Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible….

Psalm 42:6 NKJV

O my God, my soul is cast down within me;
Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan,
And from the heights of Hermon,
From the Hill Mizar.

The writer of this Psalm presents a different picture than that thought of as representing a believer. He is, in present day terminology, depressed. He questions God, vs 9A, I will say to God my Rock,
“Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”; he accuses his companions, vs 3B While they continually say to me, “Where is your God?”, 10B While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”; but more particularly he addressed himself, vs 5A-B. Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?

In this Psalm and the one following there are some useful lessons for the believer who experiences depression.

1. Believers have in the past, and do now, have the troubling experience of depression. The fact that the Psalmist by inspiration writes of his experience should put to rest all the foolishness the positive thinkers say about this subject.

There are two facts about this problem. First it is not a cause for embarrassment. For one to think he cannot be a Christian and be depressed is put to rest in Psalm 42:5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance. Secondly it is not acceptable to the believer. Though the believer should be neither embarrassed nor utterly discouraged, they should be determined to put this behind them.

2. There are reasons for depression. The writer is frank in stating

a) vs 2 he has lost his way into the presence of God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God? Unbelief in the promises of God and a failure to recall God’s deliverance of himself has overwhelmed him. Vs 9a I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me?

b) He has listened to his enemies. vs 9b-10. Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a breaking of my bones, My enemies reproach me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

c) The everyday trials of a life lived amidst the natural world have overcome him, vs 7. Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me.

3. There is a way out of depression.

a) vs 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God? Give attention to this question - begin to answer it.

1) Read the Scriptures. Learn again in them the nature of God. Renew the mind in its understanding of the proneness of the human soul to depart from God.

2) Read in the Scriptures of the trials and triumphs of the saints. I personally continually return to Psalm 73 for a lifting up of the downcast. 3) Go again to that place that gave comfort and joy. Vs 4. When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, With the voice of joy and praise, With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast. There ask God to reveal the beauty, glory, and joy of the church. Rejoice in being a part of it.

3) The depressed saint must determine no matter how deep and dark the hole may be, he or she will not surrender to it. Vs 11 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

When the final gun is sounded and the race is run the believer must determine as the Psalmist has, Psalm 43:3-4 Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your tabernacle. Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God. He has the means, the promise, and the provision to give him confidence to pray for and confidently expect deliverance.

You who are experiencing depression say “That is well and good but it is too easy. I have tried it and it doesn’t work”. I know it. But you must, and I emphasize must, go back to that same principle, the word of God, the assured presence of God, and pray. It is only here you will find relief.

It will serve you all well to understand Psalm 87:7 Both the singers and the players on instruments say, “All my springs are in you.”