Psalm 124 says, "If the Lord had not been on our side--let Israel say--if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us, they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us; the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away. Praise be to the Lord, who has not let us be torn by their teeth. We have escaped like a bird from the fowler's snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth."
After reading through this Psalm, which David of the Old Testament wrote about his trials, I can see how modern day depression can have us thinking that God is not on our side. As Christians, we would never admit that we don't believe that God is pulling for us. But, in the deepest and darkest moments when we lie down feeling defeated at the end of the day, some part of our subconscious or conscious is believing that, perhaps, God has given up on us.
However, if we carefully read through the above verse, we can see that if we believe that God is indeed on our side, and if we are indeed His children, then we need to be careful about what we think. David was reaffirming to Israel that God was on their side because the armies of the enemy did not conquer them. He was saying that they would have been utterly defeated if God had not been with them.
Readers, I challenge you and myself today. Do you believe that God is on your side? Are you depressed and defeated? The two cannot be symbiotic. You either believe that God will protect you and is in the process of helping us, or you are defeated--but not both.
I have suffered from depression since I was 16 years old, which is nearly half of my life. That said, I can see that I need to keep close to myself that verse Psalm 124:8 "our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth." Even though I feel defeated sometimes, I need to remember that I could be thoroughly drowning or completely hopeless, but God is for me. I am not hopeless, I need to remember that how I feel is not always the way things actually are. My perceptions are not always 100% accurate. In fact, I would dare say that my perceptions are not always 50% accurate. Thus I need to keep my nose in the Word and hear God for what he is saying to me today. Praise be to the Lord!
I am still flabbergasted that God chose me--as I am.
I daily need to remind myself that just because I feel something doesn't make it true. It's hard work for we who battle depression to walk in Truth and not go by what our messed up feelings are telling us, because my default is negative, really dark, and that's not what God has for me, or you!
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Rachel!