Good morning…
“Thank you for your blog,” she wrote after our post Someone You Know Needs This. “As there are no coincidences, the Jesus Calling message for the same day, July 16th, is along the same lines.”
Responding to God’s nuanced nudge, I google the July 16th message and, through author Sarah Young, God whispers these words.
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Jesus Calling, July 16th
Self-pity is a slimy, bottomless pit. Once you fall in, you tend to go deeper and deeper into the mire. As you slide down those slippery walls, you are well on your way to depression, and the darkness is profound.
Your only hope is to look up and see the Light of My Presence shining down on you. Though the Light looks dim from your perspective, deep in the pit, those rays of hope can reach you at any depth. While you focus on Me in trust, you rise ever so slowly out of the abyss of despair. Finally, you can reach up and grasp My hand. I will pull you out into the Light again. I will gently cleanse you, washing off the clinging mire. I will cover you with My righteousness and walk with you down the path of Life.
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We open up the Scriptures recommended for the day and we carry on our own conversation in the Light of God’s Presence.
Why are you in despair, O my soul? We take time to listen to the answer rising up from within. “Why am I feeling such deep despair right now?” And why have you become restless and disturbed within me? Soul, what is this disturbed restlessness all about, really? What is my sadness, my anxiety, my depression here to teach me, LORD? Let me sit with these emotions and untangle this heavy knot. As we hope and we wait, we yearn for God’s help to find us, to free us. Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence (Psalm 42:5, AMP).
As each new day dawns in our dark, dark, dark nights, we gradually grow to know God’s truth more intimately. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed (Psalm 34:18, NLT). Sometimes getting out of bed is excruciatingly hard and dragging through another dark day feels completely impossible, but he takes pleasure in those who honor him, in those who trust in his constant love (Psalm 147:11, GNT). When we do not see God with us in the deep, dark pit, how might we trust in our LORD’s constant love?
Day by day, hand-in-Hand, we slowly inch our way into a rich future with God. We will look back with perspective on these dark, despairing days to tell our own chapter in the LORD’s saving story. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord (Psalm 40:2-3, ESV). As we face, feel, and flourish through our soul’s darkest nights, God’s presence will gradually be revealed to us … then God’s presence will be revealed through us … lighting for all a painstaking path up from the pit to a life of authentic abundance.
…Sue…
P.S. Right away, one of you replied: “Good morning Sue! Regarding today’s post… depression is a disease and a serious one. And it isn’t caused by self pity. I know you know this as you have experienced it yourself. People with depression are often characterized as wallowing, full of self pity and told to snap out of it. If they would only this or that (including have a better relationship with God)…. Suicide (and I’ve heard this in the pulpit) is considered cowardly and selfish. I realize people who have never experienced it may not understand, but labels like self pity when attached to depression are exactly the reason people who are depressed (especially men) do not seek help. I’m sure whoever wrote this had his or her heart in the right place, but it’s dangerous language. I’m not trying to cause offense but this language is not okay around depression.”
I wrote back right away: “Thank you for your wisdom. It is a messy, heavy ball of tangled emotions, with lots of words, labels, language attached. Despair. Disease. Depression. Darkness. Melancholy. Mental illness. Self-pity. Sadness. Sorrow. Suicide. It is complex and hard to grasp each facet in this messy mosaic of emotions. Thank you for walking this difficult landscape with me, and sharing your honest perspective.”
P.S.S. Another one of you immediately wrote: “Psalm 40:1-3 is part of my testimony. Indeed God drew me out of the slimy pit, gave me a firm place to stand and put a new song in my mouth. I know experientially these words are TRUTH. It is verse 1 that is the challenge: I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. We don’t feel patient when in that dark place, but we persevere trusting He will be attentive to our cry. Out of that pit we realize through the perseverance, God has molded our character and built our faith which is more precious than gold (1 Peter 1:3-7).
The Message translation says it this way: What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole.
I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine.
