Mental Health In The Proverbs: Abundant Counselors Series

MENTAL HEALTH IN THE PROVERBS: ABUNDANT COUNSELORS

PROVERBS 11:14, 24:3-6

mentalhealth

STORY SEGMENT 1

In a small town out in the old west, there was a man named Dingbat. Dingbat was just your normal average person. He went out west to make his fortune. Dingbat thought he knew a lot about making his way in the world and decided that he didn’t need any help in making his homestead his own. He thought he could build his home, tame the land, and plant crops all by himself. After all, he built a book shelf, dug hole, and tended a garden, so how hard could it be.

The first day on his new homestead, he decided to start his house. He could stay in his covered wagon until his house was built, but he was eager to be in his house. He looked over his property and noticed a nice flat patch of ground near the river. He marked out the boundary of what he thought would be his house and started putting in the corner posts of his house. He knew, from past experience, that he had to get the corner posts square or his house would be wonky. A wonky house falls down… everybody knows that.

As he was setting his third post, a wagon came onto his land. It was his neighbors from far down the road, the Helpfuls, who had come to welcome him to the area. They got down out of their wagon and gave him several meals they had prepared along with brownies. As they chatted, the Helpfuls mentioned that the house he was building was awfully close to the river and the ground on which he was starting his house was a bit softer than they would like for a house site. Dingbat said he knew what he was doing and did not listen to the Helpfuls. He expressed the desire to build his home, tame the land, and plant crops all by himself as he considered it wise to do things all on his own. They understood and offered to be of assistance if he wanted it.

It took him a few days, but Dingbat nailed together fall the parts of his house from the four posts. He put in the floor planks. He put up his walls and the flat roof that only sagged a little in the middle. When he was done had himself a perfectly square house of which he was exceedingly proud. He spent another whole day fashioning his own wooden shingles for his roof. He put them on and had some left over for the sides of his house as well. There were two windows with flower boxes and a door that swung outward like a pro. He liked what he saw and set his mind to his next task… taming the land.

MENTAL HEALTH FRAME OF MIND

The past few years we have taken time once a year or so to focus on the topic of mental health. I think this topic is important because when God created human beings, He created us as integrated beings with physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. Sin entered into Creation and disrupts the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health in all of us. Because we are integrated beings, it is not a bad thing to focus on mental and emotional health.

Proverbs is about wise living. Proverbs us about learning and then living. I feel like we all start with a baseline in our mental and emotional health. That is also true in physical health as well. Our baseline is based on genetics, our family atmosphere, economics, access to healthcare, and so many other factors. Our family atmosphere could have been or is really stable and healthy or it could be terribly dysfunctional. Our baseline is where we start. I think about this more specifically when it comes to genetics and our default brain chemistry. When we live wisely or unwisely, it piles on top of whatever our baseline happens to be.

For example, and I think this is a good one, there are people who are predisposed towards depression because of genetics, brain chemistry, and experiences. Here is where Proverbs comes in:

If we live wisely and understand our predisposition towards depression, we will avoid excessive social media use, limit chronic stress, and keep a good sleeping schedule. This means we are piling wisdom on top of the mental health baseline we inherit. We need to live wisely in light of our baseline making sure we exercise, learn to rest how God describes, avoid prolonged guilt and stress, pray regularly, worship God with purpose, and are not ignoring warnings in our relationships. Our mental and emotional health will be better because of our wise path.

If we live unwisely and embrace carelessness when it comes to mental health then we are only hurting ourselves. When we know full well that social isolation, inconsistent church attendance, skipping Bible study, not caring about chronic stress, and dipping into substances is going to negatively impact us… then we are piling unwisdom on top of the mental health baseline we inherit. We are living foolishly in light of our baseline. Our mental and emotional health will suffer because of our unwise path.