We are looking at making your blues go away. The first thing we said was that spiritual people get depressed, this is something that affects everyone. Second you have to face your emotions, they are real and cannot be denied.
Third: You Have To Uncover The Root
Whatever else depression does, it centers “me” on “me.” Notice all the “I’s” in Psalm 102. After you dwell on yourself you can come up with a list of things you are disappointed over. Things you are dissatisfied with, things you feel are unfair (why does this happen to me! or I don’t deserve this!). You start blaming God and then decide to quit (I’m not going to take it anymore). In the words of Pogo: “I met the enemy and it was me.”
My depression is not because God didn’t come through for me, but that I hadn’t come through for myself. God didn’t fail me, I failed me. I had failed to reach some expectation I had set for myself. As long as I control my life, as long as my own expectations remain the measuring rod for my success, as long as everything depends on me, I will be singing the blues.
Not all depressions are self-induced but some are. The more we deify ourselves, the more we focus on ourselves, the more we expect ourselves to be God, the more we open ourselves to be disappointed, discouraged and dejected. Selfish flesh can not help but can only disappoint. You must uncover the root.
all of the above is true...no doubt, these are excuses, rationalizations we make....but that still doesn't take the depression away ......even if we understand, accept or admit this, the depression still exists.... trust me, I've been there and heard all of the above. Whether I know the right or wrong answer to the problem ..... the problem still exists. I"m a newcomer to severe depression and it was after I became a christian.....I have no other word except that it SUCKS...(SORRY)Thankfully "today" and I say this "carefully" because it comes and goes...I'm better , and dealing with it "All Glory goes to God"
ReplyDeleteTHANKS PASTOR MARK FOR INSPIRING ME TO THINK"
Jim