I Kings 19:1-18
Depression: What it is, What causes it, What are the signs
Introduction
A. Depression
B. A Word that we have all heard, a word that we have all thought about
C. Did you know that there are about 21 million Americans right now suffering with depression?
D. Did you know that USA has the highest depression rate?
E. It is kind of funny we have the most yet our depression rate is the highest.
F. How do we handle depression? What can we do about it
G. Today we are going to learn about depression the next two weeks we are going to learn how to cure depression
H. You can look at this series in one of two ways, either is acceptable
a. One You are depressed and you need help (by the way if you are depressed that does not mean you are a lesser Christian)
b. Or two, you would like to know how to handle depression so you can help others. Possible you might say you are the second one because you do not want to admit you are the one who is depressed, that is ok too
I. For this series on depression we are going to study at first one of the least likely persons to suffer depression
J. This guy had it all. Direction from God, Wisdom, seeing God’s miracle, Everything you possibly could want
K. But he ended up in a major depression.
L. I feel God recorded this event to show us how to deal with depression
M. First of all let us look at depression
I. What it is
A. Let get one thing squared away right from the beginning
1. If you are depressed that does not make you a bad person
2. You are not a looser, you are not a freak
3. Depression is a common occurrence
B. Depression is a feeling down, sad, lonely, isolated feeling that you can not shake
1. You try and try and try, but you just cant shake it
2. Many people will say “ohh you just need to get over being depressed”
a) Please never tell that to a depressed person!
b) I have never meant a depressed person who wanted to be depressed
c) If they could just “get over it” I am sure that they would
C. All of us go through are ups and downs. Sometimes we are “Happier then others” sometimes we are “sadder then others”
1. Most of you know that I commonly take off Monday’s there is a reason for that. The first couple of times I preached when I was done with the sermon I wanted to get in my car drive home, get in my bed, curl up in to the fetal position and just lay there.
2. I have gotten better at that, but still I often “down” “sad” empty after preaching. Mondays I just don’t have that much energy physically or mentally. It is used up. Therefore Mondays and me do not agree! (We talk more about this next week)
3. Now despite all of that, I would not consider that “depression”
4. See Tuesday is a new day, I am feeling good and by Wednesday I am hard at work at next weeks sermon.
5. To be true depression, according to most research, you have to have the “symptoms” for 2 or more weeks
D. The next couple of weeks we are going to be talking about the treatment of depression, let me say a couple of things about that:
1. There are some forms of depression known a chemical depression; these are types of depression that are due because of a chemical imbalance. These are real. And the cure for them is medication, medication is not a sin. There are sometimes when medication is necessary for the treatment of depression.
a) Most common example of this is Bi-Polar manic-depressive. I have a good friend who has this. It is awful. He was on medication that was working and he was a lot of fun. We had such a good time. Unfortunately I do not know if it was because of the medication stopped working or he stopped taking it, he snapped. Drugs, drinking, depression, and so on. Our relationship now is basically non-existent. It is horrible what BI-Polar can do to you
b) We are not going to key in on depression caused by Chemical. That is a type of depression that doctors candela with.
c) We are going to look at the emotional types of depression.
II. What Causes It
A. Worn Out
1. Elijah -- Let look at Elijah’s life.
a) Think about everything that he went through
b) He had just done the whole water on the alter thing
(1) Were prayed to God to start a fire, but to make it more interesting he had them dump a whole bunch of water on it
(2) To perform a miracle like that is tiring
c) Then after that he prayed for rain. Keep in mind it was a day without any clouds and without humidity, one of the most least likely days
(1) He asked his servant, do you see anything yet? 7 times before there was a cloud,
(2) This is a concept we do not talk about that much, it is called praying through. It means you keep praying and praying and praying
(3) That is exhausting work
d) After the rain was coming, he was threaten with his life, so he did what any of us would do, RUN!!!!
(1) Running makes you tired
e) So after all of this he gets to a broom tree and sits down.
f) Is he depressed? Read VS. 4. YES HE IS!
2. Our lives
a) I know the schedules most of you keep here
b) You are hardworking busy people
c) However, exhaustion can lead to depression
3. Me
a) In the month of July I was at Edinboro, Ma1/2e, and Chicago. Well I was home, I tried to get this done and that done,
b) I was exhausted! I had no energy left
c) Because of that exhaustion I started to get down, I started to sink into depression
d) Fortunately I was able to get the rest that I needed and I am ok now
e) But exhaustion, being worn out, overworking, call it what you want will lead to depression
f) I remember in College I was working 37.5 hrs a week while carrying a 17 credit load, understand I am not that smart. I started to feel depressed, down; I had to force myself to make it through.
g) Exhaustion can lead to depression
B. Lost of Divine Direction (Compare chap 17 to vs. 3)
1. This was not the first time that Elijah found a place by himself
2. Look back at 17:2-4 (Read it) now notice vs. 2 in particular
3. Now look at 19:3, notice what is not there that was in 17:2
4. The Lord did not guide him
5. He did this on his own
6. The minute we start operating on our own strength and stop seeking God’s will and direction, doubts, fear, uncertainty, gloom, all start to creep into our body
7. Our purpose for living if you will, is gone, when we loose that purpose and direction, we realize there is no hope, no hope = depression
8. If you remember from our Purpose Driven Life series they only way you can find direction in your life is through Christ.
9. Without direction, without God’s leading in your life, depression will occur
C. Lost His faith in other people (10)
1. Look at verse 10.
2. Woe is me I am the only one left
3. Elijah is thinking that he is the only one in this whole world who is still following God
4. Of course that is not true, look at verse 15, we will study that as part of the cure in a couple of weeks so I wont say to much about it now
5. But when we start to think that we are the only ones, when we think we are so different from all the world
6. You start devolving this isolation from the rest of the world
7. Isolation will lead to depression
8. I am an independent person, I can do anything by myself
9. I cook, I clean, I do laundry, drive, I am capable of doing everything that I need to do,
10. I like being independent; I do not want to have to rely on others, so for me this whole isolation thing, no big deal right?
11. Well despite how independent I think I am, I need other people in my life
12. Sure I can take care of everything physically, but I still need other people
13. When you start getting that feeling like you are the only person in the world, that there is no one else to turn to, you begin to feel depressed
14. We need each other. No one to talk to = depression
D. LOSS is always a cause of depression
1. One researcher said that loss is always the cause of depression
2. So I started to think about that, seems like a bold statement to me
3. He might be right
4. Loss of rest can depression
5. Loss of purpose can cause depression
6. Loss of faith in other people can cause depression
7. Loss of loved ones can cause depression
8. I know we are not talking about chemical depression, but loss of chemical balance can cause depression
9. So I encourage you to think about what causes depression and see if you can come up with something that does not have loss in it.
III. What are the Signs of depression?
A. Worthless ness (I’m no good)
1. What good can I do? I haven’t done anything important
2. I am totally worthless
3. Think about people who loose their jobs because of company closing, they begin to think that if they did their job better it would have happened and begin to feel worthless because they don’t have a job to do, it happens
B. Loss of pleasure ness (Nothing is fun)
1. This is boring; do you want to go golfing? No golfing boring, everything is boring.
2. Read ecclesiast, that guy lost is pleasure ness
3. When nothing you do is fun. Things that you used to enjoy are no fun anymore, that is a sign
C. Sorrow and sadness
1. Obviously that sound like depression
2. Just this overwhelming sense of sadness
3. Nothing is happy.
D. Lost of appetite or its opposite
1. You don’t feel like eating anymore, food just does not appeal to you
2. Or it opposite, you can not stop eating
3. A major change in your diet could be a sign of depression
E. Sleeping or not sleeping
1. Often depressed people sleep 12 or more hrs a day
2. Sometimes depressed people have problems sleeping at all
3. Again the important part is a major change in your sleeping habit
F. Apathy or restlessness
1. Who cares! What is the point, big deal they bomb a building
2. Or its opposite, the poor little ant, we need to collect money to build an ant farm, they need a good home, not only caring about the ants but over reacting to every minor thing
3. You have to look for a major change is attitude. If you were a loving person and now show no signs of love at all, could be a sign of depression.
G. Withdraw from friends
1. I have watched people do this one
2. They will be hanging out with their friend often, and then stop, and hardly see their friends any more
3. Depressed people do no want to be by their friends, it is not because they don’t like their friends, it just because they cant
H. Difficulty with decision making
1. Depressed people have the tendency to struggle with making decision
2. Now must of you probably will say you have problems with that, like Heather and I when trying to figure out where we want to eat, the all famous, I cant decide you decide
3. But we are talking about difficulty with every decision, Should I do this or that, and worrying about if you should go the bathroom now or later for 45 minutes.
I. Lost of interest with Sex
1. If your sex drive used to be a 10 and now it is a 2 that could be a sign
2. Now you have to keep something in prospective, age, medical issues, everything else that could cause the loss of interest that has nothing to do with depression
3. Again we are talking about a major change in interest
J. Being upset with little things
1. Major on the minors
2. Worrying about every little details. Maybe for the Sunday school picnic we decided to have regular KFC chicken, but you wanted extra crispy, so you are just not going to go next week cause we have regular KFC chicken!
3. Also a reason to avoid being with friends. But every little detail gets you upset, that is a good sign of depression
Conclusion
A. I felt led by God to preach this series
B. I had no clue why at first
C. I have been talking to a lot of you lately and God is revealing to me very slowly why He led me this way
D. I am not saying that we are all depressed in this congregation
E. I have no idea how most of you are feeling right now
F. There is one thing I am sure of, depression will effect all of us at sometime
G. I am not saying that we will all get depressed, some of us may never have it happen to them
H. But we will all come in contact with someone who is
I. Next two weeks we are going to talk about how to cure depression
a. Next week we will look at Physical ways
b. The week after that we will do with Psychological ways to deal with depression
J. Let me make this clear again, depression does not mean you are a week Christian.
K. Look at the life of Elijah. Strong, powerful, miracle after miracle, yet he was depressed
L. Fortunately we have a God who loves us so much, that He even taught us how to deal with depression.
