Help For My Battle With Discouragement

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. (2 Corinthians 1:3-7 ESV)

Yesterday I had one of those days that bring out the worst in me, my tendency towards discouragement. By the time I went to bed I was sooo deeply discouraged.I woke up in the middle of the night full of fear, anxiety, and worry about my life, my church, and these people.

One of the greatest battles that I have as a Christian is despondency. Sunday afternoons and Mondays can often times be dark days for me. There are moments when I will lose all hope, see nothing but darkness, isolate myself from others, and yearn for escape from my inner pain. At times like this I can barely pray or read my bible. There are times when I know it is tied directly to my unbelief, other times it comes out of fatigue and exhaustion, other times it seems like a direct spiritual attack, and other times it is inexplicable to me. Sometimes I feel such shame for my weaknesses in this area. Like Spurgeon, I feel that it is one of my worst sins.

I am thankful that some of my beloved brothers have written profoundly on this subject to help me battle my depression. Martin Lloyd Jones has written a book called Spiritual Depression, Its Causes and Its Cures based upon Psalm 42 that has given me allot of insight and comfort in regards to despair and depression. John Piper wrote a great chapter on depression in his book Future Grace called Faith and Future Grace vs. Despondency that is very helpful. He also has written a chapter in The Hidden Smile of God on the great hymn-writer William Cowper, who battled depression all of his life and finally succumbed to it by taking his life. These three books are great helps in the battle for those who like me suffer from bouts of depression.

There is a great article I read recently called Listening for the Sound of Reality that was written by Dr. Zack Eswine of Covenant Theological Seminary. (http://www.covenantseminary.edu/resource/Eswine_LincolnSpurgeonAndDepression.pdf). It is a very worthwhile and encouraging read. In the article, he contrasts two great men who battled depression: Abraham Lincoln and Charles Spurgeon. Listen to these two men speak on their depression:

Lincoln could say, “I am the most miserable man living.” Spurgeon could begin a sermon with the words: “My brethren, I am quite out of order for addressing you tonight. I feel extremely unwell, excessively heavy and exceedingly depressed.”

Did their depression rend them ineffective? Why not? Dr. Eswine writes:

"I believe it was because they embraced the miracle and listened for the credible sounds of its reality. In short, Abraham Lincoln and Charles Spurgeon did not give up on life."

The reason that they didn't give up to Eswine is because in spite of their despair, they never lost hope. "There is more to life than meets the eye. Therefore, to see the miracle in life we must admit that we do not know all ends. But we must also really believe that the present state of things will not necessarily have the last word. In short, to see the miracle in life is to possess hope...“Our perspective on what is happening is vital to our sense of hope...So much depression arises because of a loss of perspective.” Perspective involves both the sidewalk and the horizon. The sufferer of gloom must connect his or her daily melancholy to what William James called “the remoter schemes and hopes” of life. By "remoter schemes,” James referred to what we might call “the larger story” in which our current melancholy acts as one scene or chapter. What larger purpose or narrative does one look to in order to make sense of what presently assaults them?

I am so encouraged by this concept of the "larger story". When we begin to think in this kind of perspective, we are able to make more sense of our presence by seeing our moment of depression as a chapter in the story of God and His working in our lives. The sovereign governing and His providence means that ultimately He has the last word in this chapter and the story of our lives. Eswine says

Both Lincoln and Spurgeon connected their present circumstances to the larger story and hopes of God’s providence. The idea that God is at work in unknown ways amid the most difficult of circumstances, acted as a lighthouse from which they could both navigate the miracle of life in their rough waters. God’s activity formed the larger story of our current chapter. So, God—not our circumstances—would have the last word.

Why do we get depressed? What gives depression its power over us? Eswine's comments really have helped me to be able to better understand and know what to do when I get low.

But, when one treats life as less than a miracle, he “increases the proximity of despair. In other words, when there are no...“larger stories” ...Bodily pains, natural temperaments, tragic circumstances, spiritual activity; each of these requires a larger story which can handle what these experiences require of a person. Yet, many of our larger stories are themselves ruptured of meaning. We must therefore anchor our hope to something real. “Without realistic hope....all is lost. Realistic hope is “the door out of the blackness of depression and despair...We require a larger story that possesses an authentic capacity to handle the realities of our gloom."

Both Lincoln and Spurgeon used the Bible to gain perspective on the "larger story" and to handle it.

From those pages hope was made realistic because it was connected to ruptures of our local and larger stories...Both men saw the mystery of God as a means, not of escape, but of strength. In the context of God’s providence, they sought a realistic view of life. Perseverance, intentionality toward nature, the cultivation of humor and poetry, one day at a time, within the context of a community of care, made sense. The presence of hope fosters a capacity for taking another step and embracing another day.

I think of the poet George Herbert who wrote

"Away despair, my gracious Lord He doth hear; When wind and waves assault my keel, He doth preserve, He doth steer; even when my boat seems most to reel; storms are the triumph of His art; well may He close His eyes, but not His heart."

Having hope in my despair because God is the beginning, middle, and end of my story,
Pastor Bill

Finding Joy in God Alone

Christianity is meant to be a life of tremendous and abiding joy in God. Why? Because God is infinitely delightful, boundlessly enjoyable, infinitely pleasant, infinitely lovely, infinitely satisfying. The best joys in your life are when you forget about yourself and are enthralled with greatness. The greatest greatness is God’s. Every thing that ever made a man happy is amplified ten thousand times in God.

Is it no wonder why Jonathan Edwards said, “The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean…Why should we labor for, or set our hearts on anything else, but that which is our proper end, and true happiness.”

Oh Christian, God wants us to see Him, to understand Him, and know Him, in order that you might supremely enjoy Him and be satisfied with Him, and truly happy in Him. The great end of all bible study, all teaching, all preaching, is a heart for God and a life of joy. That is why the Westminster Confession writes: “The chief end of man is to know God and enjoy Him forever.” Therefore, we should be blood earnest-deeply serious, about being happy in God! If you don’t. You will be dull to His great worth, and you will not desire for Him. And soon your heart will be tied to lesser things.

Jonathan Edwards challenges us “to be endeavoring by all possible ways to inflame their desires and to obtain more spiritual pleasures. . . . Our hungerings and thirstings after God and Jesus Christ and after holiness can't be too great for the value of these things, for they are things of infinite value.”
The implications every day of your life and every Sunday when we gather is that God’s glory hangs on our being happy in Him. George Mueller exhorts and instructs us,

“above all things see to it that your souls are happy in the Lord. Other things may press upon you, the Lord's work may even have urgent claims upon your attention, but I deliberately repeat, it is of supreme and paramount importance that you should seek above all things to have your souls truly happy in God Himself! Day by day seek to make this the most important business of your life… the secret of all true effectual service is joy in God….But in what way shall we attain to this settled happiness of soul? How shall we learn to enjoy God? How shall we obtain such an all-sufficient soul-satisfying portion in him as shall enable us to let go the things of this world as vain and worthless in comparison? I answer; this happiness is to be obtained through the study of the Holy Scriptures. God has therein revealed Him self unto us in the face of Jesus Christ. In the Scriptures, by the power of the Holy Ghost, He makes Himself known unto our souls. . . . [Therefore] The very earliest portion of the day we can command should be devoted to the meditation on Scriptures. Our souls should feed upon the Word. . . . This intimate experimental acquaintance with Him will make us truly happy. Nothing else will.”

Every Sunday my goal in teaching is to “raise your affections and joy as high as I can with the truth of God.” I desire for my congregation to be set on fire with white hot passion for God and overflowing joy in Christ in the preaching of God’s word with clear and compelling biblical truth. So that as Peter says, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.”(1 Peter 1:8) This is the goal of God in the universe. The ultimate battle in your life is: Are you happy?

Are you happy? Are you praising? Many of us have not been used to finding our joy in God so it doesn’t come easy to praise. That is why we must pray, seek, and begin to go hard after joy. “Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness, in the other world, as I possibly can, with all the power; might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of.” (Jonathan Edwards)
Will God be your exceeding joy?

Going hard after joy,
Pastor Bill

Expressing A Passion for the Supremacy of God in a Post-modern World

How will we express a passion for God's supremacy and glory in a post-modern and pluralistic world where most people do not recognize God as an important part of their lives? After reading John Piper there are several things he suggests as Christians and as a church that we can and must do:
1. We will seek to know God better than you we anything, and will delight in God more than we delight in anything and will desire God more than we desire anything. We will believe that knowing God and enjoying God above all things is the indispensable and all-important pathway to this end.
2.We will maintain a conviction at all tines that God is ever-present and gives all things their most important meaning. He is the creator sustainer, and governor of all things. We will keep in our minds the truth that all things exist to reveal something of God's infinite perfections. The full meaning of everything, from shoestrings to space shuttles, is the way they relate to God.
3. We will trust God in every circumstance to use his creative, sustaining, governing wisdom and power to work all things together for the good of all who love him. This is faith in the sovereign grace of all that God promises to be for us in Jesus.
4. We will make life choices that reveal the supreme worth of God above what the world values supremely. The steadfast love of the Lord is better than life (Psalm 63:3). So we will choose to die rather than lose sweet fellowship with God. This will show his supremacy over all that life offers.
5. We will speak to people of God's supreme worth in creative and winsome and persuasive ways, and tell people how they can be reconciled to God through Christ so that they can enjoy God's supremacy as protection and help, rather than fear it as judgment.
Committed to lifting up, speaking up, and living up the Supremacy of Christ in all things,
Pastor Bill