He is our ruler

 

God is our refuge, and He is our source of strength and joy; He is also our ruler. The psalmist's words were very familiar to Paul, who wrote in Philippians that He desires we submit to Him voluntarily. If we do not submit voluntarily, there is a day coming when all will bow:

so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10-11)

The first thing that the psalmist said about deferring to God as our ruler is this: behold His works!

Come, behold the works of the Lord, (Psalm 46:8a)

The first thing that the psalmist is referring to is the miraculous deliverance He provided to the city of Jerusalem, by destroying the Assyrian army. It was amazing; there could be no other explanation for the immediate death of over one hundred thousand soldiers. And it would have been, as the second half of verse eight says, "horrific." 
But we can apply this verse as an invitation to consider God's works down through the centuries -- beginning with His speaking the stars and the planets into existence, and populating the earth with plants and animals of miraculous variety. Time after time, He delivered His people. We can read in the scriptures and we can look at the history of the church. The God of Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, and Hezekiah is the same God of Peter, Paul, Luther, and Spurgeon. When we behold His works we will submit to him as our ruler.

The second thing the psalmist says about deferring to God as our ruler is to bow to His ways:

“Stop striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted on the earth.” (v. 10)

The command to stop striving is God speaking to the nations who are fighting against His people and His purpose. But we can also apply it to ourselves. It won't do us any good to be like a mule that kicks up a fuss when the farmer wants to put the reins and traces on him so that he can more easily and comfortably pull the wagon. When trouble hits, don't strive against God. Know that he is sovereign, even over our troubles. He will be glorified best by our submitting to Him as Lord. 

It was Psalm 46 that inspired the great reformer, Martin Luther, to write the hymn, "A Mighty Fortress."  Luther faced danger and threats on his life, and was forced to hide for eleven months. In the face of opposition and pressure from all sides, he stood firmly for the truth of salvation through faith alone. It is said that when he grew discouraged, he would say to his co-worker, "Let us sing the forty-sixth Psalm." 

"A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing.

Our helper, He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing."

For us to experience God's sufficiency in a crisis, we must be learning to experience it each day. We must depend on Him as our refuge. We must draw on Him as a resource. We must bow to Him as our ruler. If we do these things when all is going smoothly, we will know how to do them when trouble strikes. In a time of trial, we humans turn to what (or Who) we trust, to help us cope. A materialistic person turns to shopping. An addict turns to drugs. A worldly person will turn to the wisdom of this world.  A Christian should turn to the Lord.

When trouble strikes, He is sufficient to get us through.

Amen!

He is our resource for strength

We've talked about how to hold on to God as our refuge; that happens as we gain knowledge of Him and trust Him more.

Today let's look at how we can "draw" our resources from Him. The thesaurus says synonyms for that word are to "gather" or to "collect." If we draw on God as our resource, we can gather strength from Him. When we know Christ as our Savior, we have His life within us. His Spirit is that river of life that we talked about last week; it springs up within us daily and it's sufficient for our needs. Our Savior is the One the psalmist alluded to:

There is a river whose streams make the city of God happy,
The holy dwelling places of the Most High. (v 4)

Now, this all sounds well and good.

But how do we "draw from Him"? How do we make Him our resource for strength?

First, we drink from Him daily. We have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in us! We are a "holy dwelling place of the Most High." What a great privilege to be able to ask for His strength each day. He will refresh us. He will bring us gladness and joy.

Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; (Acts 3:19)

For I give plenty of water to the weary ones, and refresh everyone who languishes. (Jeremiah 31:25)

If we are honest, do we draw from Him daily? Do we drink from that river the Holy Spirit provides? Do we have a time when we meet with Him in prayer?  The moment we get up from our knees do we start relying again on our own strength, or do we walk each day depending upon Him? The river is there -- we must drink each day or we will dry up spiritually!

Second, we meet with His people. In verse five, the psalmist was talking about the "city of God," Jerusalem, as well as believers:

God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns. (v. 5)

In that time, God dwelled with His people in a special sense. The temple was in Jerusalem, and it was the center for worship. Today, God lives in every one of us believers individually, but there is a special sense still, that He dwells with His people corporately as well. He is there when we gather together in his name.

 For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst. (Matthew 18:20)

I don't think that God intended for us to live or face trials in isolation. We need each other for encouragement, for bearing each other's burdens, and to stimulate each other to love and good deeds. The Lord is the river, but believers can act as streams. We can encourage; we can pray. 

This is how we will draw on Him as our resource and rely on His sufficient strength, instead of our own.

How to hold on

 

I think we are all agreeing with the psalmist that our God is sufficient, that He can provide us with refuge and protection. We may be asking ourselves why don't we feel that way sometimes? How can we "grab hold" of that sufficiency?

We know that we need to depend upon Him. We know it is God Himself Who is our refuge. Not our armies. Not our fortresses that we think are invulnerable. Just our God. It's so easy for us as humans to lose focus - we try to build up our own defenses against trouble and we put our trust in them. We may trust in our bank accounts, our stock portfolio, our insurance policies, or maybe we trust in our five year plans for the future. There's nothing wrong with those things; in fact, the Bible encourages us to be prudent and plan for the future, to "count the cost" before moving forward with our plans. But those things can become wrong if we allow them to shift our trust away from trusting God alone.

We can best learn to depend on Him alone by getting to know Him better. Searching out our God as He is revealed in His Word. Trust can develop out of knowledge . . . a person who is just learning to fly will be very apprehensive about flying through rough weather. An experienced pilot, who knows his aircraft and knows weather and his plane's capabilities, will not be afraid. Since he has greater knowledge, he has greater trust that all will be well.

There are two areas in our psalm that give us clues:

The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah (V 7)

This is repeated in verse eleven -- and you remember what we've said about a verse that is repeated! (Grin) It's not that the writer had a lazy streak! It's because it's important, we humans catch on to things better sometimes when it's repeated!  Of course, the scholars tell us that sometimes when a verse is repeated, slightly different words are used, to help us understand the precise meaning. I think here it's for the importance, just as much as for a refrain to the psalm (song).

We can read in the Word and gain knowledge of God as the Lord of hosts. In our Bible, "hosts" can refer to both the heavenly bodies of the universe and also to the angels. Our God spoke this vast universe into existence and rules over billions of stars and planets. It is He Who is Lord and Commander of all the armies of heaven. He is not a feeble, white-haired old man, teetering at the edge of a cloud, looking down at the earth. He is mighty! Verse six says that at the sound of his raised voice, the earth can melt. If such a God is for us, who can be against us? 

We can know Him as the Lord of hosts, and we can also know Him as the God of Jacob. (v. 7) When I was a teen, I didn't understand why He would ever be referred to as the God of Jacob. Why not the God of Abraham? I mean, just look at the life of Abraham - compare that to Jacob, a man whose name means "deceiver." It was only after his night of striving with God that he was called Israel. 

As I grew and as I studied, I realized that this points to God's grace. God chose Jacob over Esau so that everyone could see: He saves us on the basis of His choice and His grace, not because of how good we are. 

for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, (Romans 9:11)

Secular humanism, psychology, and even some modern churches will tell people that Christ Jesus died "for you because you were worthy." But our Bibles tell us that He died for us while we were unworthy:

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

Here's the good news! He chose us in spite of our unworthiness, and He will keep us and enable us to persevere until the day of Christ - because He is the God of Jacob.

So even if we have failed; even if we have sinned; we can depend on Him if we know Him as the Lord of hosts and the God of Jacob. His helping us is not dependent upon OUR strength, but on His strength and His grace. When troubles come our way, we can depend on the Lord of hosts and the God of Jacob as our refuge. We can hold on to Him.

God, our refuge, Part II

Last time we studied, we talked about how God is our refuge when troubles arrive. Let's dig in again to Psalm 46:

The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered;
He raised His voice, the earth quaked.
7 The Lord of armies is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold.Selah  V. 6-7)

Our God is more powerful than the raging of nations . . . many of the cities in the ancient world (and in our modern one) are built on a river. In modern times, it was not just for the resource of drinking water, but also to power looms and mills and machinery. In ancient times, cities needed a close supply of water, especially during a siege. When an enemy army surrounded a city, the inhabitants needed to have the assurance that they would have water to keep them alive.

When Sennacherib attacked Jerusalem, he assumed that their location would ultimately drive them to defeat - he thought there was a lack of water, since Jerusalem was an exception to the rule, and was not located on the banks of a river. 
Little did he know, Jerusalem had a source of water!

Wise King Hezekiah had built an underground tunnel. It began at the spring of Gihon and brought water 1,777 feet through solid rock, ending at the pool of Siloam. That little stream provided all the water that Jerusalem needed during Sennacherib's siege of the city.

That river is a metaphor for the awesome spiritual resource of the Lord Himself:

God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns. (v. 5)

God is the living water Who alone can satisfy our spiritual thirst. He is the One Who is powerful enough to stop the uproar of nations simply by raising His voice.

Jesus talked about spiritual thirst long after the psalmist penned these verses:

but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (John 4:14) 

And our Savior said this, as well:

Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.  The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7:37-38)

Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit, Who is given to every believer. Our enemies may think we are up against the wall, and that we have no hope. They may think that we have no resources to battle our problems, but as Tweety says in the cartoon, "Dey don't know me vewwy well!" We have the awesome resources and strength of our God!

Whatever problems rage against us, God's Spirit is the ever-flowing river Who sustains us and gives us gladness even when we are under attack! If we believers would learn to drink from the abundant river of the Spirit, why should we ever turn to the supposed wisdom of godless men like Freud and Jung? Why would we ever seek counsel from any unbeliever? (And yes, I do believe that if a believer seeks counseling or therapy of any kind, it should be from a Christian caregiver - ALWAYS.) God is our refuge and resource in times of trouble. 

Verses nine through eleven of our psalm talks about how God is the ruler over the rebels of the earth.

He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariots with fire.
10 “Stop striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted on the earth.”
11 The Lord of armies is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah (v 9-11)

We have discussed this concept before: nations may rage and proud men may rebel, but the purposes of God will always be fulfilled. It is He Who sets up kings and removes them as He wills.  It is He Who is God, the great IAM, and He alone will be exalted in the earth. When our Savior returns, He will crush all opposition to His reign, and the mightiest, largest armies on earth are no match for His power. 

Once you think about it, this God Who rules over His creation, Who can speak the word and an entire army drops dead, is the One Who is sufficient for all of our problems! When trouble strikes, we need to focus on our God Who is sufficient. He is our refuge. He's our resource. He's our ruler. And He is our redeemer. 

God will take care of you

Beneath His wings abide . . . . God will take care of you.

God our refuge

One of the themes of Psalm 46 is that God is our refuge. He doesn't insulate us from problems; we are not immune from troubles. We've discussed that before. The abundant life is not guaranteed to be trouble-free! I guess one reason why I feel like we need to keep saying this is 1. the Bible tells us multiple times, so it's important, and 2. many false teachers today claim it is His will for every person to enjoy wealth and perfect health.

Their teaching is that since Jesus has promised to answer our prayers of faith, it must then be true that the only thing standing between us and lots of money is our lack of faith. According to them, it's a lack of faith that is the reason for our illnesses. Confess it by faith, they say, and whatever you ask is yours.

But the Bible teaches no such thing. In fact, when we study our Bible, we can see that they are teaching heresy.

The Bible says that God is our help in trouble -- not that we are exempt from trouble! In fact, Psalm 46 mentions some "big time" troubles like global changes, earthquakes, storms, and wars. In our New Testament, we see that faithful believers have had to face terrible trials:

There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. (Hebrews 11:35b-38)

God doesn't exempt Christians from this sort of thing. If a plane goes down, He doesn't make certain there are no believers onboard. When war ravages a country, He doesn't whisk the Christians out first. God doesn't allow cancer to only afflict the unbelieving sinner. Trouble will strike the godly as well as the ungodly. We know that. The question is, when that happens, do you want to face it with God as your refuge and strength or do you hope to find help elsewhere?

Our psalm shows us that God is sufficient to get us through.

The first three verses speak of a God Who is our refuge against the raging of the natural world.

God is our refuge and strength,
A very ready help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth shakes
And the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;
3 Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah

The psalmist pictures an earthquake so severe that the mountains slide into the sea. He's telling us that in the biggest and worst disaster that we can imagine, God is sufficient as our refuge and strength -- we need not be afraid.

With Him as our refuge, we can find relief and comfort. As our strength, we discover that His strength is made perfect in our weakness as we trust in Him:

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. (II Corinthians 12:9)

The psalmist also tells us that God is immediately available to us. No waiting. No wondering. He is a "very present help" the instant that we turn to Him.  He might delay delivering us, but He never leaves us alone. We might realize why deliverance is delayed, or it might be a mystery to us. but we can always have immediate comfort and peace when we flee to him for refuge.

Whatever catastrophe we are facing; if it's a major health problem, the death of a dear loved one, the loss of our job, emotional issues, relational conflicts, or any other trouble -- God is bigger than our problems. He is readily available to help. We need only to trust in Him.

So do not fear, for I am with you;
    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

No problem is too big for our God

Last night, I was using the app on my phone to see what stars and planets I could find, from the darkened pasture.  It's a favorite pastime of mine, and I often allow myself the luxury of thinking that I will learn which ones are which, and where they are. Even their names.

I probably don't have enough gray matter to get all that done, though, which is why that app is so helpful.

But I digress.

Looking above me at the expanse of God's creation makes me think each time of "how great is our God." But today, many people think His power is pretty limited.

As an example, a great number of people argue about the Bible and all of the resources it points us to: a personal relationship with God, forgiveness of our sins, riches in Christ and eternal life in heaven. Their argument is that those blessings are not sufficient to deal with the complicated problems we face in our modern world. They contend that these must be supplemented with the "insights" of modern psychology.

Piffle.

Sorry, that just slipped out.

Psychology, after all, is only a hundred or so years old. People have been believing on Christ, and receiving His salvation and maturing in Him for a lot longer than that! The psychologists would have us believe that people can't get into a state where they can be saved and sanctified until they have therapy. The therapy helps them deal with some of their problems. . . . you mean that God can't do His work in our lives until a therapist gets it started? That's scary.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the Bible alone actually does contain sufficient help to meet people's deepest needs. Personal needs. Emotional needs. Spiritual needs. I don't believe that there is any problem beyond the scope of scripture. I believe that all of our needs can be met by the spiritual riches we find in Jesus. Now, that doesn't mean that Christians won't be helped by counseling. I agree they can be helped by the counsel of godly people, and by the counsel of God's Word. 

I think this is what the author of Psalm 46 is saying! I checked several commentaries, but the scholars are divided on the authorship. Some believe that this psalm relates to the time when King Hezekiah of Judah was surrounded by the armies of Sennacherib (the king of Assyria). 

You can check out the story in a couple of places in scripture; you'll find it in II Kings 18-19 and in II Chronicles 32. It wasn't looking good for Hezekiah. Forty-six (count 'em, forty-six!) different towns and villages in Judah had been sacked. What does that mean? Well, over 200,000 people had been taken captive, along with animals, properties, and belongings. And there were more than185,000 troops surrounding the city of Jerusalem.

A lost cause?

Nope. Sennacherib hadn't paid attention to the fact that Hezekiah's God is the living God. The Almighty. The great I AM. The God Who will not be mocked. 

Hezekiah prayed.

God spoke.

In one night, the angel of the Lord defeated Sennacherib by killing 185,000 of his soldiers.

Like I said, the scholars are not unanimous about whether it was that situation or some other, but Psalm 46 was definitely written after God had provided deliverance out of some enormously difficult and adverse situation. It relates so well to us - we have all been in a time of trouble. Or we will face trouble in the future. And Psalm 46 tells us that when trouble comes, God is sufficient to get us through.

There is NO problem that is too big for our God. If we will learn to take refuge in Him and to lean on Him for strength, then we can say with the psalmist that God is with us. And He is sufficient. We can face the most extreme crises with quiet confidence.

Let's re-read Psalm 46 again today . . . . 

Prayer requests

There is great power in prayer. 

With prayer, no problem is too big, nor is any problem too small. There are times when we do not ask God for too much -- we ask Him for too little. We make the same mistake that many people make: even though we believe in Him, we do not intimately include Him in our lives.

You might be as old as me, but I'll keep your secret. (Grin) Do you remember your long ago days of school like I do? Remember how each day began? Usually things got started with announcements over a loudspeaker and the Pledge of Allegiance and the Lord's Prayer. It was the same all over this great country; classrooms full of children bowing their heads in a prayer.  Seems like eons ago . . . 

Recently a survey was taken on some college campuses -- about half of the students who responded thought the motto of our nation, "In God We Trust," should be removed from our money. That is what happened in those eons we just mentioned. The eons between 1962 and now.

In 1962, the highest court of our land declared that school-sponsored prayer was unacceptable. But then, the court's decision reached farther still. We used to have prayer before ballgames and prayers at civic gatherings. We used to have prayer before final exams. All of this said something about the importance of prayer in our lives. And the impact of the court decision has been long-term, and very significant -- prayer has been eradicated from schools, from civic places, and from our hearts as a start to our daily activities.

I think that now there is a void in so many people's lives. The loss is so gradual that we may not realize it's taking place. But then, we come to times in our lives and we don't know where to turn to get help. At least, if we don't know Christ, we don't know. What do you do when you have no experience with prayer and no God is mentioned to you, so that you'd know to whom to pray?

This is the world that we have provided for those college students. For all of our children and our grandchildren. We have been silent for far too long. They have grown up detached and not knowing how to trust Him. They're living in a spiritual wasteland. We've created a world that shapes itself around social activities and the pursuit of pleasure; one that leaves out God, reduces morals and respect for others, and becomes increasingly lawless and godless.

Wow. What do we do now?

We can touch our children, our grandchildren, and the children in our communities and point them to God. Whether it's the prayers we offer in public or in private, whether it's in church or in some meeting place, or we bow our head in a restaurant, we need to pray. It's only then that God can hear from us. He can come and meet with us. He can use us to speak a word for Him. He can bring His presence not just in our lives but into the lives of those around us.

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (II Chronicles 7:14) 

America needs spiritual healing. America needs cleansing. We believers need to pray. We need to rise from our knees and stand for Him, for our freedoms, and for each other.

Let's begin today.

If we can pray with you about an issue or a request, please leave a comment below.

Our God can do it all - Psalm 46

Our next psalm for study is beloved for it's comfort, it's uplifting words, and for the peace that it has given to millions who have read and remembered it.

Let's read Psalm 46 several times before we begin to discuss it, shall we? I know that it will bless us all day long.

God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.
 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
 though its waters roar and foam
    and the mountains quake with their surging.

 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
    the holy place where the Most High dwells.
 God is within her, she will not fall;
    God will help her at break of day.
 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
    he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

 The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

 Come and see what the Lord has done,
    the desolations he has brought on the earth.
 He makes wars cease
    to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
    he burns the shields with fire.
 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

 The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress. (Psalm 46)

Praise week 5

We end praise week with a new song from Chris Tomlin and Brandon Lake. I hope this week has been a blessing to all who pause here to study, to pray, and to praise.

 

Praise week 4

Without our God, we are nothing. We owe everything to Him. All of our praise -- every praise -- is to Him!

Every praise is to our God.
Every word of worship with one accord
Every praise every praise is to our God.
Sing hallelujah to our God
Glory hallelujah is due our God

Every praise every praise is to our God. 

Praise week 3

     In times of trouble and when we fall down, we need our Savior to hold onto. Sometimes we can depend on our family members or our spouse or a trusted friend. But the highest of them all is God. He is the only One Who can actually give us His peace. We need to trust. And sit silent to wait for Him to touch our hearts and raise us to a refreshed and grace-filled life.

Praise week 2

When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be!

Ready for a spirited song today? Let's sing!

 

Praise week

Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness....and our hope is the hope of heaven. Eternal life with Him. 

Enjoy this hymn of praise about our eternal home:

Conclusion of our study (Psalms 42-43)

The psalmist says another important part of the formula to come out of depression, in these verses:

I remember these things and pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go over with the multitude and walk them to the house of God, With a voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude celebrating a festival.(Psalm 42:4)

Send out Your light and Your truth, they shall lead me;
They shall bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your dwelling places.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And I will praise You on the lyre, God, my God. (Psalm 43:3-4)

As we conclude our study dealing with depression, and with how the psalmist fought the roller coaster of emotion that he found himself in, let's notice that he said he wanted to seek God with the people of God.

Time and again in these verses, the psalmist seems to say that he is isolated in his depression, and that is often the case. It's hard to get out of the chair when you are weighed down with depressive thoughts. It seems an impossibility to get dressed and go somewhere. And going to where there are other people worshiping and singing seems beyond imagination.

But the psalmist is correct: the place of joy where the need of his soul would be met would be in worship alongside God's people. When we are depressed, we often want to avoid people. We may especially avoid gathering with other believers. But it's actually what would do us so much good.

The noted Welsh pastor, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, authored many books, and one of them was Spiritual Depression. I have read excerpts from it and found it to be very helpful. I post a few words here in the hope that they may be helpful to someone reading here:

Have you not realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they start talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment was this; instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself....

The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul: ‘Why art thou cast down’--what business have you to be disquieted? You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: ‘Hope thou in God’--instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way. And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and what God is and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: “I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God”.

Psychology today may encourage patients to "stop worrying," to "pull ourselves together," but it seems to me that the subconscious will continue to work on these issues and cause even more problems in the future. Perhaps the real antidote for our mental distress is found in the words of Paul:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6)

It is then, after talking with our Father, that we may go against our feelings. We may gather strength from Him. We can tell ourselves it is good; it's even necessary for us to gather with other believers and seek Him. There is something uplifting about corporate worship that cannot be experienced in our solitude.

I hope that there has been something in our study these past few weeks that will be of help to all of us. Is God our exceeding joy, as the psalmist said in Psalm 43:4? Our need is not to "feel happy." Our need is not only relief from our pain. Our need is God! We must do as the psalmist did, to conquer his depression - and we must not give up when it seems we must follow the recipe again and again, just as he did. If we rouse ourselves to seek God as our only hope and help, He will comfort us. He will give us His peace. He is faithful to His promises.

We will come out of this. We will praise Him again for His grace and mercy! 

Steps out of depression, part IV

 

The next step we need to encourage others to take (or to remember to take ourselves) is to seek the Word of God. The psalmist puts it this way:

Send out Your light and Your truth, they shall lead me; They shall bring me to Your holy hill And to Your dwelling places. (Psalm 43:3, NASB)

The Message translates it this way:

Give me your lantern and compass, give me a map, So I can find my way to the sacred mountain, to the place of your presence, To enter the place of worship, meet my exuberant God, Sing my thanks with a harp, magnificent God, my God. (Psalm 43:3, MSG)

Light and truth . . . . lantern and compass . . . .  we can find many verses that illustrate what the psalmist is telling us here.

Jeremiah said that it is not possible for us to stay on the right path all on our own:

I know, Lord, that a person’s way is not in himself,
Nor is it in a person who walks to direct his steps. (Jeremiah 10:23, NASB)

The psalmist told us that God will direct our steps:

Your word is a lamp to my feet

And a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105)

Psalm 19 speaks of the Word of God being able to restore our soul, rejoice our heart, enlighten the eyes -- surely this is a formula that will begin to lighten the darkness of our depression!

The Law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.
10 They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much pure gold;
Sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, Your servant is warned by them; In keeping them there is great reward, (Psalm 19:7-11)

In our New Testament, Peter tells us what the Word can do for us:

And so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. (II Peter 1:19)

A lamp shining in a dark place . . . . the morning star rising in our hearts. Poetic words to describe the wonder of His Word and how the Holy Spirit can use it to give us hope and peace.

We know that Satan uses depression to cause believers to be ineffective, and to pull their feet aside from the path. The best way to fight both Satan and the depression is to fight them with the Word, and ask for a fresh indwelling of the Spirit each day.

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. (John 16:13)

Again, we may not feel like it when we are depressed, but we still should read God's Word. Ask the Holy Spirit to shine a light into the darkness that we feel -- a darkness of the heart and mind. God's light and truth will lead us to His dwelling place, and little by little, the solace of His presence will work in our hearts. God Himself will again become our joy.