From Sighing To Singing

PS. 13 Sun. Mar.14/93

FROM SIGHING TO SINGING

Discouraged - Lonely - Despondent - Helpless

Unassisted - No One Cares - Desperate - Without

Hope - Frustrated - Depressed

- 14 million sq. km of desolation

- a cold beyond imagination - high -45 C

- a world almost devoid of human life

- frostbitten to the bone

- bodies wasted from meager nourishment

- slogging sometimes 35 km toward a horizon

without hope

- fitful sleeps than moving on for over 3 months

- traveling 2,700 km across the bottom of the world

- Sir Ranulph Finnes 48 & Dr. Michael Stroud 37

- 1st unsupported team to walk across Antarctica

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- Italian Reinhold Messne 48

- 1st solo ascent of Mt. Everest

- unassisted with out oxygen

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- Frenchmen Philippi Frey 35

- traveled 9,000 km from the Red Sea to the Atlantic

- using outdated maps which were blown away

- crossing the Sahara alone in 9 months TIME - 3/1/93 P.46

Ps. 13:1-2

v.1 Felt forgotten

v.1 Un-cared for

v.2 No one understands what I’m going through

v.2 I hurt I really hurt

v.2 Forsaken Left alone

#3186

In one year the average American today probably meets as many people as the average person did in a lifetime 100 years ago. And yet he’s far lonelier. There’s a big difference between being lonely and being alone, and the presence of other people

doesn’t necessarily help at all.

According to Los Angeles psychiatrist and author. Dr. Leonard Zunin, mankind’s biggest problem is simply loneliness.

Ps. 13:3 - Man’s ultimate solution for depression - SUICIDE

WASHINGTON POST

#6156 Every day an average of 60 people choose to take their own lives. Today, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death . It ranks 3rd among persons aged 15 - 19 and 2nd among college students. More than 20,000 Americans take their own lives each year. The world wide figure may be more than 1/2 million.

#6155 Factors most commonly associated with

suicide are

• alcoholism

• drug-addiction

• psychotic disturbance

• chronic illness

• bereavement

• loneliness

• Depression

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

#3176 James Lee a young father had shot himself in a telephone booth. He called the paper and told a reporter he had sent them a manila envelope on telling the story of his suicide.

The reporter frantically traced the call but it was too late! When the police arrived the young man was slumped in the booth with a bullet through his head.

In one of his pockets, they found a child’s crayon drawing, much faded and worn. On it was written. "Please leave this in my coat pocket. I want to have it buried with me." The drawing was signed in a childish print by his little blonde daughter, Shirley, who had perished in a fire just 5 months before.

Lee had been so grief-stricken that he asked total strangers to attend his daughter’s funeral so she would have a nice service. He said there was no family to go to because Shirley’s mother had been dead since the child was 2 years old.

The grieving father could not stand the loneliness or the loss, so he took his life.

- Christ’s cry from the cross - Matt. 27:46

"My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

1. Jesus had suffered misunderstanding by His friends.

2. Jesus had been forsaken by His own family.

3. Jesus had suffered betrayal by one of the 12

4. Jesus had experienced denial by one within the inner circle of the 12.

5. Jesus had been utterly forsaken by the eleven remaining apostles.

6. Jesus had been completely rejected by His nation.

7. Jesus was suffering indescribable physical agony from the wounds that would bring about His death.

8. Jesus was suffering the insult of the most despised form of death that could be inflicted on the lowest class of criminals.

2 Co. 4:8-9

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

4:9

Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

- Discouragement is the very opposite of faith.

- Discouragement blinds our eyes to the mercy of God

I AGREE, I AGREE -- SO WHAT DO I DO?

Ps. 13:5-6 ----- Come back to the Lord.

1. Scripture - v.5 Where he learns mercy & salvation

- Reminding us of what has been done

and who we are

- Giving us hope for tomorrow

2. Prayer - v.5

- Rejoice -- is thanks giving v. 5

- Sing -- is praise v.6

3. Accountability - v.6

- “He hath dealt” is past tense

- Did he forget you in the past - Will he forget?

- To encourage others is important

Chuck Swindoll - "The Quest For Character" p.98