^{TO BEAT DEPRESSION SING PRAISES TO GOD!}

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. Psa 42:5 

There is no time when singing has become so difficult as it has now. The churches are closed. People are in indoors. The children are on the floor and everything else is just scattered. Singing in such conditions, especially praises to God, calls for supernatural powers. This is just not the way we were created to live.

And so depression happens. It is a relatively new word – and the disease. And in the Bible it doesn’t appear directly but it is implied in a lot other words. Words like spirit overwhelmed, spirit growing faint, bowed down, miry clay and the valley of the shadow of death.

Depression happens because of many interrelated issues. So I will not make light about it. It is a hell I have been to but God brought me back (I have a fifty thousand word work in progress based on that subject alone, praise God! That is my testimony). But chiefly the main cause of depression is a self-inspection which has gone awry.

In Babylon they were so low until they found no reason to sing anymore (Psalm 137). So they hang their harps upon the willows and sat down, yea, and wept. But just as suddenly they sprang to their feet again! No one can hold his God down for long! ‘If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.’

What can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, shouted Paul. And we shout with him too, though our thorn is still in the flesh. Because when we are weak, then are we made strong, and in his ‘foolishness’ we are made wise. God calls us to his banqueting table not only for his love, but also to the fellowship of his suffering.

I know. Sometimes it seems like the more we trust the more we suffer, the more doubts assail us, the more we are condemned, the more we are misunderstood, and the more we are hated for no cause! But don't worry. It is the battle coming to the heat. And the hour before dawn is usually the darkest. But no matter how long it lasts the morning arrives eventually – and what glory it is!

No, our faith is too precious to let go! It is gold! How can we lose the pearl again after years of searching? We have been out the whole night but we caught nothing. Don’t worry, in the morning we will find Jesus at the shore with fish ready. He always serves the best wine last! So let us pick up our harps upon the willows and begin to sing again!

The psalms are bottles filled with our own tears. They sing our own music. And we sing them with abandon especially at night. Bury yourself in them and you will find comfort any time. And remember those are pains which David personally went through. What will your pains produce? God forbid that we should ever forget such a God!

HopeisnotAshamed