Depression: The Fear of Mental Breakdown | Dr. David Jeremiah | Job 3

the reality is that Godly Believers sometimes get depressed as you examine depression you discover that sooner or later people who know the Lord can find themselves going through a difficult moment a down moment a depressing moment depression has been called the common cold of the Soul and sooner or later most people catch it and God's servants including job and David and Moses and Elijah they caught it sometimes people don't understand that Dr David Murray writes but Christians don't get depressed how many times have you thought that or said that or heard that how many times have Christian pastors or counselors made this claim or at least implied it if it is true that Christians don't get depressed it must mean that either the Christians suffering from depression is not truly depressed or he's not truly a Christian but if this notion is false what extra and unnecessary pain and guilt are heaped upon already darkened minds and broken hearts it is common for spiritually mature men and women who feel depressed to think that they are doing something wrong after all the scriptures filled with words of joy and happiness and when they aren't feeling happy they feel they must be missing something or that God is punishing them and John lockley writes being depressed is bad enough in itself but being a depressed Christian is worse and being a depressed Christian in a church full of people who do not understand depression is like a little taste of hell now I want to answer some questions why do people get depressed I need you to understand friends I I'm a teacher of the word of God I'm a pastor I'm not here to solve all the problems people have through depression I'm not an expert on depression I am just a pastor and I want to help you so my counsel is going to be rather General and as much as possible based upon what I've learned from the scripture and from life the dictionary defines depression as Low Spirits gloomy feelings dejection sadness a condition marked by feelings of worthlessness failure and accompanying guilt you may wonder why I would even address such a subject why I would talk about something that can be so dark well let me tell you for a few moments why I am doing this as I express to you the epidemic of depression in our culture today more than one out of every 20 Americans adults are treated for depression during their lifetime worldwide there are 121 million people who are suffering from depression as I speak the use of antidepressants has soared in our nation over 400 percent since 1988 making the medication the most frequently used drug by people ages 18 to 44. according to a study by the World Health Organization and Harvard Medical School America today may be the saddest nation in the world the experience of depression is simply this that depression is a human problem a fact of life that shouldn't surprise us when we realize that we are imperfect people we live with other imperfect people in an imperfect world and when we open our Bibles we discover a long line of people who struggled with depression when Moses was leading the complaining Israelites in the desert he cried in Numbers Chapter 11. I am not able to Bear all these people alone because the burden is too heavy for me God if you treat me like this please kill me here and now if I have found favor in your sight and do not let me see my wretchedness when Elijah faced death at the hands of Jezebel his fear led to despair as well he prayed to the Lord that he might die hear your heart's words From First Kings 19 it is enough now Lord take my life for I am no better than my fathers I don't know if you've noticed the connection but Jay Oswald Sanders reminds us that Elijah and Moses were the two men who stood on Mount Transfiguration with the Lord both of these men broke under the strain of their Ministry and pray that they might die David the psalmist sprinkles depression throughout all of his Psalms if you read them you run into it everywhere hear from Psalm 32 as an illustration he says when I kept silent my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long for day and night your hand was Heavy upon me my Vitality was turned into the drought of Summer people in the Bible were depressed I remember telling you that in the Bible over 200 people are said to have been afraid and that it wasn't just the peripheral people but it's the main people so we've got your attention with the realization that Elijah Moses and David and there are many others I haven't got time to tell you about this morning are people that we know people that we think are the greats of the word of God and they suffered from depression and it's not just the biblical Heroes who have survived depression on a notable Sunday in 1866 the famous British preacher Charles Hadden Spurgeon shocked his 5 000 listeners when he got up in London's Metropolitan Tabernacle to begin a sermon which included these words quote my soul is cast down within me I feel as I had rather die than live all that God has done by me has created in me such an awful feeling and seems to be forgotten and my spirit flags and my courage breaks down and I need your prayers Martin Luther the great reformer was subject to such fits of Darkness that he would hide himself away for days and his family would remove all dangerous implements from the house for fear he would harm himself in the midst of one of these times he said these words for more than a week I was close to the gates of death and hell I trembled in all my members Christ was wholly lost I was shaken by desperation and blasphemy of God the expression of depression there are many expressions in church history and in the Bible but none are more poignant than the one recorded for us in Job chapter 3 and our Biblical character today is none other than job himself job stands naked before his God anything or anyone who he might have counted on for help or encouragement has been taken from him if you read the first two chapters it's hard to comprehend what it must have been like a servant would come and tell him of one tragedy and before that servant could leave another servant would come and tell him of something else that he had lost and one after another job was reduced until there was nothing left his wealth was gone his health was gone his children were gone his wife has abandoned him his misery is Indescribable his Outlook is hopeless and while he rejects the advice of Satan and his wife to curse God and die job is despairing of his life as he sits on the ash Heap outside the city where he lived we are not left to wonder what is going through his mind over in the 29th and 30th chapter of his book job is speaking of things as they used to be and as they are now in a modern paraphrase of those words we can get a sense of what this man was feeling listen to his words in days past God took care of me and God's friendship was felt in my home all of my children were around and my life was prospering the Elders of the city honored me and the young men stepped aside and reverence to me even the highest officials in the city stood in respect for me but that was then and this is now the young men make fun of me I am a joke to them they spit in my face they lay traps for my path they come at me from all directions I live in Terror with no one to help depression haunts my days I cry to God but I get no answers my voice of joy and gladness has turned to Mourning by this stage in the life of Job it should become clear that an entirely new trial has overtaken him the trial of depression of deep mental and spiritual trauma the terrible disasters that are described in the first two chapters are over job has managed to weather them with his piety intact but now the battle has shifted from the outside of his life to the inside of his life now it is Job's inner life his very soul that is under direct attack and then the third chapter he cries out in three laments about what it's like to be where he is and anyone who's ever been depressed or has known people who have been depressed and have walked through depression with them will understand completely why job is lamenting as he is let's look at what he says his first lament in verses one through three we might title it why did I arrive he says after this job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth and job spoken said May the day perish on which I was born and the night in which it was said a male child is conceived job begs that the night of his conception in the day of his birth be blotted from the calendar these words are the words of a man who was so broken that he no longer cares what he says later on in his book he said that he spoke with rationalists but he just spoke honestly that's what he felt he said Lord God why did I even have to be born why did I arrive his second lament takes it to the next level why did I survive verse 11 he says why did I not die at Birth why did I not perish when I came from the womb Lord if I had to be born why couldn't I have just died at childbirth usually rhetorical questions have answers but job finds no answers to these questions in his present state of depression job can find no reason for his life he cannot understand why God would have allowed him to survive birth if all of these tragedies were going to happen to him and then he takes it to the final question the third lament why am I alive verse 20 and 21 of the third chapter why is light given to him who is in misery and life to the bitter of Soul who long for death but it does not come and search for it more than Hidden Treasures job's third cry is one that is very common today job is saying since I had to be born and I couldn't die in childbirth why can't I just die now because job can think of no purpose for his life everything that brought meaning is gone his wealth his health and most of all his family and one does not have to be a psychologist to understand why he might be depressed six times in these verses from the third chapter that I have read to you job asks the question why there's nothing wrong with asking why even the Lord Jesus on the cross ask the father why have you forsaken me but if you remember the moment you will also remember that there was no answer from heaven there's nothing wrong with asking why as long as you don't get the idea that God owes you an answer because he does not throughout this whole book Job cries out to God over and over and it's like heaven is a brass a brass wall nothing happens not until the end when job is endured everything that you can imagine did God finally communicate with him and he suffered like you will not believe could I just pause here for a moment and say it is a wonderful gift to us that God has put the Book of Job in the Bible because it reminds us that if we suffer we are not the only ones if we go through dark seasons of life if as a Saint John of the Cross said we live The Dark Night of the Soul we have been preceded by others who have gone before us and the record is here why would God allow this book to be in the Bible if for no other reason than to encourage us in fact if you think you're having a bad day read the book of job and you will feel better about yourself immediately some of you have heard me tell the story of a card that I received when I was in the hospital recovering from cancer someone sent me a card and when I woke up in the morning Donna brought the cards in and right on top of the pile was this card and in the words of this card were the words of of Corinthians where Paul was talking about all his problems right on the front of the card there was nothing else written it said many many times Shipwrecked all these Stripes that I've heard beaten cast out all the lists all of the stuff that's in the 11th chapter and I'm thinking to myself who would send somebody a card like that when you're trying to get better I mean I was I was sick and and this car was just full of all of Paul's pain and then I opened the card you know what I said on the inside so how you been it was a reminder to me that what I was going through was nothing compared to what Paul went through and when we go through depression and sorrow we read the book of job and we realize that we've had some bad days but we've never had days like job had remind you now job was not depressed because of what had happened he was depressed because he couldn't figure out why it happened the reality is that Godly Believers sometimes get depressed as you examine depression you discover that sooner or later people who know the Lord can find themselves going through a difficult moment a down moment a depressing moment depression has been called the common cold of the Soul and sooner or later most people catch it and God's servants including job and David and Moses and Elijah they caught it sometimes people don't understand that Dr David Murray writes but Christians don't get depressed how many times have you thought that or said that or heard that how many times have Christian pastors or counselors made this claim or at least implied it if it is true that Christians don't get depressed it must mean that either the Christians suffering from depression is not truly depressed or he's not truly a Christian but if this notion is false what extra and unnecessary pain and guilt are heaped upon already darkened minds and broken hearts it is common for spiritually mature men and women who feel depressed to think that they are doing something wrong after all the scriptures filled with words of joy and happiness and when they aren't feeling happy they feel they must be missing something or that God is punishing them and John lockley writes being depressed is bad enough in itself but being a depressed Christian is worse and being a depressed Christian in a church full of people who do not understand depression is like a little taste of hell now I want to answer some questions why do people get depressed I need you to understand friends I I'm a teacher of the word of God I'm a pastor I'm not here to solve all the problems people have through depression I'm not an expert on depression I am just a pastor and I want to help you so my counsel is going to be rather General and as much as possible based upon what I've learned from the scripture and from life but let me tell you why people get depressed first of all sometimes people get depressed for situational reasons for situational reasons I mean let's face it folks if you were job would you be depressed I guess I I cannot tell you what an amazing experience I've had this week in preparation for this message I actually believe it or not I've met three of the most depressed people I have ever met in my whole life I didn't go to see them they came to see me for instance I was in Oklahoma City preaching after I got done preaching I was walking back around the stage to go back to work Donna and our friends were at The Book Table and a man was waiting there for me I don't know how he got back there but he grabbed hold of me and he said I must talk with you and he told me the story he said I am a bus driver here for children in Oklahoma City and then he just began to sob during the winter months he was driving a bus and he ran over a little girl who lived next door to him and was the best friend of his little girl who was the same age he said just hours before that had happened they'd stayed all night at my house and both had fallen asleep on my chest as I laid on the floor playing with them and then he poured out his heart to me what do I do Pastor I can't get past this I know God loves me I know he cares about me I didn't do anything wrong she should never have been where she was it was dark I've been totally absolved of any guilt but he said and then he just started to weep now let me ask you a question would you think that a person like that might have a reason to be depressed sometimes depression has to do with things that happen in our lives let's don't make it any more complicated than that usually that kind of depression will ultimately subside over a period of time often with counseling and with prayer and scripture and love from others and I have every reason to believe that my friend will make it through this sometimes depression is systemic by that I mean it has something to do with what's going on in your system this is often a surprise to many people sometimes there are systemic reasons one of my favorite sayings goes like this our souls and our bodies live so close together that they catch each other's diseases did you know that we all know that how many of you know that when you don't feel good physically it's hard to feel good spiritually isn't that true and the other way it's the other way around too I mean so we're a body soul and mind we're not just segregated into three different parts and let me just tell you something there are things that can go on in the human body that can create depression hormonal imbalance dietary issues all of these things can contribute to the moods that you feel and before you go any further if you have these bouts in your life check it out make sure there's nothing going on that could cause you to be depressed that is systemic in nature let me go back to my friend Charles Haddon Spurgeon the great man himself was subject to such spiritual depression and the main cause of it was that he suffered from gout severe gout that finally killed him and he had to face this problem of spiritual depression often in a most acute form a tendency that always happened when he was having a severe about with his physical disease and he would have to leave his church for days and months at a time in order for him to get over this you cannot isolate the spiritual the emotional the intellectual from the physical they go together the greatest and the best Christians when they are physically weak are more prone to an attack of spiritual depression than at any other time and there are great illustrations of that in the Bible and in history sometimes there are satanic reasons I mean the Book of Job is certainly an illustration of that here we see Satan at work more than in any other book in the Bible do you know that at the beginning Satan makes a deal with God he says let me have job and I'll show you he's not as hot as you think he is let me have job let me let me cause suffering in job's life and you'll find out that this guy job that you think is the greatest god your number one a pupil he'll curse you and and you'll just wait and see now the interesting thing about this is that God and Satan knew what was going on they had this deal but God never told job job never did know about the deal that God had made with Satan to allow Satan to test job and prove his integrity sometimes Satan will try to cause sadness in your life here's what I've known about Satan doesn't usually have anything to do with the bad things that happen he comes in afterwards to make you misinterpret the bad things that happen he comes in afterwards and says God doesn't love you as much as he used to or God doesn't care about you and God doesn't he's not really interested in all and so Satan uses the tragedy which he may not have caused as a talking point in your life to bring depression into your heart don't let him do that sometimes there are spiritual reasons for depression I read this this week this is a great comment listen to this sometimes God puts his children to bed in the dark he really does we say that God allows suffering and sometimes scripture uses that language but he's always in control and if God is allowed a dark time in your life and there's no evidence in that you know of of any reason for it just know that he's up to something and at the end as we'll see in the life of Job when the test is finished you will be better than you were before now I've talked about the epidemic of depression and the experience of it and the expression of it and the examination of it and some explanations of it I want you to notice something that I find to be truly amazing let's talk about the expectations of depression someone has described this phenomenon in nautical terms like this the height of the wave determines the depth of the valley that follows it and the opposite is also true sometimes the depth of the valley is a promise of the blessing to come how many of you know life is lived in a rhythm there's a rhythm about life let's get to understand that when it comes to what we're talking about today this is borne out in examples from the bible let me just give you a couple do you remember when Elijah stood on Mount Carmel and confronted all of the prophets of Baal and he called down fire from heaven and he made fun of their God saying maybe their God was asleep and then after God came down and licked up all the water that was poured on the fire and destroyed the destroyed the Altar and ate up the sacrifice Elijah went out and he killed all of the prophets of Baal now I would say that was a pretty good day for a man of God it was a Mountaintop experience that most people would never ever get close to but within just hours after that experience Elijah is running for his life from Queen Jezebel and when he finally could no more run he collapsed under a juniper tree and that's when he said Lord let me die he went from The Mountaintop to the valley in just a few hours do you remember when the Lord Jesus was baptized and God broke Heaven's silence and said this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and the next verse says and Satan took him to the Wilderness and tempted him for 40 days after a major Mountaintop experience we need to be ready to face the valley we were not created to live on the mountain all the time we weren't created to live in the valley all the time life has Rhythm to it and I I've understood this Don and I have talked about this many times let me tell you about an illustration for this week we were in Kansas City and we had one of the best events we have ever had since we've been doing this people came from everywhere the building was full and I preached in John 3 16 and you've heard me preach that message and I gave the invitation and a few people came and that's what happens in these events we don't always have a lot of folks and then all of a sudden without any way for me to prepare for it people started coming to the front in droves I'm standing here and this is a big bowl people sitting on the floor and all up on the sides and all I could see is people streaming down from the sides over 200 people came forward there were so many people we didn't have anywhere close to the number of counselors we needed to share with them so I had to do a group prayer we got everybody in front and I asked them all to pray out loud the sinner's prayer after me and it sounded like half of the audience was praying the prayer God came down in this place and I was in tears I walked off the stage and I reminded myself because I've been studying this this week look out Jeremiah tomorrow's coming you know look out and I've been on guard so far it hadn't gotten me yet but but if I hadn't been on guard it surely would have and you know Charles hadn't Spurgeon says it works the other way he said he said before any great achievement some measure of the same depression is very usual such was my experience when I first became a pastor in London My Success appalled me and the thought of the career which it seemed to open up so far from elating me it cast me into the lowest depths who was I that I should continue to lead so great a multitude and I would be take me to my Village obscurity or immigrate to America and find a solitary nest in the Backwoods where I might be sufficient for the things which would be demanded of me and then he said this depression comes over me whenever the Lord is preparing a larger blessing for my Ministry the mountain comes and then the valley but sometimes the valley comes and then the mountain there's a rhythm to life you know what we would do ourselves a lot of good if we would just understand that one of the men that I met who was depressed came to a book signing and he just told me how depressed he was and asked him what he did and he said he was an accountant and he did taxes this was the 16th of April I told him I was depressed and then I said how many taxes do you he told me he did taxes for all the wealthy people in Oklahoma City and I said oh you've been working on it he told me I said well you know what I don't know all that's going on in your life but I told him this little story I said when you finish with a task you've been working on for a long time and you finally get it done and you've been to the mountain and it's over your system needs a break and one of the things that happens is you go from the height of your adrenaline glands just pumping into your system and there's going to be a little bit of a Down don't take that so seriously understand that's part of how life Works God has built that into us so that we can survive as life goes forward can I get a witness everybody got that amen the expectations now let's talk about the elimination of depression and I'm just going to give you some thoughts that I think might be helpful please understand and let's look up here for just a moment if you have severe depression if you suffer depression that is debilitating that means you can't work or you have days when you can't function do not whatever you do do not not go and get some help but I am telling you some things you can do to help when these moments come but I am not trying to stand in the place of a of a doctor I'm not a doctor and I would hate for you to leave here and think that this is all there is no if you have severe depression you need to find medical help and don't be ashamed to do it remember all of these great people who have suffered with the same thing you suffer with but having said all of that here's some things I'd like to suggest number one Reveal Your depression based on the story of Job I want to suggest that you reveal honestly your depression to the people that you trust the thing about job was this he didn't hide his feelings listen to these words from job 7 11 therefore I will not restrain my mouth I will speak in the anguish of my spirit I will complain in the bitterness of my soul job said I'm not going to keep this to myself here's what's going on in my life find somebody to trust and let it all out be honest about what you're feeling you say Well I'm get over it find somebody you trust and tell them what's going on in your life even in the doing of that you will feel better number two resist your depression depression is something to fight and I say that because listen to me nobody ever wants to be depressed nobody ever seeks to be depressed but there are people who won't allow depression to leave let me say this tenderly there are people you and I have both known who enjoy their bad health do you know what I'm saying I used to have people say you know people coming and I'd ask people how they're doing and I'd get an organ recital this organ doesn't work that one doesn't work this one doesn't work and you'd go through all this stuff you know and they seem happy to be telling you that's their story and I say that because I have known people who who go through depression and there's help available and it's probably not something that they couldn't deal with but they don't want to deal with it they enjoy the attention that it gets for them please listen to me today depression is not anything to mess with don't let its foot in the door don't let anything happen that would cause it to get worse if there's something you can do to cause it to get better fight it it is your enemy just as surely as immorality or violence or theft is your enemy depression is your enemy it's not your friend don't cuddle it treat it as an enemy number three research your depression I read this from Dan Phillips he said you should probably see a good doctor I mean I don't mean for happy pills I do not mean for psychological treatment I mean to eliminate the possibility of physical causes and we've talked about that already there might be something going on in your life that you don't know about before you do anything else if you suffer from this go see a doctor and get a physical tell them what's going on in your life and say I just want to make sure there's not anything systemic going on that's causing this to happen number four replace your depression lean into God don't lean away from him let me tell you something that I've discovered when you go through any kind of trouble in life listen up you have to do things that are counter-intuitive by that I mean if you only do what you feel like doing when you don't feel good you will always do the wrong thing what does that mean well when I am down I don't feel like reading the Bible do it anyway say to yourself self I don't feel like reading the Bible but I'm going to read it anyway and if you read it quietly in a little corner of your house go out in the garage and read it out loud take action that will bring you toward God not push him away here's the deal when depression comes like any problem in life here is God and here are you if you let depression get in between you and God it will push you away but if you put the depression if you put the depression out here it will push you toward God and then you will have a much better chance to survive it all depends on where it is job cried out to God but he never cursed God and the Bible says that when he got all done with his depression he did not sin the Bible says that in his crying out to God for answers and for help he sinned not so make sure that what's going on in your life drives you toward your God and not away from him I need to tell you most of the people that I know who've gone through tough times whether it's cancer or some other kind of sickness or family trouble when they get that principle right they come out of it much stronger in their faith than when they went into it and then let's talk a little bit about the effect that Depression had on job even before his testing was over job expressed this thought and this is a great verse for you to remember job 23 10 here's what it says but God knows the way that I take and when he has tested me I shall come forth as gold and after it was over he expressed gratitude for what had happened in his life in job 42 he said God before this thing I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear but now my eye sees you therefore I abhor myself and repent in Dustin ashes job lived in Triumph in his faith in job 13 He says though he slay me yet I will trust him that's what I mean that's counterintuitive when you're going through trouble but that's what you say in your heart that's what you mean in your spirit Lord I don't know what's going on I don't have any explanation for this but Lord if you slay me I'm still going to trust you that's what job said and then he finally was able to say I know that my redeemer lives and that he will stand at last on the Earth there's life after depression there's Victory after the test There's Hope after the hopelessness and yes there's joy after the despair for those of you who are Christians you have quite an advantage that you may not know about so as we close I want to tell you the story most of you have noticed that on television these days huh programming is suffering and one of the ways you know it's suffering is because old movies are being replayed over and over and over again if you have a movie you like just search the channels for a couple days and it'll be there you won't have to pay for it it'll be there one of my favorite movies and don't feel bad about it when I tell you this is The Fugitive I remember when The Fugitive came out we saw it when it first came out and we sat I think down in the front row either the front row or the second row and I stood I sat there like this through the whole thing with my eyes wide open I was mesmerized by that movie every minute of it was so captivating when uh when Harrison Ford went off off the ledge into the Falls I about jumped out of my seat now you know how that movie ends everything gets resolved the one-armed man gets caught and everything's fine and Harrison ends up that's the difference between a comedy and a tragedy a tragedy ends bad a comedy ends good so The Fugitive is a comedy even though there's no humor in it it's a comedy because that's what a comedy is now listen carefully I'm embarrassed to tell you how many times I've watched that movie over and over and over again I already know what's going to happen and I still have a little heart flutter when he goes off the cliff but it's not like it was the first time or even the second now that I've watched it 15 times or so I still have a motion I still have a little bit of energy that's dispensed throughout the movie but you see it's different because I know how it turns out I know that it turns out right that the end is going to be what you always hope a movie like that will be you know the good guy wins the bad guy gets punished and all is well life is like that isn't it life is like a movie the first time you go through a down time in your life wow it's how in the world am I ever going to deal with this is awful and then somehow God helps you through it and you get through the first one and the next time it comes you realize you know this is really hard and and this is emotional but I've been through this once before and I know that God was with me and you know what else I know how it turns out you've heard me laugh at Donna because she reads the last chapter of her books before she finishes reading the book but I'm beginning to realize she's more right about that than I am when you read the last chapter you don't get traumatized by the events that happen leading up to it because while it looks like it's going to end here you know it's not it's not going to end to here and when it ends it's a good ending let me just ask you something today class don't you know that this life is not our final place and that we're going through some things right now one of these days we're going to get to the ending but we already know what it is so when we already know what it is let's give ourselves a little space let's step back and say Lord I forgot about this stuff we have to go through down here but I'm so encouraged because I know we're going to make it through to the end and we're going to do so with our hands lifted up high and the little down Dark Night of the soul that I have is just a part of the ultimate movie and the movie ends well [Music] life in this world can seem pretty overwhelming but thankfully God promises to be with you right where you are to lovingly remind you that he's in control and that there's hope after hopelessness there's no greater Comfort than knowing you're loved by the very god of the universe and I pray that you've made the decision to experience that love by placing your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to help you strengthen that belief I'd like to send you two free resources a booklet called your greatest turning point and our monthly devotional magazine turning points the these gifts are yours at no charge if you take a moment to contact us here at turning point I'm on turning point you must place your trust in Jesus Christ if you will believe in him he will give you eternal life as your gift the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ Our Lord thank you for being with us today join Dr Jeremiah next time for his message death the fear of dying here on turning point [Music]

Channel: David Jeremiah

Views: 1,884,859

Keywords:

Id: TeiAxrYHl-8

Length: 42min 9sec (2529 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 01 2023