I have met a lot of people who are depressed in my twenty three years of living. I have suffered from depression, grief, sorrow. Every aspect of sadness. I admit to that because I know everyone has experienced some degree of depression. There is a overwhelming blackness to the future where it seems joyless and hopeless. There is no excitement for the future nor direction. Just the moment you're in where sorrow is full throttle.
The Bible says many things about depression. Psalm 32:3-4 talks about unconfessed sin being the main culprit of sin. Psalm 73:1-14 is the envy of others. Psalm 55:2-8 is anxiety filling our thoughts that it consumes us with grief. Habakkuk 1:1-4 is sorrow due to looking around us and seeing the incomprehensible goodness to come when God brings justice to this world and good outweighs evil forever.
One thing to keep in mind is tomorrow. Not tomorrow tomorrow (being Monday), but tomorrow when heaven will be here.
In each human heart I believe we all want justice, love, harmony, and order in this world. That is why we have marched in the streets, fought wars, protested, set up governments, court systems, find a religion and so forth. Yet if there is one thing I have found in my life searching for the true value of life, it is I find that only God satisfies these desires. Buddhism/Hinduism we have to strive for Nirvana with all the good deeds we have done, Isalm we have to worship a God that doesn't want us personally to himself, and so forth. There is a peace, a hope, knowledge to be had in the idea that God created man to be like him. God imprinted these good hopeful thoughts in our hearts because that is what is right. The idea of viciously tearing others down in the name of Christianity is not his plan. The idea of focusing on one sin as being a way to talk about hope in Christ is not the way of placing hope in a human's heart.
The idea that stands the test of time is loving one another.
Love as Jesus did. Love without discriminating. Love without fear. Know love is not tainted. It is beautiful. It is free from ignorance. Free from hate or anger. Love is God. God is love (1 John 4:8). God is the only good thing in this world and he wants us to share in his goodness, his love.
The idea that we get up and go about a routine life style is scary because I find routines to be another form a mask we can put on. When we are sad, we can mask ourselves with a smile. When we are living in our normal world, we can become numb to the other things outside our routine.
I like history. I like photography. I like going through LIFE magazine photo galleries and seeing history being filmed. The pain, sorrows, and joys of people throughout history excites me. To see a couple in World War II kissing goodbye to one another reminds me of the uncertainty of life. The photos of a grieving Vietnamese wife who is holding what remains of her husbands brings grief to my heart. But underneath the sorrow, I am reminded of the frailty of life and somehow pushed to not take it for granted. The Bible teaches us to number our days. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. We are not guaranteed the next hour. It's not until we get the mindset of "would I want to be caught dead doing this" that we are going really live the way we ought to be living.
Can I go about my life and say I am not fulfilling goals that I have set in my heart that I know God could use me in certain areas. Say I have a heart for missions. Am I spending my time to prepare for that calling or am I waiting until the right time comes around?
Listen, this is what God is pressing upon my heart and I want to share.
Depression is a sign of something wrong. It could be unconfessed sin, but it can also be not living a spirit filled life. Romans 12 speaks of how we are fit into the body of Christ and if we are not living the way God has made us to fit into the body of Christ, then we are going to be discontent. For years, I have felt like I have tried to push a ball into a hole meant for a cube. It's time to push forward and figure out what God wants us to do with our lives. Not trying to live the American dream, but live in the reality of this frail life.
Live for today, but remember tomorrow will have its consequences.
What do you dream for today when you put your entire focus on God? Does it change or is it the same from when you normally would do?
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