Introduction
In my earlier days before marriage, I was an ardent fan of the WWE Wrestling! I was quite intrigued and fearful of the shadowy figure of “The Undertaker!” The man loved to walk in darkness and in loneliness. He associated himself with the occult. Just watching his conduct in the show was depressing.
Today we address the three evils that plague the soul during the depression. The three are darkness, loneliness, and emptiness. We will also try to find a solution to these problems from Psalm 43:3-4. In the end, I hope we will learn to run to God rather than away from Him.
- Battle with Darkness
The Psalmist opens verse three which is part of his prayer for rescue, with a request for two things. He asks God to send him light and His faithful care.
These two indicate the need that envelopes the person in a depressed state. One feels as though he has been sitting in darkness unattended. The darkness is sometimes the lack of clarity on life events. Issues such as death bring questions that one cannot get answers for. As we battle this darkness we have to need to ask God to send us His light and His tender loving care. The statement of Jeremiah in the book of Lamentations 3:22-23 is very instructive.
“Because of the LORD’s great love, we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.”
We should fight feelings of darkness and neglect with the word of God and prayer. Do not allow yourself to sit in darkness unattended. Ask God for His light! His clarity in your situation! Ask Him for His tender loving care. He will surely attend to you.
2. Battle with Loneliness
The Psalmist asks that the light of God and His faithful care will lead him to the place where God dwells. The Psalmist chooses to fight the loneliness that he feels with the presence of God. I have said earlier that depression deprives us of the presence of God. We feel rejected and driven away from His holy sight. We battle in our hearts with the feeling that even though we walk in a crowd we are really alone.
In reality, we are never alone! One person once said that if we feel that God is too far from us we need to ask ourselves who moved! We will find that we are the ones who did! Or in other instances, we will find that we are the ones who refused to move with God when He did!
“Lead me back to the presence of God,” is the heart cry of the Psalmist. I hope it will also be our cry this day. Whatever is going wrong in our lives will only be made right in His presence. Psalm27: 4-5 captures this very well for us.
One thing I ask from the LORD,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
and set me high upon a rock.
3. Battle with Emptiness
The Psalmist finally prays to God that he may be led to the altar of the Almighty. He wants an opportunity to offer a sacrifice with joy and fulfillment. He wants to come to a point where his heart will snap out of depression to worship God with a lyre.
I cannot overstate the case here! The presence of God cures depression! Only God really understands how you feel or can really go through all your struggles with you. If you accept to desire Him as the ultimate, He will keep you close as the apple of His eye! The emptiness that you feel in your soul can be replaced with joyful fulfillment at the altar of our God. Then we can say as it is written in Psalm 30: 11
“You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy!”