well be times when life, again, gets too hard. The ultimate solution is yet future. So, what do we do until then? If the ultimate solution is yet future we need to wait for it.

But waiting is so hard. Here are some thoughts that I think will help. The ability to wait begins with love. Love is always the right motivation, whether we are talking about God or our neighbors. So, the first step toward waiting well is developing a growing affection for the Father. That love will lead to trust. We know that God is causing our depression, but we don't know why. But because of love we trust Him in the midst of our suffering. Love is important here. Trust without love is ultimately selfish. It's something like saying, 'I will trust You, God, for what I can get from You.' But we are to trust because we love. Now, this kind of trust leads to hope. Again, hope is not wishful thinking. It's waiting for the Father to keep His promise. Because we trust Him we know that He will keep His promises. We know that hope makes sense. And all of that results in patient waiting. Love, trust, hope, patient waiting.

Depression. We all experience some form of it at some time or other. For some of you, it's a relatively small taste which passes after a good night's sleep. For others of you it's much more debilitating. God, in His kindness to you, afflicted one of His saints with this turmoil and then had him write how he dealt with it so that you might have something to hold on to until the darkness lifts. And it will lift.