I Have A Friend Who Is Depressed. Life can be real depressing. Several years ago I asked Gayle about the household

Transcription

1 I Have A Friend Who Is Depressed January 21, Kings 19:1-18 Life can be real depressing. Several years ago I asked Gayle about the household budget. It seemed that we never had any money because when I would ask her for some she would always reply, We don t have any money. The question I asked was, Where is all our money going? Her reply was, I spend 35% of our income for food, 30 percent for the house payment, 25% for insurance and utilities, 10% for clothing, and 20 percent for transportation and incidentals. Well, I may not be the sharpest tack in the box but when I added those percentages up I got 120%. I said, Honey, that doesn t make any sense, that s 120 %. Gayle replied, So, Einstein, can you figure out why we never have any money? That s depressing and we probably have all been there at one time or another. I once heard about a pastor who was extremely depressed and overworked. He was asked by another preacher friend, How many active members do you have? The preacher replied, They re all active. Half of them are working with me and half of them are working against me. That s really depressing. Many years ago a young midwestern lawyer suffered from such deep depression that his friends thought it best to keep all knives and razors out of his reach. He questioned his life s calling and the wisdom of even attempting to follow it through. During this time he wrote, "I am now the most miserable man living. Whether I shall ever be better, I cannot tell." That lawyer was Abraham Lincoln who became our 16th President. Moses was the depressed leader of the people of Israel. Every time he turned around, they griped about something. "We need water." "We are starving." "We want food, but we 1

2 hate manna." Moses described his emotional state like this in Numbers 11:14-15, I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now-if I have found favor in your eyes- and do not let me face my own ruin. If you were surrounded by a bunch of chronic complainers it would be hard not to be depressed. You know, somehow that episode from Moses life never made it into the script of The Ten Commandments or The Prince of Egypt movies about Moses. They are lines that we want to ignore but God included them in His account! Moses was depressed he was so down he wanted to die! Job was depressed. He lost everything, then cursed the day he was born: "Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb? I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil." (Job 3:11, 3:26) David was depressed: "Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord, how long? I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears." (Psalm 6:2-3, 6) The apostle Paul was depressed. In II Corinthians 12 we are told that Paul was given a thorn in the flesh to perhaps keep him humble. Paul said it was a messenger of Satan, to torment him. He describes his feelings about this thorn in the classic language of depression. Depression is no respecter of persons, it strikes young and old, male and female, rich or poor, wellknown or unknown, believer or un-believer alike. Depression knows no boundaries. In an article entitled, Why am I so Depressed, Brenda Poinsett writes the following: When I mentioned that I struggled with depression Christians often question me. Were you a believer at the time? Were you walking with the Lord? Were you reading the 2

3 Bible and praying? When I answer yes to these questions, I can almost hear another question forming in the silence that follows: How could a faithful growing believer get depressed? This question reveals a common unspoken and inaccurate assumption: Christians are not supposed to struggle with depression. That is simply not true. We have those examples from scripture that prove otherwise. Job, Jonah, Elijah, Moses each experienced feelings of hopelessness and despair. Jesus when coming from one of the times of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane was, as scripture says, in great despair. We have looked at the life of Elijah before and we do so again. In I Kings 18 & 19 we read that Elijah had just had his greatest moment of victory he had called down fire from heaven that consumed an offering, and the alter that the offering had been laid on great revival swept through the people who had seen this amazing show of God s power. Elijah was on top of the world! That was in chapter 18 but in chapter 19 immediately after his great victory, Elijah is on the run somehow convinced that his life is in danger, that he is alone, that God has abandoned him, verse 4 says, Elijah prayed to the Lord that he might die, and said, It is enough! Now Lord, Take my life, for I am worthless! Listen to Elijah s story. 1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them." 3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, 3

4 LORD," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." 5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat." 6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. 7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you." 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?" 10 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." 11 The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" 14 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." 15 The LORD said to him, "Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint 4

5 Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him." Let s look at how God dealt with Elijah s depression. First, God sent Elijah to a place where he could experience His presence, you could maybe say that he sent him to church. God sent Elijah to Mt. Horeb, also known as the Mt. of God, the place where the Law given to Moses. When Church is done right it s one of the best places to deal with Depression. In 1999 Duke University conducted a study of nearly 4000 older adults. One of their conclusions: "Attendance at a house of worship is related to lower rates of depression and anxiety." Andrew Newberg, director of clinical nuclear medicine at the University of Pittsburgh used the SPECT technique and made an interesting discovery. Newberg studied the brains of religious individuals who either prayed or meditated. And his team found a dramatic increase in action in the front region of the brain called the pre-frontal cortex. The region is associated with judgment and empathy. The group also discovered decreased activity in a region of the brain known as the superior parietal lobe, which gives us our sense of "self." The findings seem to indicate that people - while engaged in spiritual pursuits - felt a loss of self. Depression always causes us to have an unhealthy and unrealistic view of self and what self is in the midst of. Secondly, God had Elijah tell Him what the problem was. God asked Elijah: What 5

6 are you doing here, Elijah? (I Kings 19:13) God didn t ask this question just once, He asked Elijah that same question two separate times. "What are you doing here?" God of course knew why he was there, He d sent Elijah to this mountain. But Elijah needed to vocalize what was wrong in his life. Elijah needed to explain what HE thought the problem was. And once Elijah verbalized his belief of what was wrong, then Third, God dealt with the false beliefs, the false ideas that were fueling Elijah s depression. We learned last week that Jesus said in the Gospel of John, The truth shall set you free. Why is that? Because false ideas, false beliefs (especially false ideas about God) have the power put us in bondage. Our lives are built around what we think is true about life. And if the foundations of that reasoning are based on wrong information or impressions, the result can be devastating. Elijah s reply to God revealed what Elijah had wrong. Elijah didn t think that God was doing anything. Elijah thought he alone was standing for God. In verse 14 Elijah replied to God and said, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." Hidden in the midst of that statement was this accusation: "I ve been beating my head against the wall serving you Lord. And everything seems to just be falling apart around me What have you been doing God? And so, God corrects Elijah s thinking. He tells him "Elijah you re not the only one left" In verse 18 God tells Elijah, I have reserved seven thousand in Israel all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him." "Elijah, I ve not been doing nothing in fact, I m just getting started" 6

7 "Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu king over Israel, and anoint Elisha to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. (I Kings 19:15-17) In other words, don t worry about it Elijah I ve got it all under control. I AM doing something. When our allied troops were making their way across Europe to cross Hitler s forces, they came across a bombed out building that had this inscription scrawled on a basement wall: "I believe in the sun even when it s not shining. I believe in love even when it is not shown. And I believe in God even He doesn t speak." When a person is depressed, they don t think God is doing much of anything. They have no hope, no confidence, and God isn t easily seen by them. A person in depression needs to realize that just like Elijah God IS working in their lives even when they can t see Him. Lastly, God gave Elijah something to do. When God finished His counseling session with Elijah, Elijah was still in his complaining mood, but God tells him: Get back to work. I ve got a job for you to do make yourself useful The LORD said to him, "Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu king over Israel, and anoint Elisha to succeed you as prophet. (I Kings 19:15-16) 7

8 During a lecture on mental health someone once asked Dr. Carl Menninger: "What would you advise a person to do if that person felt a nervous breakdown coming on?" Most people thought he would say, "Go see a psychiatrist immediately," but he didn t. Much to everyone s astonishment, Dr. Menninger replied, "Lock up your house, go across the railroad tracks, find somebody in need, and help that person." To overcome discouragement, "Don t focus on yourself, get involved in the lives of other people." Psychiatrists and psychologists and little blue pills can do wonderful things for people suffering from depression, and often that is precisely what people need but for real healing it s hard to beat God. During the 1st part of the 20th century, J. C. Penney was a real man who presided over a very real and powerful empire of over 1,700 stores. At the time he had the country s largest chain of department stores, each one bearing his name. But, although his enterprise made him incredibly wealthy, J.C. Penney s life was not devoid of setbacks and troubles. In fact, beginning in 1929, events took place that nearly cost Penney his life. When the Great Depression struck the country, it came at a time of great financial vulnerability for Penney. In the good times, before the Depression, Penney had overextended himself and had borrowed heavily to finance many of his ventures. But when the Depression hit banks began to request repayment of his loans sooner than anticipated. Suddenly cash flow was tight, and Penney was finding it difficult to meet payment schedules. Constant and unrelenting worry began to take a toll. "I was so harassed with worries that I couldn t sleep, and developed an extremely painful ailment," he said. Concerned about his deteriorating health, Penney checked himself into the Kellogg 8

9 sanitarium at Battle Creek, Michigan, (kind of the Mayo Clinic of its era). There, Dr. Elmer Eggleston, a staff physician, examined Penney, declaring that he was extremely ill. Penney later recalled "A rigid treatment was prescribed, but nothing helped," He was constantly tormented by periods of hopelessness and despair. His very will to live was rapidly eroding. "I got weaker day by day. I was broken; nervously and physically, filled with despair, unable to see even a ray of hope. I had nothing to live for, I felt that I hadn t a friend left in the world, that even my family had turned against me." Alarmed by his rapidly deteriorating condition, Dr. Eggleston gave Penney a sedative. However, the effect quickly wore off, and Penney awakened with the conviction that he was living the last night of his life. "Getting out of bed, I wrote farewell letters to my wife and to my son, saying that I did not expect to live to see the dawn." Penney awakened the next morning, surprised to find himself alive. Making his way down the hallway of the hospital, he could hear singing coming from the little chapel where devotional exercises were held each morning. The words of the hymn he heard being sung spoke deeply to him. Going into the chapel, he listened to the singing, the reading of the Scripture lesson, and the prayer. Penney later said, "Suddenly something happened. I can t explain it. I can only call it a miracle. I felt as if I had been instantly lifted out of the darkness of a dungeon into a warm, brilliant sunlight. I felt as if I had been transported from hell to Paradise. I felt the power of God as I had never felt it before." In a life-transforming instant Penney knew that God, with His love, was there to help. "From that day to this, my life has been free from worry," he declared. "The most dramatic and glorious 20 minutes of my life were those I spent in 9

10 that chapel that morning." The words from the hymn that spoke so eloquently and miraculously to J. C. Penney were these (sing it with me if you know it). Be not dismayed whate er betide, God will take care of you; Beneath His wings of love abide, God will take care of you. God will take care of you, through every day, o er all the way; He will take care of you, God will take care of you. 10