Making Your Blues Go Away - Part 1

It is safe to conclude that the “blues” any kind of blues are common to man. Most of us feel “blue” some of the time, some of us feel “blue” most of the time. Our emotions sometime seem circumstantially determined. The cross currents that move in our personal air space determine our emotional forecast. One moment we’re sunny, the next partly cloudy. Our emotional weather map changes in a moment. Some people have blues fronts pass through on a regular basis while there are some who live in a continual blues funk. The rise and fall of our emotions remind us of our humanity. Whatever else we are (Christian, Leader, Father, Mother, Husband, Wife, Our Position) we have to remember that we are dust. Dust is blown about by even the slightest breeze. James calls our life “a vapor that appears for a little time”, a mist (James 4:14). God remembers we are dust, “For He knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14).

Depression revolves around four core symptoms:
1. A gloomy mood— where you feel very sad or dejected, hopeless, melancholy or sullen, this has to do with our emotions.
2. Pessimism—this is where we are expecting the worst outcome in any circumstance; the practice of looking on the dark side of things. The root of this has to do with the lies you tell yourself, this can come from not knowing the truth or knowing it but not believing the truth.
3. Self criticism—is the act of finding fault, or disapproval, emphasizing your faults or short comings. The lies you tell yourself resulting in self condemnation.
4. Delay or confusion has to do with circumstances when things don't happen as soon as we think they will.

Depression encourages us to withdraw from things, activities and people. When the depression is severe enough it encourages us to withdraw from life itself, in extreme case's it can result in suicide. Depression is a shroud that covers the soul. To the depressed no one seems enticing; nothing seems exciting, even God seems to be distant. To the depressed God may be in the heavens but His presence is no longer felt. Worship feels like a mockery, praise feels like hypocrisy, relationships feel empty and nothing satisfies. Like a weather front, depression can be both minor and major. A minor depression is a partly cloudy or rainy day. A major depression is a cloudy or rainy, stormy weather that lasts and lasts (like winter in Michigan) where there is no sun for days.

Depression usually revolves around a sense of loss. We may feel insignificant which is a loss of worth. We may feel insecure which is a loss of confidence. We may feel blah which is a loss of satisfaction. We may feel anxious which is a loss of peace. Or we feel empty which is a loss of hope, you feel like you've lost something. Depression spreads through the human soul like a thick fog. The fog slips under the door of the soul and in moments it blankets the entire room. We are going to look at seven things in Psalm 102 that will help you overcome the blues from a biblical perspective.