Jesus said,
"If you hold to my teaching, you are really
my disciples.
Then you will know the truth,
and the truth
will set you free."
John 8:32
Z’s/Adaptives (12 & under)
Y’s/Millenials (13-18)
X’ers or Busters (19-36)
Boomers (37-56)
Silents (57-75)
Seniors (76 and older)
The Spiritual
You
Can Know God!
Now That
I'm A Christian!
What We Believe
(It's
The Best)
by Rev. Gary Grogan
Sr. Pastor; First Baptist Church Chesnee, SC
After extensive study I believe I have come
across what is one of the most pertinent Psalms for the day and time in
which we live. The thirteenth Psalm is written from the standpoint of
abandonment. David, the author, feels as though he has been abandoned,
not only by godly or faithful men, but even by God Himself.
Have you ever felt abandoned by God? Now, I
know the Sunday School answer is "no," but you can be honest this time; no
one's looking. I wonder if sometimes we don't hide our real feelings
because we're afraid we're not supposed to feel that God has abandoned us,
and if we admit how we feel then we must either have something wrong with
us, or maybe our faith is not what we thought it was, or maybe we are, dare
we use the word, "depressed."
One of the pressures upon us today, even in the
church, is the pressure to perform. As a "Christian" we are supposed to
have it all together because we have God. We have forgotten verses like
James 1:2-3 which tells us to "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever
you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith
develops perseverance." We will have hard times in this life; even
as believers in Jesus Christ. Many Christians today struggle with
real-life issues that can, and do in many
cases, lead to depression.
The beauty of Psalm thirteen, and the good
news for us, is that in a world where this subject is still considered
"taboo" and often "hushed" David speaks about it.
That's right! David,
the "man after God's own heart," suffered through a time of depression. In
Psalm thirteen he describes feeling as though God had left him entirely
and he does not even attempt to cover up his feelings. He feels abandoned
by God and says so. And guess what? We can say so too. We can learn
from David in Psalm thirteen and we can also experience the same movement
he did: from despair to a settled trust in God.
How do we know David is going through a
depression? Notice what he says in Psalm thirteen: four times he uses the
phrase "How long?" and each time it is followed by a question that
expresses great despair. "How long, Oh Lord? Will you forget me
forever?" "How long will you hide your face from me?" "How long must I
wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?" "How
long will my enemy triumph over me?" Have you ever felt this way? As a
Christian we know that our relationship with God is based on faith rather
than feelings, however, we are emotional in our make up and things in this
life will effect us.
The other thing we can learn from David's
use of the phrase "How long?" four times is that this struggle he has been
going through has continued for a long time. Now, the question on all our
minds is, ironically the same one David asked, "How long?" The difference
is, we want to know how long is a "long time?" How long is the depression
going to last? Well, the Scripture doesn't give us any exact times or dates
as to when David's depression began and when it would end. It would be wonderful if we could know exactly how long it lasted because that would offer us some visible hope, but just like David,
we don't know how long a particular trial or circumstance is going to last for us either. So what
can we learn from this Psalm?
First of all we can learn that David's
feelings of abandonment is helpful to us for two reasons: (1) David's
depression shows us that these feelings are not unique to us -- we are not
alone, and (2) the feeling of abandonment means that we know God is there
-- to be abandoned we need somebody to be abandoned by. It is possible
for a Christian to experience depression! Depression doesn't mean we have
lost our salvation or that we were never saved or that God has left us.
Second, we can learn that the turning
point for David was prayer. "Well," you say, "I've prayed and nothing has
happened." Let's look at how David prayed. David prayed three ways:
(1) consistently, (2) urgently, and (3) about his feelings of
abandonment. David never stopped praying, when he prayed he poured
out his heart to God -- David's prayer was complete honesty with God. He
held nothing back. He told God exactly how he felt. He didn't pray in
the way he thought he ought to, he prayed in the way he had to: no
pretense, no "churchy" language, no vain repetition. David prayed from
his heart.
David had three requests of God: (1)
"Look on me," (2) "Answer," and (3) "Give light." David was not
making demands on God in this prayer. He was simply being as honest and
open with God as he had ever been. When David asked God to look on him
he was asking God to turn around and look in his direction once again.
The "look of God" is an expression used to describe God's favor -- David
wanted to know and experience God's favor again. When David asked God
to "answer" he wanted God to free him from the depression he was
going through -- freedom comes for the believer when God answers. When David
asked God to "Give light" he was asking God to restore him to both
physical and mental health. When we experience relief from troubles and
we are blessed with God's protection, peace, and favor it will show in our
outward appearance.
When we get to the end of the Psalm we see
that God has answered David's prayer. David recovers his trust in God,
but the real significance of this Psalm is that David was just as
concerned for the people he ruled over as he was for himself. If he were
to be overcome by death his enemies would have cause to gloat; not only in
the fall of the godly, but also in God's failure to be faithful to His
covenant people. In other words David was just as concerned about God's
people as he was for himself.
Dr. James Montgomery Boice summed up this
Psalm most effectively by writing the following: "If you are suffering
from a sense of being abandoned by God, which is what this Psalm is about,
I cannot tell you when the emotional oppression will lift. But it will
lift. The curtain of your despair will rise, and behind the veil you will
see the blessed Lord Jesus Christ, who has been with you and has loved you
all the time."
Rev. Grogan's prayer is that what he has written for this month's Discipleship segment will be a great help to many Christians in maturing their faith, especially in times of despair and depression. If God, Where Are You? has been a blessing to you, as it has myself (David Cooper), please email Rev. Grogan at garygrogan@chesnet.net to let him know. He would appreciate your comments.