Overwhelmed by Depression
You Can't Handle This

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Good morning. Welcome to our online experience together. I’m pastor Jonathan Combs, pastor at our Eastgate campus, and this is pastor Gary, pastor here at our Wilson campus.

We’re so thankful that you are online with us today; there’s quite a few people watching right now. Last week, we introduced this new series called, “You Can’t Handle This;” last week, we talked about fear. I hope the sermon was an encouragement to you last week. If you missed that message, you can go back and check it out from last Sunday.

This week, we’re addressing a maybe an even heavier topic in some way. Yeah, absolutely. You picked on me this week and said that you gave me the easy one. Oh, or something like that. I felt like I gave you the “low hanging fruit,” Jonathan. That’s what I really felt like when we went with fear last week, is that everybody has been feeling some aspect of that. That’s right. That’s right. So this week Pastor Gary is talking about depression, and this is heavy. This is heavy. No matter what the season of life is, I think this is a common trend. I’m sure you’re gonna share some stats about this.

It seems like a growing trend in our culture that more and more people have depression. You know , this whole idea of being in control has really been blown away, wouldn’t you agree, Jonathan? This whole pandemic has blown away any illusion that we had any control at any time right now. All of us are saying that life is out of control. But that’s the beginning of healing; admitting your feeling.

If you know someone that’s a friend,a neighbor or a family member and needs to hear a good word from the Lord today who is struggling with sadness or grief, tell them to dial in. We’re getting ready to crank it up right now. Let’s do the the “Wu handshake.” That’s how we “tag off” every week.

Here’s our theme; it’s found in Psalm 55:2 (NLT) “Please listen and answer me, for I am overwhelmed by my troubles.” Some of you might be feeling that today. In fact, a lot of us, on different days of the week, have been feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the changes and the lack of control, the inability to plan, as these days are going by during this pandemic.

You know, last Sunday, as Jonathan mentioned, we talked about fear. But this Sunday, we’re going to be talking about what psychiatrists and author Dr Frank Minirth calls America’s number one health problem. Now, of course, he’s talking about Covid 19 right? No , he’s not. He’s talking about America’s number one health problem, year after year after year, affecting over 15% of our population. He’s talking about depression. Depression is, by far, the largest problem facing most Americans today as a health problem.

In his book, “Happiness Is a Choice: New Ways to Enhance Joy and Meaning in Your Life,” Dr. Minirth writes this, “As psychiatrists we see more people suffering from depression than from all other emotional problems put together. A majority of Americans suffer from a serious, clinical depression at some time during their lives. At the present time, one American in twenty is medically diagnosed as suffering from severe clinical depression. Of course, many, many more are depressed but never receive help.”

Certainly, during this season, America’s number one health problem has to be the Covid19 crisis. That has to be it. But would you understand this statement? I think it’s absolutely true that the pandemic is actually causing the health problem of depression to increase, perhaps more than it ever has in recent memory. Depression is washing up on the shores of nearly every household in America.

When we use that word, depression, it’s kind of a vague term. We use all kinds of ways to try to describe the feeling. Some use colors; we say, “I’m having a gray day; everything’s kind of gray, without color.” Sometimes we’ll say, “I’m feeling blue; and we will tune into some blue song and listen to it and we’ll sing the blues. When we really feel deeply depressed, we might feel we are in darkness. Everything’s black around us. We use colors.

Sometimes we use geography. We use directions; we say, “I’m not up today; I’m really down.” We try to describe depression; there’s a whole spectrum of behaviors. That’s why it’s so difficult to describe.

Circumstances are often the cause for depression. I’ve called these “D day events” that bring on “D Day emotions.” D Day events are events like this; I will list a few of them. Events like death, divorce, discouragement or delivery. You have just had a baby. You have just moved or you have changed jobs. And, of course, that word that we’re familiar with today, that D word; disease. These are D Day events that can lead to D Day emotions like despair, disillusionment, discouragement or disappointment. All of these can combine to lead to depression.

Some have described depression as being like the common cold. It begins with sniffles, but three or four days later, just kind of goes away. But, it’s not like that for everyone. For many others, it’s more like arthritis; meds help a little, but the pain never really goes away. We have to be careful about saying we’re depressed, because it varies by person and personality.

How many of you today would admit that you’re struggling with sadness or grief, or you would even admit that you’re struggling with depression today? Depression causes symptoms like this; it affects how you feel, how you think and how you handle daily activities. It affects your sleeping and your eating. It affects you at work. Signs and symptoms of depression include persistent sadness and anxiety. There is, also, a feeling of emptiness. You’ll hear people say “I just feel empty,” or they feel hopeless. They feel helpless. They feel worthless. It affects us on so many levels. It sometimes affects us so that we feel guilty because of some failure in our lives. It can bring on a feeling of such fatigue and such a decrease in energy that we can barely get out of the bed. Are some having trouble sleeping? Some of us may go to the other extreme and we can’t wake up . We just stay sleepy all day.

There are so many different ways that people describe it but depression is even more critical as a health problem because it often leads to suicide, which is one of of the leading causes of death, especially among our young people. We can’t take this lightly. Depression is a problem. We are offering something right now online, I hope our tech team is putting online the link to a self rating. It’s the depression scale that I copied out of Dr Minerth’s book. And so, if you’re struggling today, and you’re not sure how severe it is, take that self rating depression scale. If you need help, please let us know so we can pray with you and offer counsel. Don’t try to handle this alone.

Let’s dig in today with the scripture and see what the Bible says about this. The truth is, that the Bible is filled with people who struggle with the symptoms of depression. We see people like Jonah, Naomi, David , Elijah, Jeremiah, Mary, the mother of Jesus, Peter and Paul. Even Jesus, at times, struggled with severe sadness. As we’re looking at this, know that you’re not alone.

May I confess, I have often struggled with depression throughout my life. I guess I was born with what you would call a “happy go lucky” personality but at the age of eight years old, my father, who was only 39 years old, died of cancer. He left behind a family; a young widow woman. I’m the oldest of four children. May I say to you, that grief is a circumstance that often brings on bouts of severe depression. My whole family, my mother and all four of her children, have struggled often through the years with depression. Sometimes it only takes a little something to “tweak” it and cause it to come roaring back within us. I’m so glad today that I have a heavenly Father . I lost my earthly father but I have a heavenly Father today that never leaves me and never forsakes me. Depression sometimes still hits me, but I always know He’s with me. I always know that, in that season of depression, at least for me, it has a beginning, it has a middle and it has an end. It usually doesn’t last that long for me. I know I’m talking about me right now, and some of you would say, “Gary, you don’t understand. It never goes away for me.” May I say to you that you’re probably right. I don’t understand. But I know One who does and it’s the Lord Jesus Christ; He understands.

The truth is, it’s not just circumstances that can cause depression. Research suggests it’s caused by a combination of genetic, biological, environmental, psychological and spiritual factors. That’s what makes it such a complex problem for those that suffer from it. Yet, no matter its degree, I want you to know this; those who suffer from depression don’t need our judgment. They need mercy; that’s what I’m ready to offer to you today.

Let’s dig into the book of Psalms, chapter 42. We’re going to be looking at a Psalm here that is more like a song, really, because it has a chorus that repeats twice. That’s where I’m going to dig in. I’ll pull out the verses a little bit, but I want to dig in on the chorus that we see in this Psalm 42. He repeats it in verse five and six, and then he summarizes and repeats the chorus again in verse eleven.

I want to show you three ways God can help you with your depression. Are you ready? Let’s read God’s word together as we look at Psalm 42:11 (ESV), “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” This is God’s word. Amen.

We’re looking for three ways to hope in God when we feel overwhelmed by depression. Here’s the first way:

1. By looking upward and outward, rather than inward.

Stay with me now. I know that sounds a little confusing at first. By looking upward and outward rather than inward. Notice how he speaks to himself here. Have you ever talked to yourself? Well, the psalmist here talks to himself; he says, “Why are you cast down, O, my soul..” In other words, he’s talking to his own soul, and he’s saying, Why are you so down? Why does it seem like you’ve been tripped up and you’ve fallen down again?

And then, he says, “ and why are you in turmoil within me?” Why is there such anxiety and discouragement within you? He’s asking himself, and then he tells himself what to do about it. He says, “Hope in God.” And then, he gives the first way that I see here to hope in God, rather than being stuck, being overwhelmed by your depression.

Here’s the first way that I see, he says, “…for I shall again praise him…” “ Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him.” Here is what’s going on. If you look at these verses, if you look at the whole passage, he looks inward for a while, and he’s wondering, “What’s wrong with me?” Do you ever feel like that? Why am I so down right now and I I don’t even know why. That’s often the case, especially those of us that aren’t that in touch with our feelings. Guys, am I right? We are really good at feeling anger, but we get kind of confused when we’re depressed, and we never want to admit that we’re depressed because it seems like we’re showing weakness and we don’t want to show weakness.

Look at the psalmist here as you go through. He says, Psalm 42:3 (ESV) “My tears have been my food day and night…” He’s crying. He’s crying day and night. Listen, if you start crying day and night, you’re probably depressed if it doesn’t go away. If the sniffles keep on going, you’re probably depressed. He says, “ I’ve been crying day and night.” And then, he goes on to say, “Why are you cast down, O my soul.” And then, he says, Psalm 42:7 (ESV) “Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.” What’s he describing here? He’s drowning. Do you ever feel like you’re drowning; like you just can’t get air, like everything in life is so overwhelming that you can’t get out from under it? This psalmist says, I feel like I’m drowning.

Then, he goes onto verse nine and he says,Psalm 42:9-10 (ESV) “Why do I go mourning…? … As with a deadly wound in my bones…?” It is like somebody has died. He’s in mourning. He’s well acquainted with his feelings, as you look at it here, and he’s listening to that inner man, that inner soul. Tell him I’m crying and mourning. I’m drowning. But, it’s time for him to stop listening to his inner man and start talking to his inner man. Did you know you could do that? Did you know that you can have a conversation with yourself? Well, that’s what he’s doing here. He’s having a conversation with himself. He says, I need to talk to you about some things, self, so listen. We get up in the morning and our self tells us stuff.

In the book of Romans, chapter seven, it talks about a fallen nature that still resides in the body and because it is the flesh, the flesh speaks to us, and it often tells us stuff that it’s feeling. But that doesn’t mean we need to approve of those feelings or verify them. We need to speak the word of God back to them and speak faith back to our fears and speak gladness to our sadness. This doesn’t negate that those feelings aren’t there. Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying to just pretend that they’re not there. I’m saying to speak truth to them from the word of God.

This is how the psalmist is addressing it in the book of Psalms 42: 11 (NLT) He says, “Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad?” He’s trying to get to the bottom of this and so, he listens to his inner self, and here’s what it says. And then he begins to look upward rather than inward. I’m not saying you should look inward; just don’t stay there so long. Don’t “navel gaze” too long. Don’t just keep looking inward, look outward and look upward. Speak to yourself from what is true, because sometimes we get alone and we tell ourselves some crazy stuff that’s just not true.

In D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ book, “ Spiritual Depression,” he writes this, “Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Yourself is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment [in Psalm 42] was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. ‘Why art thou cast down, O my soul?’ he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says: ‘Self, listen for moment, I will speak to you.’” I like, that in this book, “Spiritual Depression” by Dr. Lloyd- Jones says that there comes a time when we should get in touch with our feelings and discover what they are, but let’s not camp out there.

This is what the psalmist is saying. He’s honest about his feelings. He’s not avoiding them, he says, I’m crying all day long. I’m in mourning. I feel like I’m drowning. But then he says, let me sing the chorus. Now let me get to the bottom of this and let me turn it towards the Lord. He says, “hope in God for I shall again praise him.”

Sometimes you get up in the morning and you just don’t feel like getting your praise on. Sometimes, by faith, you have to say to your soul, let’s get our praise own. You say, I will praise Him again. You take a step of faith. I’m not just going to be led by my feelings. I will praise Him again. Get your praise on, and that will help you. Trust me, it will help you because God’s word says it will help you. So get your praise on.

Learn to instruct your soul just like old David did in 1 Samuel 30:6 (KJV) “And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” Listen, sometimes people around you are discouraging and your soul within is discouraged. Sometimes you have to encourage yourself in the Lord your God. Sometimes you’ve got to just speak to yourself and say, I will get my praise on. I will encourage myself in the Lord God.

Whose job is it, when you get down. to fan back into flame the calling that’s in your life from Jesus? Whose job is it? It’s your job to fan back into flame the calling and it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to do the work in you to get you back on your feet.

It says, in verse four of our Psalm today, Psalm 42:4, Psalm 42:4 (ESV) “These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. Well, if I think about that the wrong way right now, I get depressed because I start thinking I wish I could see all of you here. I’m looking at my beautiful worship team. They’re spread like 20 feet apart from each other throughout this big, old auditorium right now. I love seeing their faces, but, boy, as I look around, I remember who sits here and who usually sits here in the third row and the people who love to sit in the “nosebleed section” back there that I can barely see. But I’m missing you anyway because I don’t see you right now.

What the psalmist here is saying really helps me; he says I will get to come together with the Assembly of the Saints, pray together and sing together. This is why we keep putting this online for you because we want to give you an anchor for your soul; it helps you to get your praise on. You can put your hope in the Lord when everything else is changing and say, “I will praise him. I will choose to get my worship on.”

Here’s some practical tips: Get up in the morning; get out of your bed. Try to get up a little earlier. Perhaps maybe you’ve been slipping into some bad habits. Get up and get a shower. Get into the word of God. Get some coffee if you’re a coffee drinker. Put on some worship music. Get your day started by putting your hope in God and get your praise on. You’ll be amazed; that will change your day.

The first way is to look upward and outward rather than just staying in your world all of the time.

Here is the second way to hope in God when we feel overwhelmed by depression:

2. By looking to Jesus as your Savior.

The psalmist first says to hope in God, I will praise him. And then he says, hope in God, my salvation. He calls him, “my salvation.” Do you know what the Hebrew word for salvation here is in Psalm 42:11? The Hebrew word is Yeshua; does this sound familiar to you? That’s the Hebrew word, He is my Yeshua, He is my Jesus, my salvation, my Savior. Do you need someone who is well acquainted with sadness and grief? Go to your Yeshua; go to Jesus! He understands, But He not only understands, but He can help you carry it, you know? Listen, if I’m talking to someone about being down, I don’t really need someone coming at me with a bunch of cool religious cliches, do you? In fact, that kind of ticks me off if somebody comes at me with a cliche after I’ve opened up my heart and said, “You know, I’m kind of hurting today,” and they say to me, “Just get your smile on” or “today’s a new day.” That kind of stuff makes me angry because, after all, I’m a guy, and anger is usually my favorite emotion anyway, right? The scripture teaches us that if someone is weeping, we should weep with them and not judge them. If someone is happy, we should have a party with them. Whatever their state of mind is, we should be compassionate enough to really see what’s going on with that person instead of giving them some watered down cliche. We need to give them real help. If we give them Jesus; oh, my goodness, we’ve given them real help.

He doesn’t say, hope in God, your salvation. He doesn’t say, hope in God their salvation. He says, hope in God, my salvation. That’s what he says to his soul; he says, “why are you so down? Why are you so troubled? Hope in God, my salvation” (my Yeshua).

He sums it up in Psalm 130: 1,2 (ESV) “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! 2 O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!” That’s what someone who’s down, someone who’s grieving, someone who’s depressed, needs. They don’t need judgment. They don’t even really need teaching. What they need is mercy. They need mercy. They need someone to say, “I’m so sorry you’re hurting. Let’s cry out to the Lord together.”

Cry out to the Lord Jesus for mercy. He’s ready to run to the person that would pray that and cry that out. He not only understands sadness and pain , He helps us relieve it. If it’s His will for us to carry it for a season, He helps us carry it.

Let me throw some verses really quick at you; maybe, we will try to look at this again later. Take notes. In Isaiah 53:3, the prophet was looking into the future and he was seeing Jesus described like this. “He was despised and rejected by men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Who’s he talking about? He’s talking about Yeshua. In John 11: 35, we hear the verse that pastor Jonathan Minter taught the kids earlier; Jesus wept. Why did he weep? Because his friend had died. But even more than that, I think he wept because of death. He hates death. Life hates death. Wherever life comes, death cannot remain. In Matthew 26:38 He says, (Jesus speaking) “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.” And then, He says to His disciples, “Remain here and watch with me.” That’s the night before He was crucified. He was sorrowful. He was so sorrowful that it felt like dying to Him. He knows how we feel.

Hebrews 4:14-16 (ESV) “14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” We can look to Jesus; He’s our great high priest. He’s not a high priest that prays for us from afar. No, He has felt the pain of sadness and grief just as we have, and maybe even more. He knows how we feel. Yet He offers real help.

In Zack Eswine’s book, “Spurgeon’s Sorrows: Realistic Hope for Those Who Suffer from Depression,” he writes, “In sum, medication for our bodily and mental illnesses is an aid and gift, but even our best medications remain limited. Medicines help us, but rarely in isolation from other helps.” Now listen, it’s easy for those of us who are not taking medication because we don’t have a chemical imbalance or we don’t have some biological problem that causes us to get stuck in depression. We need to be careful about judging them. But on the other hand, may I speak honestly to those of you that are taking meds? It will not be enough. It will not be enough. As we’ve said before, depression is a complex problem, and it certainly includes the spiritual, so we need Jesus. After all, He’s not only the great high priest, but He’s the great physician. I’m not saying you shouldn’t take meds if your body needs it because depression is a physiological problem. It’s complex. But I am saying this; it won’t be enough without Jesus.

Jesus understands; He’s the physician. He will either, according to His will, help relieve it from you or help you bear up under it and carry it because He’s caring about you being sanctified like Him and made like Him.

It might be surprising to hear that one of the greatest preachers in the English speaking world, Charles Spurgeon, was an admitted sufferer of depression. He writes, “Especially judge not the sons and daughters of sorrow. Allow no ungenerous suspicions of the afflicted, the poor, and the despondent. Do not hastily say they ought to be more brave, and exhibit a greater faith. Ask not – ‘Why are they so nervous, and so absurdly fearful?’ No… I beseech you, remember that you understand not your fellow man.” But, Jesus does; Jesus understands. Often, we forget to bring our depression to Him because often it has a spiritual component. In fact , almost always, you could say that it becomes complicated by the evil one because when we’re down, he piles on.

We need one who can help us overcome. We’ve looked at the first and the second way that putting their hope in God can help us. Now, let’s look at the third way:

3. By looking to Jesus as your Lord and God.

He says, “I will hope in my God.” What we’re looking at here is that we need to put Him on the throne. We are in a season right now where we can’t plan anything because we never know what’s going to come out next week on the news from our leaders. But, we can know this, Jesus has not left the throne. God is still on the throne. He’s still sovereign and we’re called to tell the nations.

We just read this, this morning in the one year Bible. We’re called to tell the nations the Lord reigns. He still reigns. Knowing that the only one that we need to fear is the Lord. We need to fear nothing else or noone else.

The psalmist says, “I’m going to hope in my God.” It’s not a passive but a personal emphasis that he makes here. When we recognize what Jesus has done for us, we can look to Him as our Lord and God. It says in John 20:27-29 (ESV) 27 “Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Have you believed in Jesus as your Lord and your God, that He died on the cross for your sins. He was raised from the grave on the third day and that He lives today. He sits at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us.

Do you believe that today? If you can say, “Jesus is my Lord,” then you no longer have to worry about the world being out of control. You can rest. See, a big part is just releasing it and saying, “I can’t handle this, but I know Someone who can.” That really helps.

It really helps me; I’m the type of guy who loves to be in control. I’ve been messed up for weeks now, but I’m learning to say, “Lord, come on. I don’t want any more remedial lessons.” If you’re one of those people that needs to be in control like me, he’s teaching us all right now who’s really in control. He’s in control. The Lord reigns.

How does Jesus become your Lord and God? How do you do this? How do you put Him on the throne of your life?

Psalm 143:6-8 New Living Translation (NLT) 6 “I lift my hands to you in prayer. I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain. Interlude 7 Come quickly, Lord, and answer me, for my depression deepens. Don’t turn away from me, or I will die. 8 Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you. “ Have you given yourself to the Lord? Some of you may be thinking, “I’m going to die if you don’t help me.” Hey, look, He’s waiting for you to cry out and admit your need.

In Dr. Minerth’s book, “Happiness is a choice,” He identified four underlying causes of depression. One is lack of intimacy with God. Another is lack of intimacy with your fellow man with your neighbor. The third is a lack of self esteem, of having a low self esteem, and then the fourth is uncontrolled, unresolved anger. He points out that those who trust Jesus as Lord are empowered to obey the Great Commandment, which says, in Matthew 22:37-39 (ESV) 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: you shall love thy neighbor as yourself.”

If you love your neighbor, now you begin to have intimacy with others and it assumes you’ll love yourself. But often those that are struggling with depression do not obey the great commandment: Love God, love others and love yourself with the love that Christ will give you for yourself because He will give you a new identity. And then, that anger problem goes away when you’re right with God, with others and right with yourself. Only Jesus can do this; only He. He is the one that can rescue us.

Hey, listen, my friend, I’m about to close; if you’re a sufferer of depression, stop trying to handle it alone. The truth is, the beginning of getting rescued from this is admitting, “I can’t handle this. I need help.” Stop Just looking inward for the answer. It’s not there. Look upward and say I want to praise You. I want Jesus to rescue me and save me. I want Jesus to be my Lord and my Savior. I look to Him.

Let’s pray. Let’s talk to Him right now. Let’s remember this; if there’s someone hurting that you know of and it’s not you, there’s someone else, give them mercy. Give them Jesus, your Lord Jesus. We come to you right now, knowing that You are able. Not only are You able, but You understand. We cry out for mercy. You don’t judge us, but You come to us to heal us and to hear us and help us carry the load. You say in Your word, “Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest .” Lord, we pray that prayer right now. If there’s someone out there right now, struggling with depression, Lord, I pray they would cry out to you. Cry out to Jesus right now, right where you are. He will hear you say, “Lord, have mercy on me.” You don’t have to pray a complicated prayer. Just call out for Jesus. His name is the name that saves. Call out to Him. Some of you are here today, and it’s not just depression that you’re facing right now. It’s not just discouragement, but it’s a sense of loss that you feel far from God and things are not in order in your life. It wasn’t just the pandemic; you already felt that way. It’s just become more to your attention now. Would you pray for Jesus to be your Lord and Savior today? That’s why you’re watching today. He loves you. He died for you. He lives now for you to come to Him. Pray with me, Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner. I need a savior. I believe You died on the cross for me, that You were raised three days later and that you lived today; come and live in me. I want you to be my Savior and my Lord. I receive You now. We pray it all in Jesus’ name. Amen.