Tag: anxiety
Fighting Depression
Scripture reading for September 3: Psalm 42:7-11 “Deep calls to deep at the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and Your waves have gone over me. By day the Lord commands His steadfast love, and at night His song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my Rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my Salvation and my God.”
1 Peter 5:6-7 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.
Another common malady of our day is depression and anxiety. When we don’t have God at the center of our life, our problems loom over us as giants that taunt us by day and by night. When we focus our minds on our problems, even believers can begin to question God as David did in this psalm of worship. He felt God had forgotten him and his enemies also taunted him with “Where is your God?” These questions, doubts and fears brought David down in his soul and there was turmoil.
To combat this attack of unbelief, David had a conversation with his soul. He asked himself why he would be in such turmoil and downcast? He spoke an encouraging word to his own soul: ‘Hope in God!’ He began to praise God for Who He was to him, his Salvation and personal Lord. This deliberate confrontation of his inner turmoil brought his soul back out of the mire of self-pity and doubt.
In the New Testament, Peter tells believers to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God by casting all their anxiety on Him. They are reminded that God cares for them and knows how to carry them through whatever trial is causing them turmoil. God will exalt them in the proper time. He is never early and never late, even though our soul feelings may say otherwise!
Prayer: Lord Jesus, today I humble myself to cast all my load of cares on You because You care for me! I will praise You for Your great salvation! You are my Hope! Amen!
The Reality of following Jesus
Scripture reading for August 12: 2 Corinthians 11
“Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.” 2 Corinthians 11:24-28
Often in today’s world, we seek to win people to follow Christ by telling them how God wants them to be rich, happy, and blessed. But Paul described in detail the suffering he had endured in following Jesus’ command to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. He wasn’t seeking sympathy or trying to warn those he had shared the Gospel with by reciting his troubles. He was really ‘boasting’ in his weakness and proclaiming how Christ’s power and presence had brought him through all these difficulties. (2 Corinthians 11:30)
The false apostles had pointed to these things in Paul’s life as a sign that God was not with Paul. People had sometimes misunderstood him and his life of suffering. Paul was a Jew, but suffered beatings from the hands of his own people as he shared Christ’s love and desire for their salvation with them. In following God, Paul was shipwrecked three times and almost lost his life. He had a right to be supported by the believers, but he worked with his own hands to support himself and his ministry team. He was sometimes hungry and thirsty and without proper shelter. But behind all this, Paul walked in faith that Jesus was with him in his assignment to care for the churches he had helped found. In his weakness, Paul found the strength of Jesus sufficient for every hardship.
Have you ever had to suffer as a result of living for Jesus or preaching the Gospel? How does this account of Paul’s suffering change your world view of being a Christ follower? Is your weakness something you have ever ‘boasted’ about?
Prayer: Father God, I find it hard to think about my weakness. I have been taught to be strong and our culture rewards strength. Thank You for sustaining Your people in times of persecution, through life’s shipwrecks, beatings, hunger and thirst. I am weak and need Your daily supply. Amen.