How to Deal
Part 2: How to Deal with Depression
Key Scriptures: Jeremiah 20:7-18
Icebreaker:
Intro: Did you know that even Christians get depressed? The prophet Jeremiah can share with us tremendous insights about depression in the Christian’s life. The other day, I saw the comic strip, “Hagar the Horrible.” Have you ever seen Hagar? Poor guy. In the strip, Hagar was trying to pick up his depressed friend. And he’s trying to encourage him and so he says, “Today, the world dumped on you. Today the world humiliated and abused you. But remember, tomorrow is another day.” And with that advice, his little friend just falls down on the ground and weeps.
-There’s a few things I want you to understand about depression this morning. First of all, it’s an ancient problem. It’s not something that has just developed in our lifetimes. People have been dealing with it for ages. The psalmist even asked the question to his own soul, “Why art thou downcast within me, O my soul?” He looked deep down inside of himself and said, “What’s wrong with me? Why am I so depressed?” Maybe you’ve asked those same questions.
-A couple of other things I want you to understand about depression is that it is a universal problem and it’s no respecter of persons. It doesn’t just come to the lower classes of people or people who have lost their jobs or people who are poor.
-I love learning about the life of Winston Churchill. During WWII, he would come on the radio and encourage the people to never give up. You maybe know about that. How he would tell the British people to stay encouraged and brave and courageous. But maybe what you don’t know is that when that radio was turned off, the great Winston Churchill was known to sink into deep depression for days at a time.
-If you read about great preachers of the past, you’ll come across the name of Charles Spurgeon. He was probably the greatest orator and preacher that had ever graced a pulpit. And yet, his life was filled with depression. He even talked about it, to others. Here’s something he is quoted as saying about depression:
“Before any great achievement, some major depression usually comes upon me. Such was the case when I first became pastor in London. My success appalled me, and I thought of the career which seemed to open up so far from me, lading me, cast me down to the very lowest steps, until I uttered my misery and found mo room for Gloria in excelsis. Who was I that I should be needed to lead such a great multitude? I would rather go to a village of obscurity or immigrate to American and find a solitary nest in the backwoods where I might be sufficient for the things that are demanded of me. It was just then, when the curtain began to rise upon my life’s work, that depression set it, and the Lord was preparing me for a larger blessing in my ministry.”
-Hey, go through God’s Word. You’ll find that for many of the greatest men in the Bible, depression was a huge part of their life experience. Moses asked God to take his life. So did Job. After his experience on Mount Carmel, Elijah asked that he would be slain. Jonah wanted God to down with him after Nineveh. And Saul, King of Israel, was so depressed that he not only eventually lost his own life but those of many of his advisors.
-But of all the major characters in the Bible that went through depression, I want to focus this morning on the life of Jeremiah, because more than any other, his life gives us a picture of what happens to a Godly person when they’re depressed. Jeremiah 20 is where we’ll be this morning.
-One thing that I want you to know about this passage before we read it is that when he was writing this, Jeremiah probably didn’t think anyone would ever read it. When you read the book of Jeremiah, especially chapter 20, it almost feels like you’re breaking into his diary. He writes as if God is his only audience. So he tells God exactly how he feels. And this is how he feels:
Scripture: Jeremiah 20:7-18
“O LORD, you deceived [a] me, and I was deceived [b] ; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. 8 Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long. 9 But if I say, "I will not mention him or speak any more in his name," his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. 10 I hear many whispering, "Terror on every side! Report him! Let’s report him!" All my friends are waiting for me to slip, saying, "Perhaps he will be deceived; then we will prevail over him and take our revenge on him."
11 But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonor will never be forgotten. 12 O LORD Almighty, you who examine the righteous and probe the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you I have committed my cause. 13 Sing to the LORD! Give praise to the LORD! He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked.
14 Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me not be blessed! 15 Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, who made him very glad, saying, “A child is born to you—a son!"16 May that man be like the towns the LORD overthrew without pity. May he hear wailing in the morning, a battle cry at noon.17 For he did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave, her womb enlarged forever. 18 Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?”
-Wow. Right? “I wish the man who brought my father the news I was born would have killed my mother and myself while I was in the womb. You think this guy didn’t have some real depression going on?
-Why do God’s people get depressed?
Reasons Why God’s People Get Depressed:
1. We believe that God has let us down.
(vs. 7)
-One reason why God’s people get depressed is because we believe that God has let us down. It’s a fact of life that when depression hits many of us feel that somehow God has not held up his part of the bargain. Or somehow God hasn’t come through for us. Look with me at verse 7 again: “O LORD, you deceived [a] me, and I was deceived [b] ; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me.”
-Do you hear that? Jeremiah - the great prophet Jeremiah – is calling God a liar. Jeremiah is depressed because he believes that God has lied to him. Psychologists will tell you that the one thing most common in almost all kinds of depression is an overwhelming feeling of disappointment. People become depressed when they are disappointed. High expectations. Man, you were just sure it was going to turn out one way and it turned out another way.
-You might ask, “But whey did Jeremiah feel deceived?” Well, you have to go back to the beginning of the book. Jeremiah was predestined by God to be a great man. In his mother’s womb, God’s said, “I’m going to raise up Jeremiah.”
-Throughout the Bible, there were men like Jeremiah and John the Baptist who God predestined to be great men of God. In Jeremiah 2, God called Jeremiah into the ministry and he said, “Jeremiah, I’m like a living spring. The country of Israel is a dry, parched ground. They are barren and thirsty, but Jeremiah, you preach the Word because I’m like a living spring.” God was saying, “As you preach the Word, Jeremiah, the living waters will begin to flow in Israel. Lie will come into dry plants again and things will begin to happen.” So Jeremiah started his ministry off with the thought that God was going to bless him immediately. Pretty high expectations, right?
-So, Jeremiah is looking for God to do great things in his life, and by the time Jeremiah writes chapter 20, he has been preaching for 20 years and nothing is happening. He’s getting a little weary of all this preaching. And he’s saying, “God, I started off with my ministry like you were going to be a living stream in my life. I’ve been at it for 20 years and it seems like that stream has dried up. Nothing is happening the way I thought it would.”
-Now, let’s get off of Jeremiah just for a second. Let’s talk about us. Every one of us, if we would be honest this morning could point to times in our lives when we’ve been disappointed by God. Isn’t that true? I mean time when we prayed for something and nothing happened. You know, you’re both Christian people but a few years into the marriage it just isn’t working out the way you thought it would. Or you really do put first in every area. You put that tithe check in every Sunday. But instead of getting a promotion, you lose your job.
-If we would be honest this morning, every one of us has felt God has let us down at some point in our lives. I’m talking about it because it’s common. You see, if you think that you’re the only one that feels let down by God, you’re going to sink into self-pity that you’ll never get out of. So, understand this morning that you’re not alone.
2. We’ve experienced repeated rejection.
(vs. 7-8, 10)
-The 2nd reason why God’s people get depressed is because we’ve experience repeated rejection. You see, we become depressed when every right thing we do is repeatedly rejected and turns out wrong. You’d have to be the kind of person who loves sad movies to enjoy the 8th and 10th verses of Jeremiah 20. Let’s look at them, again:
Scripture: Jeremiah 20:8
“Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long
-Now, let’s stop right here for just a second. This may be one of the reasons why Jeremiah wasn’t liked. Are you with me? Do you see that? He cried out that Israel was going to experience violence and destruction. He didn’t tell them what they wanted to hear. He told them the truth. He told them what they needed to hear. He wasn’t exactly the Joel Osteen of his generation, okay? He didn’t tell them, “Well, just think positively and trust in God and everything will be all right.” He told them, “The biggest problem you have in your life is your sin! Repent of it!” So he wasn’t the most popular prophet around. Okay, let’s move on to verse 10:
Scripture: Jeremiah 20:10
10 I hear many whispering, "Terror on every side! Report him! Let’s report him!" All my friends are waiting for me to slip, saying, "Perhaps he will be deceived; then we will prevail over him and take our revenge on him.””
-He says, “I hear many whispering.” Paranoia has set in. In a crowd, they start getting together in little groups and whispering, and Jeremiah says, “Oh no. They’re talking about me again. They hate me.” Then Jeremiah goes on to say that all of his trusted friends are saying, “We just can’t wait until Jeremiah slips up so we can say, ‘I told you so.’”
-He says, “Every time I preach the truth, people talk bad about me.” But he had to preach the truth about death and destruction because that’s what God was warning Israel about. And He got so much flack about it and experienced this repeated rejection that you what he decided to do? He decided the same thing that you and I do when we are repeatedly rejected. He wanted to give up.
Illustration: We all know what it’s like to not be liked. I heard a story one time about a southern football coach. Down south, they take their college football very seriously. And this team had a losing season. And finally the team lost against their major rival, which was of course the worst thing that could have happened. An alumnus sent a letter o the coach the next day said, “The last train leaves town at 11:30 tonight. Be under it.”
-We all know how that feels. And very few of us deal with that feeling well. Let me give you 3 ways God’s people usually respond when they are depressed:
How God’s People Respond When They Are Depressed:
1. Bitterness. (vs. 14)
-Jeremiah wasn’t happy. In fact, he was bitter. Did you pick up on that in verse 14? 14 Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me not be blessed! Um, yeah. If you’re cursing the day you were born, I’d say you’re probably just a little bitter. And he wasn’t just cursing the day he was born. He was cursing his calling. The calling that God had placed on him. Remember, God called him while he was still in his mother’s womb. But depressed people do that. They say, “I wish I’d never been born. I can’t handle this.”
2. Anger. (vs. 15-16)
-He was so angry about what was happening to him that said in verse 15, 15 Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, who made him very glad, saying,” A child is born to you—a son!"16 May that man be like the towns the LORD overthrew without pity. May he hear wailing in the morning, a battle cry at noon.” Jeremiah was lashing out in anger at anyone he could. He was saying, even the guy who brought the news to my dad should suffer for what I’m going through. That’s typical of us when we allow anger to take over. We either implode or explode. Jeremiah exploded.
3. Despair. (vs. 17-18)
-At this point, Jeremiah is almost suicidal. Listen to verse 17: For he did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave, her womb enlarged forever. 18 Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?” Holy cow. Right? If you’ve ever felt like that, know that you’re not alone. Depression can set in so strongly that it can make us literally want to die. We begin to think that death would be better than what we’re going through. Listen, if that’s you, you need to get some help. Get some counseling. Go to the doctor. If you were sick in your body, you would go to the doctor. And what you need to understand is that first of all you have a sickness. It’s just in your mind, but it’s no less serious. If you’re in the pit of despair to the point where you’re seriously thinking that death would be better, go to the doctor.
-But now, here’s the thing: the doctor and counseling and medication can help your mind, but they ultimately can’t help your soul. But God can. You’ve just got to let Him. Before we close, I want to give you 3 ways you can spiritually deal with depression. These 3 things really get at the heart of the problem.
How to Cope with Depression (vs. 11-13)
1. Understand that even when God is silent, He is working in your life.
-Listen: even when God is quiet, when you can’t hear Him, see Him, or feel Him, understand that He is still working in your life. A lot of times, people ask, “Why doesn’t God hear us?” The answer is that God always hears us. It doesn’t matter if you think you feel Him or not. He hears you. That’s not the issue. The issue is that God doesn’t always interact with us so that we know we’ve been heard. Feelings are fickle things, so you can’t rely on just feelings to define your relationship with God.
-Look at Jeremiah’s hope in verse 11: 11 But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonor will never be forgotten. Even in the midst of his depression, Jeremiah understands that God is still with Him. He understands that God is going to bring Him out of this eventually. I only need to give you one classic illustration for you to grasp this point, and that’s Jesus Himself on the cross. In the darkest hour of His life, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Even when it seemed God was completely silent, He was doing His greatest work. The redemption of all mankind. The greatest work that has ever taken place happened when Jesus Himself could not hear or see or feel His Father’s presence.
-Somebody said once that, “Spiritual maturity is trusting and obeying God without needing visible or emotional responses from Him.”
-Listen folks: you do not get a better definition of what it truly means to be a disciple of Jesus than that statement. The ability to trust God even when we don’t sense Him doing anything in our lives. Do you remember what Jesus told Thomas when he wanted a sign? He said, “Put your hand on my side, and prints of my hand…Thomas, blessed are those who have not seen and yet still believe.” In other words, Jesus said that there a higher level to live than where people like Thomas live. There’s a higher plane to live on than the one where people who constantly need a sign are. And that level is where, through faith, a person knows that God is alive and doing work even we cannot feel Him doing it.
2. Regardless of how bad things seem, never stop talking to God.
-One of things I love about this passage is how honestly Jeremiah talked to God. He worked his way through his depression by continually talking to God, no matter how bad things seemed. And he wasn’t exactly talking to God is flattering terms, either. He dumped everything, all of his emotions and pain and suffering, onto God. Jeremiah 20 is not a pretty chapter of the Bible. Don’t read it for encouragement. Don’t turn to Jeremiah 20 to make you feel good.
-You know what Jeremiah teaches me about depression? He teaches me that when I’m down, I need to be honest with God about it. It’s okay to rant and rave at God. Did you know that? I know what some of you are thinking. “Oh, I can’t rant and rave to God. If I told Him how I was really feeling, I might shock Him.” Really? You think you might shock God? You know He already knows what you’re thinking before you even say it, right?
-One of the greatest things about being a child of God is that you can say, “God, I am angry at you. God, I do not like this at all.” And it’s okay to tell Him that. He can handle it. You see, the great thing is that no matter what, our Father loves us unconditionally. He wants us to be open and honest in our relationship with Him. You see, a good relationship means that you share anything, open and honestly, with the other person.
3. Claim the promises of God.
-Look at verse 13: “Sing to the LORD! Give praise to the LORD! He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked.” Jeremiah said, I’m still going to pray. I’m still going to claim his promises. I’m still going to claim His call on my life He called me and He said that He would be a spring of living water, and I’m going to believe that if I keep preaching, that spring is going to show up.” And sure enough, Jeremiah preached another 20 years. He preached 40 years, total. And in the last 20 years, things began to happen. You see, that’s the difference.
Conclusion/Invitation
Remember what I read about Charles Spurgeon’s depression? Listen to what else he said: “Depression forces me to go back to the promises of God’s faithfulness. Here’s what I’ve found. God was preparing me for something greater. The cloud is black before it breaks. It overshadows before it yields its deluge of mercy. Depression has now become to me as a prophet in rough clothing. A John the Baptist heralding the near coming of my Lord’s richer blessing for my life.”
-Hey, listen: The people of God may get depressed, but they have a God that can pull them out of that pit. Amen? Amen.
