God’s Work in Your Depression

[Music] one anonymous young woman writes in with a question today hello Pastor John I'm normally a optimistic person and full of life but lately has been such a struggle to even want to get out of bed in the mornings I'm a student at BCS and I'm very grateful for all the lessons God is teaching me here but I dread going to class this is so discouraging because I moved many miles so that I could come to the school but deep down I don't doubt God still wants me here but I don't think he wants me to have this attitude about life is this depression I have almost no motivation for anything I've been praying and I will keep praying for God to be my strength but how do you fight when you don't feel like fighting each morning brings with it a desire to stay in bed for days so I don't have to face life I truly hate feeling this way because I feel I've lost my joy in God's will for me I feel oppressed by the powers of the dark world and I don't see an escape I really appreciate you answering such hard questions it helps me remember that by no means am I the only warrior in this fight against the devil oh how I feel empathy for this because I've tasted these kinds of seasons many times I want to get our bed dread doing the things we have to do no motivation for anything don't feel like fighting the fight loss of joy what we thought God had called us to do oppressed by what feels like demonic darkness so that's that's her situation and I've tasted it and so I feel a kind of urgency for her she asks is this depression and of course my answer is I don't know I'm not close enough to the situation I don't know her well enough and I would say to you she didn't give us her name if if you have a history of depression you'll probably know what kind of season this is but if you don't I certainly wouldn't jump to that conclusion automatically depression is is not a simple black and white thing there are many degrees of discouragement on a continuum into the the most debilitating kind of depression and you'll certainly want to be alert to that I would recommend if this continues a physical checkup with a doctor just to make sure there's no for example mononucleosis or some kind of a nutritional issue we are body and soul and our bodies can play tricks on us and wreak havoc with our minds and our spirits if we were sitting together I'd probably ask you about sleep habits and exercise habits and eating and so on there's so many ways that we can be depleted and it feels spiritual when it has physical roots as well so I'm going to depend on you to know yourself and your history and your physical condition and to get the help you need in that regard but let me just point to a few wonderful spiritual biblical god-given truths that he means for your help and strength right now number one first Corinthians 10:13 no testing and you probably know as a student with your Greek that the word temptation and testing are the same in Greek no testing has overtaken you but what is common to man God is faithful he will not let you be tested beyond what your ability is but with testing he will provide a way of escape and then here comes the key phrase that you may be able to endure it so the issue is one of endurance not just escape the escape is the capacity to endure and so know that he's got you in this season of testing and he has got you there not beyond your ability to endure number two when God tests your endurance he's not doing it because he doesn't love you this is so claimed in Hebrews 12:6 following that he delights in his children whom he disciplines delights in them isn't that amazing that when he disciplines us at he's discipling the son in whom he delights or the daughter in whom he delights so don't let the devil convince you that this season of testing is because God is against you that hellish that's not from heaven you have heard the endurance of Jobe and you have seen the purpose of the Lord how the Lord is compassionate and merciful james511 number three Psalm 40 first three verses portrays David mired in the darkness and waiting for the Lord and I just want to testify that much Christian obedience consists in waiting for God to do what we need him to do when the timing seems very slow to us number four God's Word the Bible is specifically designed for these seasons of testing for whatever was written is it this is amazing this is sweeping this is romans 15:4 whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction that by the endurance there's the keyboard the endurance getting through tough things the endurance and encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope so if you can in so much as you can just make it a few verses be in the word every day even though you don't feel like fighting give yourself that medicine every day number five acknowledge that only divine power and I mean mighty power can sustain you and me through the tests like this and I mentioned it because Colossians 1:11 has often amazed me it goes like this may you be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might now what's all that for for all endurance and patience with joy which says to me that endurance and patience with joy requires am impotent power we think it's a small thing you're not fighting a small battle this takes am impotent divine power to sustain Christians through tons of testing number six remember God knows your frame and that you are just dust Psalm 103 is sweet verse thirteen as a father has compassion on his children so the Lord is compassionate to those who fear Him he knows our frame he remembers that we are dust and that amazing that God takes into account the fragile frame that we have as humans and the last thing I would say number seven take hold of one or two specific promises write them on a piece of paper put them in your pocket to carry through the day or in your purse and take them out and read them to yourself or memorize it and say it to yourself often say it over and over again declare your allegiance to Jesus in and through specific promises like I thought of these two for you in closing some 139 11 if I say surely the darkness shall cover me and the light about me be night even the darkness is not dark to you the night is bright as the day for darkness is as light with you so it feels like darkness to you is not darkness to God he's in the bright light and he knows how to take care of you and the last one is isaiah 43:2 when you pass through the waters I'll be with you God says and through the rivers they shall not overwhelm you when you walk through fire you shall not be burned and the flame shall not consume you for I am the Lord your God the Holy One of Israel your savior and if so for Israel how much more for those in Jesus so that's my prayer for you God is faithful he will do it thank you Pastor John and thank you for sending in this very honest question some of the best questions that we get are the ones that are really hardest to articulate and write and confess in in words to others and you are not alone in this fight well we have again hit the weekend and that means it's time for me to remind you and to encourage you to subscribe to our podcast and find our audio feeds and search our episode archive and even reach us by email with a difficult question that you might be facing in life you can do all of those things at our online home at desiring God org /oz Pastor John speaking of resources as many of you know Pastor John has been writing books like crazy in the past couple of years which has been great to see it's also been a little daunting to know what he's written and why he wrote them in the first place and on Monday he will walk us through his latest three books including one that you may not have heard about because it hasn't gone to press yet it's a new trilogy of books and he's going to walk us through each title and why he wrote each one I am really looking forward to it I am your host Tony ranky thanks for listening to the a special john podcast and we will see you on Monday you

Channel: Desiring God

Views: 165,918

Keywords: Desiring God, John Piper, God, Jesus Christ, Christianity, Christian Hedonism, Ask Pastor John, APJ, suffering, hardship, anger, meaningless, purpose, God’s sovereignty, preparation, glory, heaven, purposeful, tears, cancer, death, sickness, suffer

Id: DM9l4es4GWg

Length: 10min 22sec (622 seconds)

Published: Fri May 26 2017