God’s Work in Your Depression
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - One anonymous young woman writes in
00:00:06.840 | with a question today.
00:00:07.840 | Hello, Pastor John.
00:00:08.680 | I'm normally a optimistic person and full of life,
00:00:12.540 | but lately it's been such a struggle
00:00:14.120 | to even want to get out of bed in the mornings.
00:00:16.980 | I'm a student at BCS, and I'm very grateful
00:00:19.600 | for all the lessons God is teaching me here,
00:00:21.800 | but I dread going to class.
00:00:24.580 | This is so discouraging because I moved many miles
00:00:26.720 | so that I could come to this school.
00:00:28.720 | Deep down, I don't doubt God still wants me here,
00:00:30.960 | but I don't think he wants me
00:00:32.180 | to have this attitude about life.
00:00:34.680 | Is this depression?
00:00:36.640 | I have almost no motivation for anything.
00:00:38.980 | I've been praying, and I will keep praying
00:00:40.960 | for God to be my strength,
00:00:42.560 | but how do you fight when you don't feel like fighting?
00:00:45.640 | Each morning brings with it a desire
00:00:47.120 | to stay in bed for days so I don't have to face life.
00:00:50.760 | I truly hate feeling this way
00:00:52.160 | because I feel I've lost my joy in God's will for me.
00:00:55.740 | I feel oppressed by the powers of the dark world,
00:00:58.160 | and I don't see an escape.
00:01:00.680 | I really appreciate you answering such hard questions.
00:01:03.000 | It helps me remember that by no means
00:01:05.000 | am I the only warrior in this fight against the devil.
00:01:09.240 | Oh, how I feel empathy for this
00:01:11.840 | because I've tasted these kinds of seasons many times.
00:01:16.840 | Don't want to get out of bed,
00:01:21.040 | dread doing the things we have to do,
00:01:23.440 | no motivation for anything,
00:01:26.020 | don't feel like fighting the fight,
00:01:29.080 | a loss of joy in what we thought God had called us to do,
00:01:33.200 | oppressed by what feels like demonic darkness.
00:01:37.880 | So that's her situation, and I've tasted it,
00:01:42.040 | and so I feel a kind of urgency for her.
00:01:46.420 | She asks, "Is this depression?"
00:01:48.960 | And of course, my answer is, "I don't know."
00:01:52.360 | I'm not close enough to the situation.
00:01:54.360 | I don't know her well enough,
00:01:56.360 | and I would say to you, she didn't give us her name,
00:02:00.060 | if you have a history of depression,
00:02:03.640 | you'll probably know what kind of season this is,
00:02:07.560 | but if you don't,
00:02:08.480 | I certainly wouldn't jump to that conclusion automatically.
00:02:12.360 | Depression is not a simple black and white thing.
00:02:15.860 | There are many degrees of discouragement on a continuum
00:02:21.040 | into the most debilitating kind of depression,
00:02:25.360 | and you'll certainly want to be alert to that.
00:02:27.320 | I would recommend, if this continues,
00:02:31.080 | a physical checkup with a doctor
00:02:32.800 | just to make sure there's no, for example, mononucleosis
00:02:37.360 | or some kind of a nutritional issue.
00:02:39.680 | We are body and soul,
00:02:42.600 | and our bodies can play tricks on us
00:02:45.480 | and wreak havoc with our minds and our spirits.
00:02:49.680 | If we were sitting together,
00:02:51.080 | I'd probably ask you about sleep habits and exercise habits
00:02:56.080 | and eating and so on.
00:02:58.440 | There's so many ways that we can be depleted
00:03:02.960 | and it feels spiritual when it has physical roots as well.
00:03:07.960 | So I'm gonna depend on you to know yourself and your history
00:03:13.160 | and your physical condition
00:03:15.120 | and to get the help you need in that regard,
00:03:17.320 | but let me just point to a few wonderful,
00:03:20.640 | spiritual, biblical, God-given truths
00:03:25.480 | that He means for your help and strength right now.
00:03:30.480 | Number one, 1 Corinthians 10, 13, "No testing,"
00:03:35.480 | and you probably know as a student with your Greek
00:03:39.400 | that the word temptation and testing are the same in Greek,
00:03:42.900 | "No testing has overtaken you,
00:03:45.360 | "but what is common to man, God is faithful.
00:03:48.440 | "He will not let you be tested beyond what your ability is,
00:03:52.180 | "but with the testing, He will provide a way of escape,"
00:03:57.180 | and then here comes the key phrase,
00:03:59.040 | "that you may be able to endure it."
00:04:03.520 | So the issue is one of endurance, not just escape.
00:04:07.640 | The escape is the capacity to endure,
00:04:11.240 | and so know that He's got you in this season of testing
00:04:15.160 | and He has got you there not beyond your ability to endure.
00:04:20.160 | Number two, when God tests your endurance,
00:04:24.800 | He's not doing it because He doesn't love you.
00:04:27.280 | This is so plain in Hebrews 12, 6 following
00:04:30.760 | that He delights in His children whom He disciplines,
00:04:34.040 | delights in them.
00:04:35.880 | Isn't that amazing that when He disciplines us,
00:04:38.360 | He's disciplining the son in whom He delights
00:04:40.880 | or the daughter in whom He delights,
00:04:43.040 | so don't let the devil convince you
00:04:45.080 | that this season of testing is because God is against you.
00:04:48.640 | That's hellish.
00:04:49.840 | That's not from heaven.
00:04:51.380 | You have heard the endurance of Job
00:04:55.000 | and you have seen the purpose of the Lord,
00:04:57.080 | how the Lord is compassionate and merciful, James 5, 11.
00:05:02.080 | Number three, Psalm 40, first three verses,
00:05:06.880 | portrays David mired in the darkness
00:05:09.800 | and waiting for the Lord,
00:05:12.200 | and I just wanna testify that much Christian obedience
00:05:17.200 | consists in waiting for God to do what we need Him to do
00:05:22.280 | when the timing seems very slow to us.
00:05:27.040 | Number four, God's Word, the Bible,
00:05:31.160 | is specifically designed for these seasons of testing.
00:05:35.380 | For whatever was written, this is amazing,
00:05:38.360 | this is sweeping, this is Romans 15, 4.
00:05:41.220 | Whatever was written in former days
00:05:44.000 | was written for our instruction that by the endurance,
00:05:48.320 | there's the keyword, the endurance,
00:05:50.120 | getting through tough things,
00:05:52.520 | the endurance and encouragement of the Scriptures,
00:05:56.240 | we might have hope.
00:05:57.600 | So if you can, in so much as you can just make it
00:06:00.880 | a few verses, be in the Word every day.
00:06:04.760 | Even though you don't feel like fighting,
00:06:07.640 | give yourself that medicine every day.
00:06:10.600 | Number five, acknowledge that only divine power,
00:06:15.520 | and I mean mighty power,
00:06:18.400 | can sustain you and me through the tests like this.
00:06:23.400 | And I mention it because Colossians 1.11
00:06:26.560 | has often amazed me.
00:06:28.080 | It goes like this,
00:06:29.160 | "May you be strengthened with all power
00:06:33.680 | "according to His glorious might."
00:06:37.700 | Now, what's all that for?
00:06:39.680 | For all endurance and patience with joy,
00:06:44.640 | which says to me that endurance and patience with joy
00:06:49.640 | requires omnipotent power.
00:06:53.100 | We think it's a small thing.
00:06:54.680 | You're not fighting a small battle.
00:06:56.840 | This takes omnipotent divine power
00:06:59.340 | to sustain Christians through times of testing.
00:07:02.220 | Number six, remember God knows your frame
00:07:07.040 | and that you are just dust.
00:07:09.780 | Psalm 103 is sweet.
00:07:13.040 | Verse 13, "As a father has compassion on his children,
00:07:16.560 | "so the Lord is compassionate to those who fear Him."
00:07:19.520 | He knows our frame.
00:07:22.360 | He remembers that we are dust.
00:07:25.440 | Isn't that amazing that God takes into account
00:07:29.560 | the fragile frame that we have as humans?
00:07:33.280 | And the last thing I would say, number seven,
00:07:36.120 | take hold of one or two specific promises.
00:07:40.000 | Write them on a piece of paper,
00:07:41.600 | put them in your pocket to carry through the day
00:07:44.200 | or in your purse, and take them out
00:07:46.680 | and read them to yourself or memorize it
00:07:49.040 | and say it to yourself often.
00:07:50.840 | Say it over and over again.
00:07:52.360 | Declare your allegiance to Jesus
00:07:55.360 | in and through specific promises,
00:07:57.780 | like I thought of these two for you in closing.
00:08:01.760 | Psalm 139.11,
00:08:04.540 | "If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me
00:08:08.980 | "and the light about me be night,
00:08:11.960 | "even the darkness is not dark to you.
00:08:16.460 | "The night is bright as the day,
00:08:19.780 | "for darkness is as light with you."
00:08:23.860 | So it feels like darkness to you is not darkness to God.
00:08:27.340 | He's in the bright light
00:08:28.860 | and He knows how to take care of you.
00:08:30.840 | And the last one is Isaiah 43.2,
00:08:34.300 | "When you pass through the waters, I'll be with you,"
00:08:37.180 | God says, "and through the rivers,
00:08:39.500 | "they shall not overwhelm you.
00:08:40.960 | "When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned
00:08:44.640 | "and the flame shall not consume you,
00:08:46.440 | "for I am the Lord your God,
00:08:50.020 | "the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
00:08:52.740 | "And if so for Israel, how much more for those in Jesus?"
00:08:56.300 | So that's my prayer for you.
00:08:58.180 | God is faithful.
00:08:59.540 | He will do it.
00:09:00.980 | - Thank you, Pastor John.
00:09:01.940 | And thank you for sending in this very honest question.
00:09:05.140 | Some of the best questions that we get
00:09:06.300 | are the ones that are really hardest to articulate
00:09:08.560 | and write and confess in words to others.
00:09:13.180 | And you are not alone in this fight.
00:09:16.620 | Well, we have again hit the weekend
00:09:18.540 | and that means it's time for me to remind you
00:09:20.720 | and to encourage you to subscribe to our podcast
00:09:23.300 | and find our audio feeds and search our episode archive
00:09:26.140 | and even reach us by email with a difficult question
00:09:28.200 | that you might be facing in life.
00:09:29.780 | You can do all of those things
00:09:31.220 | at our online home at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.
00:09:36.220 | Speaking of resources, as many of you know,
00:09:38.580 | Pastor John has been writing books like crazy
00:09:41.700 | in the past couple of years, which has been great to see.
00:09:44.340 | It's also been a little daunting to know what he's written
00:09:47.620 | and why he wrote them in the first place.
00:09:50.020 | And on Monday, he will walk us through
00:09:51.600 | his latest three books, including one
00:09:54.340 | that you may not have heard about
00:09:55.900 | because it hasn't gone to press yet.
00:09:57.660 | It's a new trilogy of books
00:09:59.460 | and he's gonna walk us through each title
00:10:01.540 | and why he wrote each one.
00:10:04.180 | I am really looking forward to it.
00:10:05.980 | I am your host, Tony Reinke.
00:10:07.340 | Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast
00:10:09.700 | and we will see you on Monday.
00:10:11.860 | (upbeat music)
00:10:14.440 | (upbeat music)
00:10:17.020 | [BLANK_AUDIO]