Word of Salvation – Vol.53 No.5 – February 2007

 

Spiritual Depression

A Sermon by Rev John Haverland

on Psalm 42

Scripture Reading:  2 Corinthians 4

 

Theme & Purpose:  In times of spiritual discouragement we need to look in hope to God.

 

Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

Some of you will have heard of Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones. He was a well known preacher who ministered in Westminster Chapel in London for 30 years. He has become well known for his many sermons that have been printed in books. One of the most famous of these books is a collection of sermons on the subject of ‘spiritual depression’, which is also the title of the book. It begins with a sermon on Psalm 42. In this Psalm we have an accurate description of some of the causes of spiritual depression, as well as a description of how we should deal with it. In his commentary on the psalms, Derek Kidner describes it as “one of the most sadly beautiful in the Psalter.” Like many of the psalms it gives us words that express our own thoughts and feelings.

One of the greatest theologians of the early church was a man named Athanasius, whose name is remembered in the Athanasian Creed. He wrote; “Most of the Scripture speaks to us, while the psalms speak for us.” That is certainly true of Psalm 42 – it speaks for us. And it speaks about us, because most of us, at one time or another, have felt spiritually flat, despondent, cold. Most of us have had times when we have felt as though we could not pray, when the Bible meant nothing to us, when we felt as though God was a long way away. What are the reasons for this and how can we deal with it when it happens to us?

1. THE CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DEPRESSION

One writer has summarised these causes in three headings: this man felt spiritually, physically and socially isolated.

He felt a spiritual isolation.

He described this in verses 5 and 11 which are the refrain of this psalm and the heart of it. “Why are you downcast, O my soul?” This describes his problem. He was downcast. Literally the word refers to someone who is bowed down; he was bent over with a great burden; he was in despair.

Maybe you have experienced this, or are going through this now. You feel burdened, weighed down by the weight of many cares and responsibilities. You feel tired, fatigued, weary. You have no energy or enthusiasm. You are discouraged, downcast, depressed.

But he described it a little further: “Why so disturbed within me?” The word “disturbed” refers to a murmuring or roaring. This is how he felt inside. Maybe you feel the same, or have felt like this. You have no sense of calmness or peace or security; instead you are restless and disturbed.

You might feel like this because of troubles and trials. They might be personal difficulties, or struggles in your marriage, or concerns about your children. You may be trying to cope with sickness, or with tension in your family, or pressure at work. All of us can identify with the situation of the psalmist.

In his spiritual isolation he longed to meet with God once again. This is how he began this prayer (verses 1-2):

“As the deer pants for streams of water,

so my soul thirsts for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

When can I go and meet with God?”

He pictured himself as a deer that was being hunted, looking for a river to quench its thirst, longing for a cool refreshing drink.

He longed for God like a traveller in the desert whose water bottle is empty and who is dry and parched.

This is how he felt spiritually. He was empty, dry, thirsty. He longed to find God as the fountain of love, as the source of life, as the spring of living water.

This should be the desire of each one of us. Sometimes God allows us to go through times of spiritual depression to generate this sort of longing. Too often our life with God is very superficial; there is no depth to us; we don’t have these intense desires, we are not spiritually thirsty, we do not long for God, we are not desperate for him, we seldom pour out our hearts to him in prayer. Spurgeon wrote: “The next best thing to living in the light of the Lord’s love is to be unhappy till we have it.” If you don’t have it then you need to seek it and plead for it. These words need to be your words: “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.”

The second cause of spiritual depression we notice here is a physical isolation.

We don’t know what circumstances led to the writing of this psalm. Some think that David wrote it when he was forced to flee north to escape the revolt of Absolom. Others suggest that it was written by a temple singer who was exiled in the north of Israel. Whatever the exact situation, it is clear that he was away from Jerusalem and he felt this physical isolation very keenly.

In verse 4 he recalled the times he had been part of the procession to the house of God. He remembered the “shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng.” But those joyful times were now only a memory.

In verse 6 he told how he was in “the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon.” He was in the north of Israel, near the source of the Jordan River on the slopes of Mount Hermon, far away from the tabernacle.

This also applies to us, because sometimes the cause of our spiritual lethargy is that we are away from God’s people; we are not physically present in worship. If we don’t come and meet with God in corporate worship and do this regularly then we will become spiritually discouraged.

We have looked at a spiritual and physical isolation. The third cause of spiritual depression is a social isolation.

In verse 3 he described people who constantly goaded him: “Where is your God?” In verses 9 and 10 he described the oppression of his enemies and their constant taunting. He lacked the encouragement of his believing friends and family. He was lonely, on his own, isolated.

This can happen to us at times. Unbelievers see our trouble and they come to us and say: “Isn’t God supposed to be looking after you? Doesn’t God help you in times like this? Isn’t the believer meant to spared all these troubles? Where is your God?” If we do not have the support and help of Christian family and friends in times like these, then we end up feeling very isolated and lonely.

Any one of these things can contribute to us feeling discouraged. Our depression may not have a directly “spiritual” cause because we are whole beings and every part of us is interconnected – our bodies, our souls, our minds, and our feelings. What happens in one part is going to affect other parts. That means that there may be a variety of causes to spiritual depression. Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones lists a few more of these.

Some people, he observes, are inclined to depression by their temperament. All believers are saved through the work of Christ on the cross; all of us come to know God through the Lord Jesus and there is no difference between us in the matter of our salvation. But there is a difference between us in the experience of our salvation. Some, by their temperament, are prone to become discouraged. The hymn-writer, William Cowper, is an example of this, as he expresses it in the hymn, “O for a closer walk with God”.

Sometimes your physical condition contributes to depression. You might be tired, weary, over-strained. You might suffer from a long-term sickness or from chronic pain. This can make you spiritually despondent. Spurgeon suffered from times of deep depression and this was partly related to the physical illness of gout.

Sometimes depression is a reaction to some dramatic and unusual experience. You have a great “high” and then you go down for a “low”. The most striking biblical example of that is Elijah. He led that great victory of the Lord over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel and then he fled into the desert and wanted to die.

2. HOW DO WE DEAL WITH SPIRITUAL DEPRESSION?

First of all, you must talk to yourself.

This man did this. He asked himself questions and he spoke to himself. We don’t usually think of that as being a sign of mental health. We have that joke that the first sign of madness is when you start talking to yourself! But for him this was a sign of spiritual and mental well-being. He analysed his behaviour, he asked himself questions, he checked up on himself. “Why are you like this? Where have things gone wrong? What is the problem?”

“Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why so disturbed within me?” (Vs 5)

You need to do this with your spiritual condition. Reason with yourself. Ask yourself questions. Think it through. Try to work out why you feel the way you do. Analyse the causes. Talk to yourself.

But talking to yourself is only one step. If that’s all you do then you are only in talk therapy. That is merely a secular psychological solution to the problem.

You must also talk to God.

He told God how he felt. He expressed his feelings and frustration. We call this a lament. A lament is an honest expression of strong feeling. In laments God’s people voice their suffering, they name it, they identify it and they tell it to God.

In verse 3 he wrote, “My tears have been my food day and night”. He felt all this so deeply he couldn’t stop the tears. Some of you will know what that is like – when you keep on crying and it seems as though you’ll never be able to stop. When eventually you do you feel emotionally exhausted, as though your tears had drained away all your energy.

In verse 7 he told the Lord, “All your waves and breakers have swept over me”. Maybe you have been swimming or surfing in the sea and you were caught in a powerful wave. It swept you along, tumbling you round, tossing you back and forth, until finally you were washed out in the shallow water. This man felt as though all God’s breakers had gone over him – not just one but many!

Some Christians teach that if you believe in Jesus everything will go smoothly for you. You will be healthy and wealthy. The sun will shine and you will be happy and blessed. You will gain victory over sin and live a Spirit-filled life. Such Christians don’t know what to do with these laments. They don’t use them because that would be a sign of spiritual defeat. They don’t preach them because they don’t market well, they don’t draw in the crowds.

But laments are part of the Christian’s experience. We do go through times of spiritual depression. We get despondent. We shed tears. We feel God’s waves breaking over us. When that happens you need these laments. You need to express your feelings to God. In this way the psalms speak for us.

You need to talk to yourself.

You need to talk to God.

And you also need to remember God.

We have already noted how he looked back to the times of joy and thanksgiving in the worship festivals in Jerusalem. Sometimes people can look back in a wrong way; they look back with nostalgia to the “good ‘ole days”! These people have a tendency to live in the past, always looking behind them. That is unhealthy and unwise.

But the psalmist wasn’t doing that. He was looking back to the past so that he could be encouraged in the present. The memory of those glad times of worship was a great help to him. You see that even more clearly in verse 6.

“My soul is downcast within me;

therefore I will remember you.”

This was a conscious and deliberate decision. Instead of focussing on his troubles and his feelings he decided to remember God – to put his mind on the Lord.

Verse 8 can also be read in the same way. The NIV translates the verbs as describing the present, and the NASB as futures, but they can also be read as describing the past:

“By day the Lord directed his love,

at night his song was with me.”

Again he looked back to how God had helped him in the past. Day and night, in his troubles and trials, the Lord had been with him. And the Lord is with you. Remember that. He will never leave you nor forsake you. You may feel as though he is far away, but your feelings do not always reflect reality.

As New Testament believers our Lord has given us a strong reminder of his presence with us in the Lord’s Supper when he told his disciples to do this “in remembrance of me”. The Lord’s Supper is a visible and physical reminder that he is with us, always, even to the end of the age.

Finally, we must hope in God.

At the end of this psalm he questioned himself once again and analysed his situation:

“Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why so disturbed within me?”

In response he answered his questions and told himself, “Put your hope in God”.

His situation had not changed. His questions had not been answered. He did not know why God had allowed all this to happen. But he had a new perspective on his situation. He had talked to himself and considered his situation. He had talked to God and expressed his frustration. He had remembered God and who the Lord was. All this meant that he could put his hope in God. He looked up.

Some of you will have heard of Joni Eareckson, a Christian writer who became a quadriplegic through a diving accident when she was a teenager. In one of her books she tells a story about when she was a girl and was out riding with her sisters. She was on a little pony while her sisters where on larger horses. They crossed over a river, but because she was on a small pony the water swirled high around her and she struggled to keep her balance. She thought she would fall off into the water and be swept away. Just then her sister looked back and saw her difficulty and called back to her, “Joni, look up!” She did that. She stopped looking at the turbulent waters around her and looked up and across to the other bank. As she did so she found her balance and was able to make it out.

Too often we are so busy looking at ourselves and at our problems that we forget to look up. We forget about God. We don’t look to him. You need to look up. You must hope in God. The apostle Paul taught us to do that. He knew that “our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor 4:17).

If you hope in God then you will be able to praise him as your Saviour and your God” (vs 11b). That is true for us in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. We can hope in God knowing that we belong, body and soul, in life and in death, to this faithful Saviour, Jesus Christ. In times of spiritual depression he is our hope.

Amen.