Let's open our Bibles again to
Psalm 42. I want to preach tonight right
where we live. I've titled the message, Spiritual
Depression. Every believer goes through these
times of spiritual depression. Psalm Solomon chapter 2 described
it as a time of spiritual winter when everything looks dead. everything
looks dead. Every child of God goes through
those times when everything looks dead. It feels dead. Now it's
not, but it looks that way. It feels that way. There are
times, try as you might, you cannot get a sense of the Lord's
presence. You can't get a sense of his
fellowship. You can't get a sense of his forgiveness. You can only
fear, feel judgment from There are times you come to the worship
surface, you go through the motions of reading the Word of God, and
that's all it is. It's just motions. There's no
heart refreshing there. There are times when prayer is
just a bunch of religious words. I'm being honest. That's just
the way it is sometimes. It's not heart prayer, not heart
talk to our Heavenly Father. It's a time of winter. Now spring's
going to come eventually. But that winner's tough to bear.
I want us to deal honestly with each other tonight. We live in
a real world where there is real salvation. There's real joy,
there's real happiness, there's real peace. But we also live
in a real world that's full of real sorrow, real trouble, and
dark times. Believers experience both of
those extremes. Now, I've been taught I know
how I should be. I know how I should be, but I
also know how I am and how I do feel. And when those two things
don't agree, when how I know I should be and how I am, how
I should feel and how I do feel, when they're not equal, that's
when I find these times of spiritual depression. And I have no idea
why these times come upon us. David didn't either. Writing
under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he said, why art thou
cast out? Why art thou disquieted within me?" Why is this going
on? He didn't know, and I don't either. But it's real. William Cowper suffered with
severe depression his entire life. William Cowper wrote my
favorite hymn, There is a Fountain Filled with Blood. That dying
thief. There may I, though vile as he,
wash all my sins away. So confident, and yet Cowper
also wrote, Where's the blessedness I knew when I first saw the Lord?
Calper was so confident when he wrote, ye fearful saints,
fresh courage take. The clouds you so much dread
are big with mercy and they shall break with blessings upon your
head. And at other times, the depression was so bad the man
was suicidal. All he could see was the clouds
and he couldn't see that they were about to break with blessings
upon his head. And John Newton was Calper's pastor and good
friend. Newton was known to be a positive, upbeat man. He confidently
wrote amazing grace, which saved a wretch like me. Through many
dangers, toils and snares, I've already come. It is grace that
brought me safe thus far, and it's grace that will lead me
home. So confident. He wrote how sweet
the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear. That name, it soothes his
sorrow. heals his wounds and drives away
his fear. And the very same man wrote this. It is a point I long to know.
Often it gives me anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am
I His or am I not? When I turn my eyes within, all
is dark and vain and wild, filled with unbelief and sin. Did I
deem myself a child? Very miserable in depression.
And that's what David's going through in this psalm. He says
in verse one, As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth
my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? David compares himself to a deer that's been running
from predators. It's been running a long time
and there's no water in sight. The deer's so tired it cannot
go on. It needs rest. It needs water.
You hear the dogs barking, they're close, and you feel like it's
just the very last minute. But there's no place to rest,
no time to rest, no place to find any water for your soul.
And that's what David's going through spiritually. He'd been
running from his enemies a long time. And I'm confident he's
not just talking about Saul and Absalom here. He's talking about
running from his own sin. Running from the judgment for
that sin that's chasing close behind me. Hear the dogs barking
behind him. And all he could think about
was his sin. He couldn't see anything else.
And he was so thirsty. He was thirsty for the Lord.
Thirsty for the Lord's presence. Thirsty for his forgiveness.
He's hungering and thirsting after righteousness. David did
not want to just go through the motions of religion. He craved
the Lord's presence. At this time, David felt like
he'd been banished from the Lord's presence. And he wondered, am
I ever going to be able to come back? Am I ever going to appear
before the Lord again? This psalm was written, we believe,
when David was on the run from Absalom. David couldn't go back
to Jerusalem. Absalom would kill him. He couldn't
go back to the temple. He couldn't go to the place of
public worship. And David was depressed. He wasn't being fed. He wasn't being encouraged. He
wasn't being reminded of the character of the Lord. He wasn't
being reminded of the Lord's mercy and grace. He wasn't being
reminded of the Lord's patience, long suffering and love for his
people. And it's just a place of pure torture. You've been
there, you know what he's talking about. When you know this, now
there's things I know and there's some things I feel. I know the
Lord is there. I know that. I've known that
the Lord's everywhere from the time I could understand language.
But I can't get a sense of his presence. I can't feel his love. I can't feel his tenderness.
It's painful. David says it's so painful. Verse
10, he says, as with the sword of my bones, it's been like a
sword has been going clear through my bones. My enemies reproach
me while they say daily unto me, David, where's your God? Where's your God now, David?
Painful. Verse three, he says, my tears
have been my meat day and night while they continually saying
to me, where is thy God? David said, I'm so sad. I don't
I don't know why, but I am so sad. I just cried day and night. And they asked me, David, where's
your God now? How come your God's not helping
you now, David? David, you're so sad. Where's your faith, David?
Where's your peace and assurance in the Lord now? David looks at me like the Lord
has abandoned me. And just look at you. Why wouldn't he? Depressed. Now this they, David
speaks of here, it could be other people. If I tell you who I think
it is. This they is the voices in our
own head. It's what the flesh whispers
to us. Where's the Lord now? Why is the Lord helping you now?
Well, he must not be helping you because you're so sinful.
He's given you what you deserve. Well, you're so sad. Where's
your faith? If you had any faith in the Lord,
you wouldn't be so sad. You wouldn't get so depressed
if you had any real faith in the Lord. You can't get away
from that voice, can you? And it's torture. It's no wonder
you're depressed. David said, I'm spiritually depressed
right now. But he said, I'm telling you
what hasn't always been that way. I remember times. of enjoying the worship of the
Lord with the Lord's people. I remember times past where I
had to enjoy the salvation of the Lord. Look at verse 4. He
said, when I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me. For
I had gone with the multitude. I went with them to the house
of God with the voice of joy and praise, with the multitude
that kept the holy day. Dave said, I remember those times
of worship. You think of David and we remember
times of worship. wonderful worship where the Lord
just so blessed our heart. David remembered the day he wrote
Psalm 24 under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I mean he had
the Holy Spirit so much he wrote the 23rd Psalm. David remembered
that day he brought the ark back to Jerusalem. He was so happy
he danced with all of his might before the Lord. Now he can't
find any of that joy. He remembered those things happened
but he can't find that joy in his heart. We remember those
times, times when the Lord blessed His Word so mightily to us. We
remember times going back through those well-marked pages, oftentimes
in the Psalms, aren't they? Oftentimes you go back to your
favorite Psalm, you read that, and the Lord just opens it to
your understanding, blesses your heart so much. But then there
are times that worship seems like a distant memory. I can't
seem to be able to worship. I'm just, I'm depressed. I open
up God's word and I read the scriptures but I may as well
be reading the phone book. Not getting anything out of it.
I'm depressed. And I don't know why. David says
in verse 5, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art
thou disquieted in me? Why are you so discouraged? I
don't know but I am. He says in verse 6, O my God,
my soul is cast down within me. Therefore will I remember thee
from the land of Jordan. and of the Hermonites from the
hill Mizar. I believe this land of Jordan
and the Hermonites and the hill Mizar, I think those are all
places that in time past David had special worship in those
places. But they're just memories to
him now. He can't find that worship. That hill Mizar is just a hill
now. It's not a place he can go worship. There's nothing there
for him. And here's the thing about worship. Worship only does
us good in the present. Yesterday's worship is like yesterday's
manna. It's gonna bring worms. I need
worship today. I need a new supply today. And that's why David's so depressed.
He's not getting a new supply today. And he still knows some
doctrinal truths. David hadn't lost his Calvinism.
He knows some doctrinal truths. He doesn't think that those things
aren't true anymore. He knows that they're true, but he doesn't
feel them in his heart. At the end of verse five, he
says, for I will yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
And that phrase, for the help of his countenance, literally
translated is his presence is salvation. I know the Lord is salvation.
Christ is salvation. I know salvation is not a thing.
Salvation is not a state before God. Salvation is a person. I
know that. I know the presence of the Lord
is salvation. If I'm in his presence, I'm saved.
I know that, sir. Don't doubt it for a minute.
But I can't seem to feel his presence in my heart. Verse 7,
he says, deep calleth unto deep. that the noise of thy waterspouts
and all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me." Dave says,
the trial has gotten so bad, it feels like I'm being crushed
from both ends. Deep, called to deep, means that
the waters from below, the waters of the sea, they're rising up
and meeting the deep waters from the heavens. The waterspouts
of the deep have just opened up and the water underneath me
has thrown me up in a storm. At the same time, the heavens
have opened up and water is pouring down on me from heaven. And I
feel I'm just being crushed. I feel like I'm in a dinghy in
the middle of the ocean in a hurricane. And you can understand feeling
like that in times of trial, when we feel like both God and
men are crushing us. David felt that exact same way
at the time he was writing this psalm when he was on the run
from Absalom. His own son was trying to kill him. He already
took the throne from him by subtlety. He was trying to kill his own
father. And David already knew why that was happening. David
didn't ask why that's happening. He knew why. The Lord told him
because of his dealings with Uriah and Bathsheba, the sword
will never depart from his house. David understood why that was
happening. He'd been tried by the Lord. But at the same time,
men were crushing him too. While David's on the run from
Absalom, Shimei came out and cursed him. Just boldly cursed
the king to his face. Abishai didn't go off there and
take his head off. David stopped him and said, let him go. Let
him go. The Lord has told him to curse David. He is calling
unto demons. Just because David told him to
let him go, don't mean it didn't hurt. He's being crushed by this. Verse
nine, he says, I will say unto God, my rock, why hast thou forgotten
me? Why go I mourning because of
the oppression of the enemy? I can understand men forsaking
me. I could even understand Absalom trying to take my throne. But
I cannot understand God forsaking me. He's my rock. If God's forsaken
me, I've got no hope. If God's forgotten me, there's
only one reason for that. It's because he never knew me.
I'm depressed. That's a good reason to be depressed.
My soul's got no hope. All right. Now we're going to
start to get some help for the spiritual depression. I bet you,
you can identify at least in some degree with this. David
says, why have you forgotten me? You know, Christ our Savior
said the exact same thing from the cross. My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? And we know the answer to that
question. Right off, we know the answer to that question.
Well, that was for the glory of God. That was the Father glorifying
his attributes, his justice, his holiness. That was for the
salvation of his people, so his people would never be forsaken.
We know the answer. We got that doctrine down, don't
we? We know the answer to that one. We feel like the same way. Why
have you forsaken me? Why have you forgotten me? It's
the exact same answer. It's for our eternal good and
for God's glory. Let me show you that, Psalm 119.
Psalm 119, verse 71. It's good for me that I've been
afflicted. Good for me? Yes. That I might
learn thy statutes. Look up verse 67. Before I was
afflicted, I went astray, but now I have kept thy word. Well,
how is it that we keep God's word? Well, we keep God's word
by doing what it says. What's the message of the word
of God? Trust Christ alone. Just rest on him. Rely upon him.
Him, and that's what trials teach us over and over and over again,
to rely upon the Lord, to trust Him. In our psalm this evening, David
has showed us spiritual depression. Every believer experiences it.
But now he's also going to give us the solution to spiritual
depression. Have you noticed through both
sides, all through this psalm, both sides of David are speaking,
aren't they? His faith argues with his doubts. His love speaks to his fears. His hope argues with his sorrows. And there's just this struggle
going on, this spiritual depression. I think it's very important to
point this out. I told you I want to preach to
us right where we live. I want us to be very, very honest
with each other now. Spiritual depression is one thing. If you've got a clinical depression,
you've got a chemical imbalance, You seek professional help. You
seek help. I know there are quacks out there
who over-medicate and do things. It irritates me to death. You
know, a child, all it needs is a spank and then his parents
take it and get it medicated. I understand that happens. But
there's a lot of good ones out there too. I was just recently
talking to a woman who had been very depressed. She was really
suffering. And she refused to go seek any medical help. And
it finally got so bad she did. And she just was honest with
her doctor. She told the doctor, I'm ashamed. I'm just ashamed
to be here. Where's my faith? I go to the
worship service, I read the Bible, and it's not stopping, this depression. I'm ashamed to be here. And the
doctor said, now, just wait a minute. You might need some medical help,
Don't you stop reading your Bible? Don't you stop going to church?
That's good for you. You need that. But you might
need some medicine, some other treatment too. But this thing
is a medical problem. It's not a problem of faith.
And I know what I'm talking about. I don't know how long it lasted. It seemed like it lasted a long,
long time. After I had surgery, I don't
know, was it medicine? I still don't. I'm like David.
I don't know why. I went through that just horrible,
horrible depression. I just, it was awful. I mean, I just, I couldn't see,
there was any light and I just, it was horrible, horrible. Faith
is not the solution to a mental illness. I just want to take
pressure off people. It's not a matter of faith. Any
more than faith is the solution to physical illness. Lord, I
needed that back surgery. There was only one way that I
could get any relief from pain at all. And it was to lay flat
on the floor. Couldn't even lay on a mattress. Had to lay on
the floor. And there I'd lay. Janet would sit next to me. She'd
open up the Bible. She'd read the scriptures to
me. And it helped. Oh, it just did comfort in my
heart and my soul. And it didn't take my back pain
away. I still had to have surgery.
See, it was a physical illness that needed medical treatment.
Well, mental illness is the same way. But David here gives us
five helps for spiritual depression. And they'll help any, if you've
got a clinical depression, you need medical help, this will
help you with that too. Hand in hand will go together.
But these are five helps for spiritual depression. I believe
this will be a blessing to us. Number one, in a time of spiritual
depression, keep seeking the Lord. But don't stop seeking
him. David said, I'm seeking you as a heart panteth after
the water brooks. That's how my soul is panting
after thee. I'm thirsting for the living
God. I'm doing everything I can to find what I can come and appear
before God again. Well, that's good. Now keep seeking
him. Keep seeking him and keep seeking
him and keep seeking him. I promise you this based upon
the authority of God's word. You will find him eventually.
You will. Really what will happen is he'll
find you. Just like He found you the first
time. Remember you, that lost sheep out there in the wilderness?
You weren't looking for the Lord, were you? But you found Him.
You found Him and He found you. You keep seeking Him. You'll
find Him. And we have to constantly learn this. There are times the
Lord hides His face from us for a short time. So that we remember,
oh yeah, I am totally dependent upon the Lord. That never changes. He's constantly teaching us that.
And that's a good place to be. If you are totally dependent
upon the Lord, you see, I've got no other hope, no other recourse,
no other way to go. That's good because he's faithful. You keep seeking him. He's faithful.
You'll find him. That's an awful good reason to
seek the Lord. He's proven his faithfulness time and time and
time again. You just keep searching for him.
searching for Christ, the spiritual water, and don't ever accept
a substitute. When you are truly thirsty, there's
no replacement for water. None. I read last year about
a half marathon run, of course it's run in the state of Kentucky,
and they give you bourbon at the finish line. This is awful. I want water. I need water. There's
no substitute for water. But there is no replacement for
the presence of the Lord when you're thirsty. Then keep seeking
him. Seek the Lord's presence where
it's found. Seek him in his word. Seek him in his gospel. Seek
him where his people meet together. Those are the places he promised
to be. Look over at Luke chapter nine. Seek and seek him as someone
who's in need. as a needy, thirsty sinner. That's
how we seek the Lord. Luke chapter 9, verse 11. And the people, when they knew
it, when they knew where the Lord was, they followed him. And he
received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and
healed them that had need of healing. That had need of healing. All of them. He didn't leave
one out. Seek the Lord as a needy sinner. He'll heal all that need
Him. He'll give water to all that
need Him. Seek the Lord as a thirsty sinner because He commanded everyone
who's thirsty to come unto Him and drink. Then just tell Him,
Lord, I'm depending, I'm coming to You and I'm depending on You
to give me the water of life freely, just like You promised.
You seek Him based upon the authority of His Word, on what He said.
You'll find Him. He'll bless you. All right, number
two. In times of spiritual depression,
take some time to remember things. Verse 4, David said, I remember
these things. When I remember them, I pour
out my soul in me. I remember when I'd gone with
the multitude, when I went with them to the house of God with
the voice of joy and praise. I remember that time I was with
the multitude that kept the holy day. Take some time to remember
some things. Here's a good place to start.
At the start, just go back to the beginning and remember the
ABCs of the gospel that the Lord taught you when he first saved
you. That's what Jacob did. Remember when Jacob was on the
run? Jacob was always on the run for somebody, wasn't he?
And there he was at Bethel one night and the Lord revealed himself
to Jacob. And all throughout Jacob's life, Everything was
going on. Every once in a while, Jacob
would tell the whole family, stop. Load up the donkeys. We're going back to Bethel. We're
going back to Bethel. Go back to that place that God
first revealed Himself to. Go back to those foundational
truths. Those foundations of your faith.
Just take time to remember. You think it's bad now? Remember
where you were when God found you? Look where He brought you. Remember those things. Remember
this, this will help you in times of spiritual depression. Remember,
salvation is by God's grace. It's not because I deserve it,
because I don't. No, it's because of God's grace.
It's because of God's faithfulness. Not my faithfulness, His faithfulness. None of this is dependent on
me anyway. And remember all of God's tender mercies. God's mercy
is a fountain that never runs dry. He's rich in mercy. That's
a pretty good thing to remember when you need mercy. Remember
all of God's precious promises. Just go pick out any of the precious
promises of God and then remember He's faithful. He is faithful
to the promise. He's going to keep His word.
Then, while you're remembering, you could ask the Lord, Lord,
remember me. That's what David's saying here. Lord, don't forget
me. Remember me. Take some time to remember these
things that you know are true. Thirdly, in times of spiritual
depression, hope in God. Don't hope in yourself. Don't
hope in circumstances. Hope in God. Verse 5, David says,
Why art thou cast down on my soul? And why art thou disquieted
within me? Hope thou in God. I'm disquieted. I'm disquieted. But I'm going
to hope in the Lord anyway. You know, the best reason to
hope in the Lord is there's no place else to hope. We don't
have any other hope. I'm a mess, but my hope's in
God, not in me. I can't see God right now, but
He sees me. I don't understand what's going
on. I don't understand what God's doing, why He's... I just don't
understand. But God does. I can remember
things being better in the past, and I've sure changed a lot. God never changes. My hope is
in Him. See, salvation is not a feeling. My salvation is Christ. Whether I feel it or not. If
you lose the sense of something, that doesn't mean it's not there.
I got a good illustration for this. Jan's mom lost her sense
of smell. in a pregnancy, she was a pregnant
woman. She lost her sense of smell. And she never got back. And all these years later, Ethel
is thrilled if she gets just a whiff of something. It can be a dirty diaper. And
Ethel's thrilled because she lost her sense of smell. Now,
here she's, you know, she lost her sense of smell in this pregnancy.
Well, there are a lot of dirty diapers. There was a lot of cooking,
a lot of biscuits and gravy and bacon and all those things. All
those aromas are there. She just can't smell them. But
that don't mean they're not there. See, if you lose a sense of something,
it doesn't mean it's not there. We do, from time to time, lose
a sense of God's presence. And I don't know that there's
anything worse. You take courage. He's still there. He is still
there. And he's not far from you. Because
he promised, I will never leave nor forsake my people. He's still
there. We can't get sometimes a sense
of God's mercy and His grace. He hasn't quit having it. He
hasn't quit showing it. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not considered. God's people will be tried. but
they'll never, ever be consumed and they'll never be forsaken.
So you keep hoping in him because of who he is. That's a good ground
of hope. And here's the fourth thing.
In times of spiritual depression, take time to praise the Lord. At the end of verse five, David
says, hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of
his counsel. He says the same thing, verse
11. Why art thou cast down on my soul? Why art thou disquieted
within me? Hope thou in God, for I will
yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. I'm disquieted, but I'm going
to praise the Lord anyway. You know, praising the Lord always
does the soul good. Always. Praise God for who he
is. Just for who he is. Praise Him
for His salvation. Remember up there in verse 5,
for the help of His countenance? Praise Him for His salvation.
His presence is salvation. Praise Him for saving sinners
that nobody else would ever save. Praise Him for that. Praise Him
for what He's done, what He is doing, what He promised He will
yet do for His people. Praise God for all of His attributes,
for His goodness. I'm no good, but He is. Praise
Him for His faithfulness. I'm not faithful, but He is.
Praise Him for His forgiving nature. Praise Him for His wisdom. You know, this thing has made
me sad, made my tears day and night. But He hadn't made a mistake. He's too wise to make a mistake.
Just take time to praise the Lord. It'll lift our souls from
the depths of where we are to the heights of who He is. Praising
the Lord for everything that He's done for my soul takes my
thoughts away from what I think I don't have, and it reminds
me of everything that I have in Christ. Praising the Lord
will get my focus back where it ought to be. It'll get my
mind focusing on His glory, not the darkness of my sin and myself
and my world. And David gives us an example
here. Praise the Lord for His sovereign love that moved Him
to save us in the first place. Verse 8. Yet the Lord will command
His loving kindness in the daytime. Our Savior is the sovereign.
His will is always done. Jan and I watched this show about
Queen Victoria and I always find it interesting the way she refers
to herself. I don't recall her ever referring
to herself as the Queen. She always says, I'm the Sovereign. That better indicates her position
in England. I'm the Sovereign. Yes, our God's
King. He's the Sovereign. His will
is always done. I mean, sometimes you might think
you can take King off the throne. I mean, you can't take God off
the throne because He's the Sovereign. His will, He's the Sovereign.
His will is always done. He commands it and it's so. Now
you know that. That you take courage in this. The Sovereign has commanded the
salvation of His people. And it shall be done. Almighty
God has commanded the salvation of a sinner like me. He justified
me in the blood of His Son. And I can't lose it. I might not get a sense of it
right now, but it cannot be lost because the sovereign has commanded
it. That salvation brings joy to the hearts of God's people
in the darkest of days. That salvation is true. It's
just as solid, it's just as sure in those dark days when we think
we can't see it as in the day when it's so bright we think
we can. It doesn't change. It's salvation the sovereign
has commanded. And the sovereign has commanded his love to his
people. He's commanded his loving kindness.
Then who shall separate us from the love of God? Almighty God
has commanded his love to a sinner like me. And he proved it when
he sent his son to die as a substitute for me, for somebody like me. Then why am I disquieted? Everything's
all right. God's commanded His love to me.
That word disquieted means to make a loud noise or a tumult.
I kind of think of a child throwing a fit. Why am I making such a
fuss and throwing a fit? Huh? When nothing can separate
me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Take time to praise the Lord for his loving kindness. And
here's a good way, a good way to praise the Lord is by singing.
David said, his song shall be with me. Just take the time to
sing some choruses, sing some of those hymns. This is real
interesting. Look at the beginning of this
psalm, right under the Psalm 42, the title says, to the chief
musician, whatever his name is, for the sons of Korah. for the
sons of Korah. Now that's interesting, isn't
it? You remember who Korah was? Korah rebelled against God by
murmuring against Moses. He said, well, any of us could
be, you know, Moses, you know, I do better than what Moses is
doing. And Lord opened up the earth and he swallowed up Korah.
He swallowed up all the men that followed him in that rebellion.
He swallowed up all their families, all their belongings, swallowed
them up. No trace of them left. Gone. But some of Korah's descendants
must have survived because this psalm is meant to be sung by
the sons of Korah. Those sons, those descendants
of Korah, why were they spared? Why didn't they swallow them
up? There's only one reason. It's God's sovereign grace. The people who sing God's praises
the best are people who've been saved by sovereign grace. They've
been loved without a cause and they sing out. They love to sing
out the praises of our God. God did not give me what I deserve
because he gave Christ to substitute what I deserve. That's a good
reason to sing. That'll help us in our spiritual
depression to praise the Lord. Here's the last one, number five.
In times of spiritual depression, be a man and woman of prayer.
At the end of verse 8, David says, in my prayer, under the
God of my life. Now we have no one to turn to,
but help in any matter, but the Lord. Who else can help you?
Then call on Him. Talk to the Lord about everything
that's in your heart. David told the Lord, here verse
6, he said, Oh my God, my soul is cast down within me. He told
the Lord, he laid out his heart. I'm going through this depression.
And that's what we ought to do. But in doing so, let's not make
our prayers only asking for things, asking for help. Now, that need
for help, that's on our hearts. So we lay our heart open before
God. Let's remember that our prayers
always should be prayers of praise and thanksgiving too. Because
praise and thanksgiving is in the heart of a believer, even
in those dark days it is. Be men and women of prayer. Our
spiritual depression is caused. The root of it is we've lost
a sense of the Savior's presence. Then call Him. Call on Him. He'll answer. He said He would. And when we have a sense of His
presence again, that spiritual depression will be gone. Now
the sin and the circumstances that caused it probably won't
change. But it'll be alright. Because
we have a sense of His presence again. Sin ought to depress us,
shouldn't it? We ought to hate it. But we have
a sense of the Savior's presence. He put that sin away. He blotted
it out with His blood, paid for it with His blood. There's peace. There's peace in His blood. So
call on the Lord. He will answer eventually. Keep calling. Don't just call
once and quit and say, well, the Lord's cut me off. No, keep
calling. Keep calling. Call out to him in your thirst
for Christ. He'll quench your thirst. He
promised to give the water of life freely to everybody who's
thirsty. Then call on him. Tell him how thirsty you are.
Remind him of his promise. If you ever want to, my dad always
said, if you ever want to argue with the Lord, I guess that's
the right term. If you ever want to argue with
the Lord, if you ever want to plead with the Lord, plead his promise. Lord, you
promised. Call on Him. He'll answer. Well, I hope that's been a blessing
to you. Let's bow together in prayer. Father, how we thank You for
Your Word. How we thank You that You took
time in Your Word to answer every need of Your poor and needy children
by showing us Lord Jesus Christ, who's the answer to our every
need. Father, cause us to get a sense of his love, to get a
sense of his presence, to get a sense of the enormity of his
sacrifice that put away the sin of his people, that makes us
accepted in your Son. Father, thank you for remembering
that we're just but does. You remember our friends. Father, we cry out to you for
forgiveness. We cry out to you for your presence.
We cry out to you that you'd enable us to worship, that you'd
enable us to pray, that you'd enable us to read the word, that
you'd enable us to worship you, follow you, follow after you,
live a life that's exemplary of your mercy and grace to your
people. Father, help us, we pray. We thank you for your faithfulness
when we're so unfaithful, so unworthy, you're faithful. Thank
you for your strength, and we're so weak, you're strong. Thank
you for your wisdom, and we're in such ignorance, you know all
things. Father, bless us. We say with the Apostle Peter,
you know all things. You know we love you. Bless us
for your great namesake, we pray.