WHY ARE YOU DOWN IN THE DUMPS?
PSALM 42
NEED: HOPE
PROPOSTION: HOPE IN GOD IS STRONGER THAN DEPRESSION.
OBJECTIVE: TO LEAD THOSE WHO ARE DEPRESSED TO VICTORY THROUGH PLACING THEIR HOPE IN GOD.
INTRODUCTION:
Anyone who has struggled with depression will never doubt its strength. It is a black monster strong enough to drag a person down to the point of despair, and even down to the point of suicide itself. No one in his right mind would ever volunteer to do battle with depression. It slips up on its victims and tries to impose its will on them totally uninvited.
No one is totally immune to depression. Both the godly and the most ungodly have suffered from it. Some of the great names found in the Bible fought their personal battles with depression. Job battled with it as he struggled with the painful realities of his life. David, the sweet singer of Israel, knew his dark moments. Jeremiah was not called the weeping prophet altogether because of his compassion—at times he wept in despair. He was so deeply depressed that he did not want to live. Elijah, one the strongest and most courageous men in the Bible, wanted to slip away and become a hermit because of his depression. He even prayed to die an early death.
Some of the outstanding names of Christian history have battled these dark emotions. Charles H. Spurgeon was pastor of the whole English-speaking world during his lifetime, but he was subject to periods of painful and deep depression. Luther led the Reformation, but he could slip into times of almost despair. Did you know that the man who wrote the favorite hymn, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”, took his own life during a time of depression. Some great Christians I have known in my years of ministry have battled chronic depression. Do we need to add your name to the list? Is there some member of your family that should be added? If depression is your problem, this Psalm was written for you. While it may not provide you all of the answers that you would like to have, it will at least let you know that others have been through this dark valley and have survived.
This Psalm sets forth the truth that there is something stronger than depression. Hope in God is stronger than depression. This is the reason that David keeps counseling his soul to hope in the Lord. Let us take a deeper look at this Psalm. If you are not in this valley today, you may be before next Sunday. None of us are beyond the possibility of depression falling upon us. If we are not down in the dumps today, we may be soon. We need to hear this word from one who was down in the dumps, but later found his way out.
From the Psalm I see three very practical things you can do to turn from crying the blues to facing life with hope.
I. ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU ARE DOWN IN THE DUMPS.
The Psalmist is honest about his situation. He is down in the dumps, and he will admit it. We are prone to hide our true situation from others. We will put an artificial smile on our face and pretend that everything is all right. There is something to be gained by being honest about your true condition. This involves being honest with yourself, with some significant others in your life, and with God. The Psalmist confessed, “My soul is downcast within me.”
You may not be sure whether you are depressed or not. A careful reading of this Psalm will help you identify some sure signs of being down in the dumps, or being depressed.
1. Do you feel spiritually empty?
The Psalmist describes this spiritual emptiness as being like the thirst of a deer during a time of drought. “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God? When can I go and meet with God?”
A feeling of spiritual emptiness is a sure sign of depression. You know there is a living God, but at the moment He seems to be an eternity away. You may even be sure that you are one of His children, but you feel like He is a complete stranger at the moment. This is a part of what it means to be down in the dumps. Can you acknowledge that this is where you are?
2. Do you find yourself weeping often?
Tears usually accompany depression. “My tears have been my food day and night.” Someone has observed, “they who grieve do not eat, and they only weep.” This may reflect both a loss of appetite and being weepy. Food loses its appeal and you find yourself weeping over things that would never have bothered you in the past. Can you acknowledge that this is where you are?
3. Do you feel isolated from others?
The Psalmist describes others as responding to his situation by standing at a distance and asking, “Where is your God?” If David wrote this Psalm during the rebellion that his son Absolum led against him, this might have been literally true. There probably were those who openly wondered about David’s relationship with God. They may have openly accused him of being abandoned by God. However, whether it is actually true or not, this is the way the depressed feel. When you get down in the dumps, you will feel like no one understands you. You will feel like they are probably against you. You will feel isolated from others.
Can you acknowledge that is where you are today?
4. Does your memory of former days push you further down into the dumps?
The Psalmist could remember some good days—“These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng.” Instead of relieving his misery the memory of the good days aggravated his misery. The more he thought about the good old days, the deeper he slipped down in the dumps.
This is the way it is when you are depressed. The memory of better days only turns on the tears. It makes the darkness of the moment only darker. Could this be where you are? If you find yourself down in the dumps, it will help if you will just acknowledge it. Confess with the Psalmist, “My soul is downcast within me.” Just say it, “I am down in the dumps, and I am crying the blues!” At least you will know where you are.
II. ANALYZE THE DEPRESSION YOU ARE IN.
Three times in the brief combined Psalms the refrain appears with the same question each time: “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?” (The two Psalms do belong together—they may have orginally been one.) You should notice that he asks the question of himself—it is not a question asked by a nosy friend. “Soul” represents the self, the life of the person, the inner you. He is demanding of himself a reason for the inner depression and confusion that he is experiencing. The implication would be that when you find yourself down in the dumps, there is a reason. Can you discover that reason or reasons? The Psalmist was able to identify both an external cause and an internal cause.
1. What is going on externally?
Maybe it will help you analyze your situation if we ask two questions. The first question is “What is going on externally?” What are the circumstances of your life? Has there been a recent change in those circumstances? When the Psalmist took a look at his situation, there was an external cause for the way he felt.
After admitting his depression he writes, “therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.” If these words were written by King David, we know that his home was in Jerusalem. He now finds himself somewhere in the chain of mountains that begin with Mt. Hermon. This is a long way from Jerusalem. He is probably there because his son has driven him out of Jerusalem; he is an exile from his own city and house.
He uses language from the sea to describe what has happened to him: “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers swept over me.” To translate this poetic word into everyday language, it says, “my problems are like the waves of the sea—one giant wave seems to call for another. These troubles are around me everywhere and they threaten to break me.” We have a saying that matches this, “When it rains, it pours”. Have you noticed that troubles rarely ever come alone? They usually come in bunches.
How did it happen to you? Did you lose your job one week only to have your wife come down with a serious illness the next week? We have a dear pastor friend who was in the process of leaving his church because of conflict in the church. Before they could get moved, their house burned. Before they could get the house repaired, their daughter was diagnosed with the worst kind of leukemia. While this was happening to them, some of their critics were saying, “I knew that they were not right with God.” Has the rain turned into a downpour in your life? This could be why you are down in the dumps? It would be amazing if you were not down in the dumps!
2. What is going on internally?
I do not want us to read something into this Psalm that is not there. We must not make David say something that he did not say. However as I read the Psalm, I get the distinct impression that David has gotten his eyes off of the Lord and on to his present circumstances. He has begun to feel sorry for himself. Maybe I get this impression because I know that this tends to be my reaction to such times of difficulty.
Listen to these words from the Psalmist and see if you agree with me: “I say to God my Rock, ‘Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning oppressed by the enemy?’ My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’” This does not sound like a response to his external situation that will keep him out of the dumps. None of us can control what happens to us, but we can control how we respond to what happens to us. It is how we respond to what happens to us that will determine whether or not we slip down into the dumps. If you make room in your heart for bitterness and resentment, it is only a matter of time before you fall into the dumps.
How is it in your heart? Is there resentment and bitterness in your heart? Then put that down as an internal cause for your depression.
Before I move forward, let me acknowledge that there are some persons who slip into depression for whom there is no external or internal cause that they can find. Their deep depression may well be caused by a chemical imbalance in the body that needs medical attention. Your analysis may lead you to the conclusion that such is your case, if so, then you need the help that medical science can provide. However most cases of depression that I have known have an external and an internal cause. They are like the experience of the Psalmist—they are down in the dumps because of what happened to them and how they responded to it.
III. ADDRESS THE DEPRESSION WITH FAITH.
This is what the Psalmist did. When he became aware of how deeply he had slipped into the dumps, he decided to do something. He called on himself to take some specific actions. You may not feel real comfortable talking to yourself, but it can be very helpful if you say the right thing. There are at least three helpful words of counsel that you can give to your soul.
1. Soul, get your eyes off of self and on to God.
This is the first and basic counsel that the Psalmist gave to his soul. “Put your hope in God”. He says this to himself three times in the repeated refrain. “Hope” is the key word. Moffatt translates the word “wait”. The basic idea is to place your confidence in and to trust in the Lord. The truth you need to tell your soul is, “Soul, you can trust the Lord. Put your confidence in Him and trust Him to do what is right about this situation that has pushed you in to depression”. Your depression would seem to indicate that you still feel that you must work it out on your own. God is able to handle whatever you face.
This is a decision that you are capable of making. You do have a choice. Choose to look to the Lord who is your salvation and help.
2. Soul, begin to talk to God instead of talking about God.
This is what you find in the next Psalm, which may have originally been a part of the forty-second. The brief Psalm is primarily an appeal addressed to God. If you will pick out the key verbs that are addressed to God, you will have the burden of the prayer. They are “vindicate me”, “plead my cause”, “rescue me”, “send forth your light”, “let them guide me”. It obvious that the burden of his heart is that he might know and do the right things in his present circumstance.
How would you describe your prayers? Are they more a litany of complaints than sincere petitions for God’s help and guidance? It is all right to tell God how difficult your life is, but he already knows more about that than you do. Why not just make your petitions known to Him? Talk to Him about what your really need at this point in your life.
3. Soul, declare your victory over your circumstances now.
Again, this is the pattern that the Psalmist took. Listen to his declaration: “For I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” He makes this declaration in the refrain three times. By faith he is able to look out of the dumps and foresee a day in which he will be enabled to offer to the Lord praise and worship. This will include going to the altar of God, “to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.” Why don’t you make such a declaration today?
Are you reluctant to make the declaration because of your feelings? Our feelings are never a safe guide. We should follow the counsel of our faith in such a moment—not our feelings. Your faith will tell you that God has not changed; he is still able; he will help you; he will deliver you! If you want out of the dumps, make this your declaration today.
There is no shame in being depressed. Anyone can find himself or herself crying the blues. It is a problem only when you accept the dumps as a home, and the blues as your only song. The child of God has the capacity to get out the dumps and to begin to sing praise to the Lord.