I Want you to take your Bibles this evening and I would like you to to turn to the book of Psalms, really anywhere in Psalms, and we're going to kind of be all over the place in Psalms, dealing with this topic of depression. I want to deal with depression from a biblical perspective, obviously. And I know that there are a lot of things out there that we could say about depression. that are not necessarily based in scripture or have no scriptural basis. And I know that there are many people out there who believe that the Bible doesn't say anything about depression or mental illness, for that matter. Unfortunately, when we dig into scripture, we find out that it actually has quite a bit to say about mental illness, has a lot to say about depression, particularly. And it even tells us how to deal with depression through the power of Scripture. So I want to take a few moments tonight, and I want to do that very thing this evening, is to look at what the Bible has to say about dealing with depression. Let's start off in the book of Proverbs. Go to Proverbs chapter 15 and verse number 13. And I want to give you the sense that in Scripture, Depression is dealt with. And I want to assure you this evening that people do deal with depression. And they deal with depression for a variety of reasons. I'd really love to sit up here and tell you that depression is merely a chemical imbalance. And the only way to treat depression because it's a chemical imbalance is to treat it chemically. I'd like to tell you that this evening because I think that would make all of our problems a lot easier. And it would make the workload that we have on us to fix things in our lives a whole lot simpler. But unfortunately, I can't tell you that because I don't know that. In fact, there's no psychologist or psychiatrist that knows that either. Because if they're real honest about it, they will tell you that we are really not sure about chemical imbalances. That in fact, that is just a theory that we have. And really, it has never been proven that the mental illnesses of mankind are based in any kind of chemical imbalance. If you go to see a psychiatrist or a psychologist, they do not take a liquid sample from your brain and measure out the chemicals and see which one you're short. They don't do that because you would have to be dead in order for them to do that. And so, it remains just a theory. A theory that is largely accepted as fact. And I guess, to be real honest with you, because we don't know one way, it means we don't know the other way either. I can't sit here and tell you that there are no chemical imbalances in your brain because we don't know that one on the same hand. But I think we just need to take an honest look at it. But I also say on the other side to this whole thing, I would love to sit up here and tell you that everybody who deals with depression, well, I guess they are just faking and it's really not a real problem. And it's just something that they just need to get over it. Maybe we just need to smack some sense into them. That would make church real fun, wouldn't it? But you know, I can't say that either. Because I've known too many people who deal with depression. I've known too many people who have dealt with the effects of depression. I've known a lot of sincere people who love God who are just stuck in a rut and they just can't get out. And it sure seems like they are dealing with depression to a large degree. And whether depression is real or not, well, it certainly is real to them because they are suffering the effects of it. And so I would like to get up here and tell you one of two extremes, because that would sure make our lives a whole lot easier and it would make us look pretty smart. But unfortunately, we can't do that. All we can do is tell you that depression is real and it's something that people deal with. And the Bible has a lot to say about it if we allow God's Word to speak to us. In Proverbs chapter 15 and verse number 13, it says, a merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance. But look at what it says next, by sorrow of the heart, the spirit is broken. I don't know about you, but that sure sounds like the underpinnings of depression to me. When somebody's spirit is broken, when somebody's heart is so low and so heavy that they can't think straight anymore, they can't function anymore, they can't make sound decisions anymore. Look, people are there. There's people who are suffering from that. There are Christians who deal with that. And unfortunately, what happens is they go to the doctor for help. And the doctor tells them, well, you just need to take this medication and well, it'll subside the symptoms of your depression. Now, look, I'm not saying that nobody should ever take medication because I think that would be foolish for me to say, but I just always have to ask the question, why in the world Is that the very first thing that doctors try? I mean, literally, if I walked into the office of a psychiatrist right now and said, I am dealing with depression, he would write me a prescription that very moment for me to be able to get some medication to deal with that. Now, why is it the first and why is it the only attempt to fix the problem? Now, I should stop here and say that I am not at all advocating if you're on some kind of medication that you need to get off. Please don't take my words and misuse them that way. There have been many a people who have become very mentally disturbed because they got off their medication in an unhealthy way. In fact, I'll tell you that if you're on medication, I'm encouraging you to stay on medication and keep taking the dosage that the doctor is telling you to take. And if you're very interested in getting off medication, then I have a friend of mine in New York who is a psychiatrist but does not believe in prescribing drugs. And he will help you with a plan to get you off of those drugs. Depending on how long you've been on it, he says it can take up to five to six years to wean yourself off of that medication. Those drugs are so powerful that they literally change the firing mechanisms in your brain. And if you go off on cold turkey, you will literally go insane. And so I want you to be very careful and understand what I'm saying. I'm not telling you if you're on medication tonight that you need to get off. You need to keep taking the medication and you need to keep taking it at the dosage that your doctor has told you to. But if you're interested in getting off, then you need to talk to Dr. Peter Bragan and I can get you in touch with him and he will help you with a plan to wean yourself off after asking you all kinds of questions about how long you've been on it, how strong are the dosages, all kinds of things. And again, as I said, it may take up to five years to wean your body off of some of those things. So I'm not at all saying that. But what I am saying is just simply asking the question, why is that the first and the only thing that we attempt to use to fix the problem? When the Bible very clearly gives us instructions on how to deal with depression from a spiritual perspective. Are you with me this evening? So let's define depression here real quick tonight. I think this will help us as we walk through. The definition of depression, very quickly, is the act of lowering something or pressing something down. That's the technical definition of it. I want you to think about that. If you're thinking about it emotionally, if you're thinking about it spiritually, or if you're thinking about it mentally, the act of lowering something or pressing something down means to put a weight on somebody that they are incapable of bearing, and often depression can do that. I am not at all saying that depression is not real. It is real, and it can happen for a variety of reasons. Here's the second definition that we're given. A hollowed or depressed area, a downward or inward displacement. Anybody who's dealt with depression will know exactly how these definitions fit and how accurate they are. The third and last one, dealing with the mental state, is a mental state of altered mood or characterized by consistent low feelings of sadness and despair. And you say, well, why in the world does a Christian get depressed? Well, I don't know. Why in the world does a Christian sin? Well, why in the world does a Christian fall into iniquity. Why in the world does a Christian stop praying? Why in the world does a Christian stop reading their Bible? I mean, what kind of question is that to ask? Well, why in the world would a Christian get depressed? Well, look, we are not invincible. We have faults and we have flaws just like anybody else. And we process information based on our backgrounds. And sometimes that isn't the right thing to do. And so oftentimes we lose sight of Jesus Christ and we get our eyes off of him. And what happens? We begin to sink into despair. Right? Well, why in the world did Peter take his eyes off of Christ? Well, I don't know, because there was a storm there. Do you have a perfect track record of keeping your eyes on Jesus in the storm? Then we need to have you teach a class on how to get through depression. I think all of us, to some degree, have done things that are not characteristic of what a Christian is supposed to be, and so anything can happen to us. But I want you to notice the symptoms of depression. And these are all practical things. What I want to do here is show you the symptoms because we're going to walk through some examples in Scripture tonight of people who clearly dealt with depression. And from those examples, I'm going to show you the reasons why they dealt with depression. And also from those examples, I want to show you the symptoms of depression. But I don't want to get ahead of myself, so let me just list them out here in just a practical way that you can write these down and you can look at them as we walk through the scriptural examples that we'll give. But the first symptom that we have of depression is a deep sadness that lasts for an extended period of time. Now, this is not just something where you got some bad news and it kind of knocked you off your rocker for the day. This is something where there is a continual attitude of sadness for an extended period of time. That extended period of time may be a week. Maybe you've heard some bad news. Maybe somebody passed away who you deeply cared about, and so it just kind of knocked you into despair. And it might take you a week to recover. That's depression. Just because it only lasts for a week or for a day doesn't make it any less depressed. But there are certainly times when people process things and there are certainly times when things happen to people and they find themselves in despair and sadness for longer periods of time. Maybe not just a week, maybe it's a month, maybe it's two months, maybe it's a year. And so things can become very severe in those cases. Number two is a loss of interest. A loss of interest. Oftentimes, people who deal with depression sort of jump from one job to the next. They kind of lose interest in what they're doing very quickly. And so they're unable to finish projects and they begin to unable to stick with projects and stick with jobs. And this develops into a habit into their lives. They lose interest in things very quickly. In fact, I think that's some of the reason why a lot of Christians fall into depression. And then they fall out of church and they fall out of reading their Bible and they fall out of prayers. They just lose interest in these things. And the depression is such a weight that they can't keep their mind focused anymore. Number three is agitation. This is certainly one that's very prevalent in the examples that we'll look at this evening in Scripture, but agitation certainly is a sign that somebody's depressed. When they're easily annoyed, when they're easily disrupted or disturbed, when they might lash out very quickly with frustration or anger at people, these are all signs that somebody might be dealing with depression. And they're real signs and they're tangible signs and they exist and they're there. Not only that, but we see a diminished ability to think clearly. When somebody falls into despair and loses hope and they find themselves in a situation of sadness, all of a sudden they lose the ability to think clearly and make sound decisions for themselves. Not only do we see that, but we see feelings of worthlessness then creeping up. It amazes me. how worthless a lot of Christians believe themselves to be. I think that that's very sad, to be honest with you, because certainly the Bible does not teach the worthlessness of man. It teaches the sinlessness of man. And if you believe that we are worthless, then why did Jesus Christ pay such a price to save us? But somebody who finds themselves in despair will often think that they have no talents, they have no abilities, they can't do anything. How can God use them? All of these thoughts begin to creep up into the mind of a Christian who's dealing with depression. Not only that, but lastly, we see a loss of physical and emotional energy. This is another one that's very prevalent in the examples that we'll give here this evening, but all of a sudden they just quit. They have no energy left. They just don't have any energy to deal with the trials and the tribulations throughout the day, even though those things may be very trivial for the most part. They just don't have the ability to deal with even the small stuff. They've lost all steam, both emotional and spiritual and physical, and they're just out of gas. We would call it burnout. And so we see that oftentimes this is somebody who is dealing with depression. I want you to know that I didn't get these symptoms from some book. I got these symptoms from the examples that we're going to look at this evening. And because I don't want to go through them twice and reiterate the same things and make this whole thing monotonous, we'll just look at these as they are and then begin to pick them out as we walk through Scripture. But I want you to see here that up on the screen there's a picture of a famous psychiatrist here in the United States. His name is E. Fuller Torrey. He's trained at Princeton University as a PhD in psychiatry. He's one of the top psychiatrists in the country. He broke depression down as this. He said that he believes that 75% of people dealing with depression, all of it, 75% of it anyway, is external. Meaning that it is how they respond to the environment around them. It's very interesting what he said. Because it's interesting coming from a secular psychiatrist who is a graduate and steeped in a humanistic world of psychiatry. And he says 75% of people dealing with depression have depression because it's external. It means it's their response to something that has happened in the environment around them. He said 20% is physical. We'll talk about that here this evening as well. And you know he attributes just 5% of all cases of depression as neurological. That means only 5% of people dealing with depression need medication. So here you have one of the top psychiatrists in the country and he says, look, depression is basically 75% how people are dealing and processing with the things that happen to them in their environment. Right? That sure sounds like the Bible can help us with that, can't it? 20% of it is physical. Again, we'll talk about that in five, just 5% of people he believes, have neurological problems and actually need medication. I find that very interesting because that basically says that 95%, 95% of people dealing with depression, it can be broken down into spiritual and physical. Isn't that interesting? Not neurological, but that is so contrary to what is believed and what is practiced today. Not to turn this into an anti-drug message, but does anybody find it interesting that all of these mass shootings that happen every single time, every single person, 100% of the time, these guys and kids who go out and mass murder people, are on some of the most powerful psychotropic drugs known to man on the face of this planet. But does anybody find it even more interesting that nobody is even asking the question? Maybe it's the psychotropic drugs. That doesn't ever even get asked. Look, all I'm saying is let's just ask the question. I'm not even saying I know the answer. I'm just saying let's ask the obvious question here that seems to be taboo wherever you go. Is it possible that these drugs are behind what's going on? I think we don't ask the question because we don't like the answer, and the answer is It sure could be. Now, I want you to see something. First of all, the causes of depression. Let's talk about this. And this is where we're going to spend most of our time this evening, looking at the cause of depression, because the Bible can really tell us a lot about depression. I think sometimes we find people who are depressed and we just say, well, they just need to get over it. They just need to stop it. Right. When really there are some very real biblical causes for depression. And it's very difficult for people to get over it. It's not just something that they can snap their fingers. It's not something that they have chosen to just be depressed, but it's something literally that is happening to them. Now, it may be happening to them as a result of a bad choice that they've made, but no less it is happening to them. And they really have no control over the depression that they find themselves in. Now, I will tell you that they have control over the cause of the depression. and they could alleviate it that way, but our first cause that I find in Scripture really boils down to physiological. I mean, I know that may sound trite, and it may sound easy, and you say, well, that's an easy fix, it's all just physiological. Well, no, I mean, Dr. E. Fuller Torrey said that it was 20% physical, he thought. I don't know if he's right or not, I'm assuming he's much smarter than I am, so I'll trust just for the sake of argument that that's what it is. 20% of people dealing with depression have a physiological reason why they're dealing with depression. Now, I see this largely in 1 Kings chapter 19. Now, I want you to take your Bibles and turn there, because we're going to be jumping to several examples that I have tonight of causes of depression. And in 1 Kings chapter 19, we run into a situation that is very unique in Scripture. We have one of God's prophets. Now, let me just stop here and say that he's a good prophet. He's not a mess up, right? He's not a flaky kind of guy. He's pretty solid all through Scripture. And yet in chapter number 19, we run into him and he is dealing with some very severe depression. And you say, well, where is that in Scripture? Well, he wanted to kill himself. I would say if you're at the point where you want to kill yourself, that's probably in despair. But he basically looked and said, it's not even worth it that I live anymore. God, just take me. I don't know, but I don't walk around saying that every day. I think in order for me to say that, I would have to be put in a place of total despair. And the interesting thing is that in chapter number 18, he's completely the opposite. In chapter 18, he's completely confident. He walks before the king. He tells the king what he needs to do and what God wants him to do. He orders the false prophets of Baal to be slain in chapter number 18. So he's very confident in this chapter number 18. Then one chapter later, he's in this pit telling God to take him. I want you to look at this in chapter number 19. He says, In verse number one, and Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done. He killed the prophets of Baal and with all he had slain, all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah saying, so let the gods do to me and more also if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. So they are going after Elijah. Right? You know the story. They hunt this guy down. They give him no rest. Literally for the span of weeks, he is on the run. No stopping to rest, no stopping to eat, no stopping this. I mean, he's just going, going, going. He's on the run. Look at verse number three. And when he saw that, he arose and went for his life and came to Beersheba, which belonged to Judea, and left his servant there. So he leaves his servant behind, and he just takes off and goes. And he gets to the edge of the wilderness, and the Bible says that he travels about a day's journey into the wilderness so that they couldn't find him. He is in hiding. Are you with me? Well, he's a prophet of God. He should just snap out of it, right? I mean, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is his God. God's his Savior. Why is he getting so depressed? Have you ever been on the run for weeks? Have you ever been without sleep? Have you ever been without food for an extended period of time? No, you haven't. Boozy, raise your hand. I have. No, you have not. Have you ever had a government after you? Have you ever had somebody seeking your life and it seems like God is not there? Don't you think throughout this couple of weeks Eli just stopped and said, hey God, could you help me out a little bit here? No answer. Silent. All he hears is the footsteps of the troops coming to seek his life and kill him. I don't know. That's not the most upbeat situation to be in. Right? And so Elijah begins to sort of slip into what we might call the pit of despair. So he goes a day's journey into the wilderness. He came and sat down under a juniper tree and he requested for himself that he might die. Well, here it is. He's so worn out, he's so tired. He's so exhausted that he says, I can't do it anymore. This isn't worth it. Why don't I just die? Right. What does he say? And said it is enough. Boy, that'll preach right there. That's a good message. You ever get to the place where you just say, it's enough. Right? It's enough. Have you ever gotten to the place where you don't care what anybody thinks? Because it's enough. Let me ask you this. Have you ever gotten to the place where you don't care what God thinks? Because it's enough. Some of you are horrified to hear somebody talk that way. I've been there. I have literally been to the place where I don't even care what God thinks anymore because it's enough. He's depressed, right? He says, it is enough now. Oh, Lord, take away my life for I am not better than my father's. He doesn't have a chemical imbalance. He's just come off a great victory. Right. There's really nothing going on in his life previous to this that would cause him to instantaneously drop into a state of despair to the point where he would want to kill himself after being fined just a couple weeks ago. So really the only thing we can attribute this to is simply physiological, meaning that it is something that he is lacking physically. Right? Now, here's the interesting thing. You go to the doctor and you say, I'm depressed, and they give you medication. They don't ask you how much sleep you've had. They don't ask you how much you've been eating. They don't ask you what your diet is. They don't ask you any of those physiological questions. They just say, here's some pills. What does God prescribe? Well, interesting. I'm glad you asked. Thank you for asking. Look at verse number five, and as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, an angel touched him and said unto him, arise and eat. You know what the. Cure was, you know, what the treatment for his depression was. Get something to eat. Get something physiological that you don't have. Now, watch this. Verse number six, and he looked and beheld, there was a cake baking on the coals and a cruise of water at his head, and he did eat and drink. And what does it say? And laid him down again. And the angel of the Lord came again the second time and touched him and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee. And he arose and did eat and drink and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb, the mount of God. Wow. You know what he needed? Because God says, you know what, we got to get to the next place. We can't stop here. Right? Inactivity, ability to think clearly and make clear decisions, a loss of energy. We can't lay here, Elijah. So here's what, here's what I'm going to prescribe to you. As the great physician, get some food, get some rest, and then get some more food, and then get some more rest. And once you've got plenty of food, and once you've got plenty of rest, then we'll go. Amen? Yeah, that seems pretty easy. And according to Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, He says this is 20 percent of people who deal with depression. It's physiological. Did you know that you can become depressed because of a sickness? How about diabetes? How about just being sick? I don't know about you, but when I get a cold, I'm not Mr. Happy go lucky. How about drugs? That may be psychotropic drugs. I think that they can actually cause greater depression in the end, but it could just be maybe some drugs that you're taking or pills that you've been prescribed for headaches that you have or maybe something other illness that you have. There are side effects from those medications, but not just drugs that are prescribed. How about other drugs like caffeine? Ah, yes, I know. The one drug that Baptists don't say anything about. Right? We will throw a fit about everything else, but when it comes to the drug of caffeine, well, don't you dare touch that. Right? Listen, caffeine is a drug like anything else. Caffeine is a drug like alcohol. It amazes me that Baptists are so uptight about alcohol, and yet they don't say anything about caffeine. Now, of course, I'm speaking a little tongue in cheek, but I'm also being a little serious, too. Because I'll tell you something. Caffeine is not an accelerant. Caffeine is a depression. It's a depressant. It's a drug. It can actually cause you to become depressed. And yet we drink it by the gallons. Now, I'm not preaching against coffee. I'm just saying, let's use some sense, right? I'm just saying, let's look at some causes. If you're dealing with depression and you have some of the symptoms of depression and depression is real and we see it in Scripture, the Bible gives us some causes and one of those causes is physiological. I think we ought to look at some physiological things in our lives that might be causing some of the depression that we have. How about our diet and nutrients? Now, look, don't think you can eat a Big Mac every day and sustain a healthy lifestyle. Listen, if there's no greater proof for a chemical imbalance, it's the Big Mac. You eat a Big Mac and you're going to have a chemical imbalance somewhere. And I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't end up in your brain. Your body needs nutrients, and guess what, folks? Here's the deal. The food that our country produces, in fact the world produces, is not nutritional. I'm sorry, but when you buy produced food from a production line, they are just simply trying to make as much money and spend the least amount of money. And all of the manufactured food that we have is not geared to giving your body the nutrients that it needs. It's geared for maintaining the minimal amount to be able to pass by the FDA. Listen, even our country and our farm fields anymore is not growing like they should because we are sucking all the nutrients out of the ground. The Bible says you've got to give that ground some rest. We don't do that. Because if we gave that ground some rest, that means our corporation might not pay us like they used to. Well, you know that silly farmer that makes his fields rest every seven years, right? Listen, the food that we eat today just doesn't have the nutrients to sustain our bodies. You want to know why so many people are suffering from cancer? It's largely because of malnutrition. Do you know that they go to countries where there is no problem with malnutrition and what do they see? Very minuscule amounts of cancer. Your bodies just aren't equipped to deal with that. It needs nutrition. You know, here's something, natural light. Listen, we live in Minnesota, so this affects us. It also affects people who live in Alaska. But you know, it gets pretty dark in this state. From about December to about April, it's pretty gloomy. And there's not a whole lot of natural sunlight. You know that your body needs natural sunlight to produce certain vitamins and chemicals in it to survive? And literally for four months out of the year in this state, all of a sudden the light just gets shut off and the sun is so far away that your body just can't deal with it. Look, there's a lot of people who deal with depression just simply because a lack of sunlight. Well, that's crazy. Well, then you're calling me crazy because I deal with that. I know that come about December, I'm going to start getting depressed. And so what do I do? I go and buy a bunch of vitamin D pills and I take them from December until April. Because I know that my body is going to have a vitamin D shortage during that time because of the lack of sunlight that's out there. And my body, whatever makeup and whatever way God made me, I just happen to need a lot of sunlight. I like to be in the sun. I can feel the rays shining onto my skin and my skin just absorbing it and using it. I mean, I can feel the whole process in my body. When it's not there, it's like something's missing. But I'm supposed to be content with whatever state I'm in. Right? How about heavy metals? Do you know that your body is exposed to thousands of heavy metals that a hundred years ago our natural bodies were not exposed to? We have metals in our shampoo, we have metals in our food, we have metals all over the place. I've literally known people who deal with depression because they have high levels of heavy metals in their body. And so, what do they do? They go to therapy to remove those Heavy metals. I don't mean therapy like, you know, sitting down and talking to a shrink on a couch. I mean, they go to an actual medical therapy that begins to draw those heavy metals out of their body because those heavy metals are toxins and they can cause you problems. Look, all I'm simply saying is that. One of the causes of depression, at least according to Scripture, is purely by your body's need or lack of something. So if you find yourself dealing with depression, maybe we should just start there and say, all right, what's my diet look like? How much sleep am I getting? How much rest am I getting? How much sunlight am I getting? Am I eating anything that would cause me to be malnourished or not have the energy that I need to sustain? That's all I'm saying. Let's take a look at that, right? Because certainly that was the treatment that God gave Elijah. All right, how about this? Now we move to spiritual. This is the other 75% of people that deal with depression, according to E. Fuller Torrey. He says 75% of people who deal with depression deal with something external, meaning that it is something that has been done to them and depression is their response to it. But you know what I see? Turn to Psalm 38. You know what, I think one of the causes of depression is, for the Christian anyway, and maybe even for the non-Christian, I think guilt. Amen. Listen, when you do something wrong, you experience guilt. Everybody does. When you do something that is against the law that is written in your heart, that is against the conscience that God has given you, and for the Christian, when you do something that offends and grieves the Holy Spirit of God, guess what the natural, biological, and psychological response is? Is guilt. Right? And do you know that guilt causes your body stress? You know that scientists are now showing that guilt is the cause of a lot of diseases and health problems in people's lives? Guilt. Just simply not dealing with things that they've done wrong. Amen. Look at this for a moment. And we see this in Psalm. Look at Psalm 38, verses 6 through 8. I am troubled. I am bowed down greatly. I go mourning all the day long. Well, that doesn't sound like somebody you want to hang around with, does it? That sounds like somebody who might be depressed. And you know who that somebody is? That somebody is David. I think David dealt with a lot of depression in his life for a lot of different reasons, by the way. But I know that he dealt with depression for one reason, guilt. Remember, we talked about depression being a heavy load, being put upon somebody. Well, he says, I'm bowed down. I go mourning all the day long. I am troubled. Look at verse number seven. For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and sore broken. I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart. Boy, that doesn't sound like somebody who's having a good time. David dealt with a lot of guilt because David made a lot of mistakes, not just one. I often wonder if he didn't deal with some guilt because of the way his kids turned out. I often wonder if he didn't deal with guilt because he was a man with bloody hands and God wouldn't let him build the temple and he wanted to. David did a lot of things right, but just like us, we do a lot of things right, but we sure do a lot of things wrong. Right? And you know what the sad thing is? We often judge our best guys and gals by their worst moments. Isn't that true? David was a man after God's own heart, but each and every one of us in here, for some reason, when we hear the name David, we think Bathsheba. We're judging one of the Bible's best guys by his worst moment. But no question he dealt with sadness and despair from the things that he did. Now look at Psalm 32. Psalm 32, by the way, which is written after Psalm 38, just for a point of reference. But look at verse number three. Well, in fact, look at the context in verse number two, blessed is the man whom the Lord imputed not iniquity. Jump down to verse number three. And when I keep kept silent, my bones waxed old through my roaring, all The day long for the day and night thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledge my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess my transgression unto the Lord. Thou forgave us the iniquity of my sin. Amen. But notice what happens when he didn't say anything, he says, when I kept silent, my bones wax old through my roaring all the day long. Right? You know what guilt is? Guilt is how you deal with unconfessed sin. Amen. Guilt is how you deal with sin that is unforgiven in your life. You know what the greatest news there is? The greatest news there is is 1 John 1.9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and it cleanses from all unrighteousness. There is no reason that a Christian should feel guilty. Jesus Christ has delivered us from that guilt. Amen. He has put that sin upon him. That doesn't mean that there's no such thing as godly sorrow, but godly sorrow is different than guilt. But you know what? There's people out there who feel guilty because they have sinned in their life that they have not confessed. Because they are dealing with things in their life that they have not gotten right with God, and they are doing exactly what David said, when I kept silent. Right? They bury that thing deep down and they say, I'm never going to talk about that again. Well, guess what? Depression is at hand. I think guilt very often is a cause of depression. Here's another one. How about an unbiblical perspective? Let me show you what I mean. Look at Psalm 73, which was not written by David, one of the few Psalms that was not written by David, it was actually written by a man by the name of Asa. He says in Psalm 73, in verse number 12, he says, Behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in the world. They increase in riches. Verily, I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency. You say, what in the world is this guy's problem? Well, if you read the entire psalm, which we don't have time for here tonight, you'll find out that he became very, very upset and depressed because of one thing. He saw the wicked prospering. Amen. Very simple. He saw the enemies of Israel prospering. He saw the enemies of God prospering. And so he gets so depressed, he comes to the point where he says in verse number 13, why in the world am I living a righteous life? I'm doing it in vain. Because I'm sacrificing all these things to live a righteous life, and here the wicked are doing better than me. Right? That's his big beef in the whole chapter. It just gets narrowed down in these two verses. But you know what he had? His problem was an unbiblical perspective. You know what I mean by that? I mean this. He didn't see the end. Right? You know, I was just reading a study this week. I found it very interesting. I was reading a study this week out of Harvard University. It was a Harvard University study out of their biology department. And you know what they found out? They found out that after all this time, they've been studying the intelligence of sheep. Now, I know, I know, we've been told that sheep are stupid and dumb, right? Do you know what they found out? They said, we've never studied the intelligence of sheep before simply because the perspective was that they were dumb and so we never wanted to waste the time with them. Well, apparently they must have got a few government grants and had some extra time. And so they began to study it. Well, you know what they found? They found that for an animal of that brain size, they were exponentially more intelligent than any other animal. But you know what their problem was? Very simply, they're nearsighted. They're nearsighted to the point where they can only see about three or four feet in front of them. And so they often give the appearance of being stupid because they run into things, because they walk off cliffs, because they fall over this, because they just seem like they don't care and they're kind of aloof. Well, it's easy to be aloof when you can't see. Right? Boy, it sure means a whole lot more when Christ says, my sheep hear my voice and follow me. Because you know what? I don't think that people are stupid. It'd be kind of fun to preach and say, we're all stupid like sheep, right? I don't think people are stupid. I think there's some really smart people out there. But you know what I think our problem is? We're more like sheep than we probably ever even knew. We are so nearsighted. And all we care about is what's going on about three or four feet around us. And we don't see how what we do affects somebody else, the choices we make today affect our future, how we treat our kids now affects what they're going to be in 10 years. All we care about is what's right, what I can see right in front of me. Right? Instant gratification. Boy, we really are sheep. My point is just simply this. He had a very, very limited perspective. Because you know what? All he cared about was what he could see. Look at the righteous prospering and look at me. Have you ever thought that way? I've thought that way. I'd be like, some guy living a wicked life And he doesn't have a care in the world. Got more money, right? That he knows what to do with. And I'm sitting here going, God, I'm trying to live for you and I'm struggling. You know, that can cause us to be depressed. Amen. Because we've got the God who says He's going to take care of everything. And then when He doesn't take care of things, we're like, hey, what's going on? Right? And all of a sudden we go, well, I don't even know why I'm doing this. This is a waste of time. But you know what? He changes His mind. You know how He changes His mind? Here's the cure. See, we get the cure for these. Amen? Give the cure for it. A cure is this. Look at verse number 16. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me, but look at verse 17 on till. Well, there you go. Right, until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I there and. There you go, that's all we need is the right perspective. Then that'll lift us right out of that depression. We'll go, oh yeah, well, I know the end of the story. Or we'll go, I know the end of the story. I better go witness to them. Right? It's all in perspective. How about this? On biblical standards, to have unbiblical perspective can cause us to be depressed because we're limited in our view and it causes us to not understand. And when we don't understand why somebody else seems to be being rewarded and we seem to be being punished, look, that's going to result in depression. We have unresolved guilt. Something in our lives that we have not gotten forgiveness about. We're trying to be silent about it. And like David said, that is going to be like a dryness to our bones. Or we are just missing something physically that we need. But I want to hammer on this one for a second. On biblical standards. You know, I saw something in Jonah the other day that I had never, ever seen before. Go to the book of Jonah. You know what I like to do when I read God's Word? I like to think. I hope you like to think. You know what I like to do when I read God's Word? I like to ask questions. I kind of like it when my kids ask questions unless they ask like 50 million questions and it's like 11 o'clock at night and I'm a little short on sleep or something like that. I like my kids to ask questions. You know why? That tells me they're thinking. That tells me the blood's flowing in their brain. I like to ask questions. And I read Jonah chapter 4 and verse number 1 and I asked God a question. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying? When I was yet in my country, therefore I fled before unto Tarsus, for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me." Boy, that sounds like a depressed individual. There's that whole, my life isn't worth anything. Right? Don't you go telling God to take your life? He says, for it is better for me to die than to live. Now, this is interesting. Think about this for a minute. Dive deep down just for a second. The children of Nineveh were living wicked lives. Right? The people of Nineveh were wicked. God told Jonah to go there and preach a message and tell him that he's going to wipe them out. Right? Jonah in his mind goes, Oh, I know that you are gracious and merciful and long-suffering God. And I know that when I get there, you're going to find some way to save those wicked people. Right? You're going to give them an opportunity to repent. So what did Jonah do? He went in the very opposite direction of Nineveh. He went to Tarshish, right? Then at the end of the story, when it's all over, they repent. He sits down and goes, just kill me, God, because I'm not even worth anything anymore. All of the wickedness and bad things that I've done over the last 30 days. I ran from you. I went in the opposite direction. I took a ship that you didn't want me to take. Because you might as well just kill me. Because I knew that you were so merciful and loving and kind. Doesn't anybody see? There's a problem with that philosophy. If God, if He knew God was so loving and kind, why would He presume that God was going to punish Him? Or that God should punish Him? Why doesn't He claim the same mercy and grace that He knew God was going to give Nineveh? I mean, after all, if anybody's got a little pull with God, it's going to be one of His prophets, right? Do you know what that is to me? That's an unbiblical standard. And you know what we do? We beat ourselves up over unbiblical expectations. Do you believe that? I believe that. Goodness gracious, for years I beat myself up over things that just were not biblical. And when we fall and when we fail, guess what we do? God doesn't beat us up. We beat us up. I mean, we find anything we can to beat ourselves over the head. We'll grab a baseball bat and be, oh, why did I do that? I can't believe I did that. It was so stupid. We'll smash our heads into a brick wall all day long because we fell down and made a mistake. Well, guess what? We're all make mistakes. And God is gracious and merciful and of loving kindness. Amen. But boy, sometimes when we do something wrong, we just don't let ourselves off the hook. And you know what that's going to cause? Depression. You can't live a life of unrealistic expectations. God doesn't even expect you to be perfect. But sometimes when we make a mistake, oh boy, we just don't let ourselves hear the end of it. You know what's a good sign that you are really hard on yourself? Listen carefully. Parents, listen. You know what's a good sign that you are really hard on yourself? When you are really hard on your kids. All that is, is just a sign of somebody who's really got some unrealistic expectations of themselves. Amen. You need to learn how to laugh at yourself. Because you are funny. Amen? You need to learn how to giggle and laugh at yourself because you and I are going to do some really stupid things. And we better have a sense of humor about it or we'll get pretty depressed if our expectations remain so unrealistic that we can never be happy with ourselves. And doesn't the Bible say that we should love ourselves? Because if we can't love ourselves, We can't love anyone else. Amen. All right, now let's move on. We don't have time to go through this whole thing, but I just want to hit the highlights of that. How about this? Self-centeredness. Boy, I'll tell you what, in 1 Samuel chapter 16, there's probably no greater example of somebody who's depressed than Saul. In 1 Samuel 16, the Bible says that he anointed David to be king. At that very moment that he anointed David to be king, what happened? The spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and what? An evil spirit began to pester Saul. It didn't say that an evil spirit entered into Saul, by the way. It just said that an evil spirit began to mess with him. And from that, boy, Saul is just in a mess. But think about this. Why in the world did God unanoint Saul and anoint David? Well, if you really want to look at it, it was because Saul wanted to have it his way. Right? I have done all that the Lord had commanded me to do. Well, what made it the bleeding of these sheep in mine ears? And the very next conversation they had was, Saul, I got some bad news for you. But the kingdom has been taken from you. Because you would not hearken to the voice of the Lord. Because you put your voice above God's voice. Because you put your commandment above God's commandment. Because you put your desires above God's desires. Do you realize tonight that you and I were not created to think about ourselves. Think about that for a minute. We were not created to think about ourselves. We were created to think about God. Amen. Do you realize that you and I have a spirit within us that does not drive us to think about ourselves? That that Spirit that lies within every Christian, the Spirit of God, drives us and requires us to think about other people and God first before ourselves. Right? But what happens when you ignore that? What happens when you go contrary to everything that you were created to be and everything that you were filled by the Spirit of God to be? It's going to mess you up. Right. Like I said this morning, like concrete all mixed up and set in your ways. Amen. Self-centeredness when we're constantly looking at ourselves and wanting to be the center. Guess what? God is not going to argue for attention. Amen. God is not going to fight with you for glory. Right? So, if God is continually having to push you down and push you down and humble you and humble you and humble you and you never humble yourself, guess what? That's going to cause some depression. That's going to cause some heaviness in your life. It sure did for Saul, anyway. Look at this Ephesians chapter 4 real quick. Ephesians chapter 4, look at what he says in verse number 25. He says, Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. I want you to think to yourself, what's the theme going on here? Look at verse 26, and be angry and sin not. Let not the second go down upon your wrath. Verse 27, neither give place to the devil. Verse number 28, let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers." What's the theme so far in this passage? Other people. Right? Others. Work with your hands so that you have something to give to somebody when they need. Right? Speak edifying things out of your mouth so that it encourages other people around you who are down. That's what he's saying. He's saying get yourself strong spiritually so that you have to give to other people. Right? But look at the very next phrase in verse number 30. And grieve not the Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. You know what? This passage says to us That when we think of ourselves first and others last, guess what? That is grounds for grieving the Spirit of God. Because Paul in this passage is saying, I want you to think of other people first and yourself last, because that's the spirit that lies within you. And when you think of yourself first, you do nothing but grieve that spirit. What are the two things that the Holy Spirit of God delivers to the Christian? Comfort and joy. Comfort and joy. And when we grieve the Holy Spirit of God, guess what? We lose the comfort and we lose the joy and a weight gets put upon us that's so heavy we can't bear. Now we have two minutes left. And in those two minutes, let me give you this in Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11. And let me give you the answer to all of this. You ready? You're feeling depressed. Alright, I think I've figured out why I'm depressed. We looked at the causes. Yep, that's me. I'm self-centered. I have unbiblical expectations. I've got unresolved guilt in my life. But what do I do now? Matthew chapter 11 and look at verse Twenty-eight, he says, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. What's the definition of depression? Being weighed down. Right? Just like David said, oh, I'm bowed down with the weight that's on me. Being depressed is being brought low by the weight that's been pressed upon you. Jesus says, when you feel that way, come unto me. Amen? Come unto me, all ye that are heavy laden. And what does he say? I will give you rest. There's your promise. There's your condition, though, too. He doesn't just say, I'm going to go throw and rest around. He says, come unto Me and I will give you rest. But look at 29. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls. You say, well, that's real nice. Put off one weight to put on another weight. Right? Throw off a boulder to put on a yoke. That doesn't sound like much of an answer. Well, look at what he says in verse 30. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And when you have a yoke of oxen, guess what? It's not just one that's pulling the weight. You've got two shoulders in that thing. And Jesus Christ says, Here's what I want you to do. I want you to come unto me. I'll give you rest. I'll put my yoke on you and I'll carry all the weight. And my is very easy and my burden is very light. But what are we supposed to do? What's the responsibility of the Christian in here? Boy, Jesus sure puts a lot of responsibility on himself. He says, look, I'll pull the weight. I'll make it light for you. I'll make it easy for you. But what's the responsibility? One, we come unto Him. Two, and learn of me. You want to know how to deal with your depression? You want to know how to cure your depression instead of just manage it? Bring it to the Lord and let Him carry the weight. Right? Let Him shoulder it. You know what? All you need to do is open this book and learn about Him. Learn about Him. Become more and more and more like Him. I'm putting out a devotional this week. One of them includes this story. In 1499, Michelangelo finished what would be considered his magnum opus. It's called Pieta. It's in St. Peter's Basilica to this day. It's a beautiful piece of work. Pieta is the Italian word for affection. Basically, what he carved out of marble was a lifelike image of Jesus Christ after He was taken off the cross. His body laid there, lifeless. It is so realistic looking that people, in fact, to the tune of 18,000 people per day, go to visit Pieta in St. Peter's Basilica to see this image of the lifeless body of Jesus Christ. that was carved out of stone more than 500 years ago. His apprentice asked him, Michelangelo, how in the world did you get a rock, a piece of stone, a boulder, to look so real and lifelike? Michelangelo looked at his apprentice and said, all I did was cut away everything that didn't look like Jesus. And you know what I think? Although we don't know what Jesus looks like and have very little information about His physical description, I think it still gives us a spiritual application. In that all we have to do to look like Jesus is cut away anything that doesn't look like Him. And you know what I believe? I believe the more we cut away and the more we look like Him, the more people will attract to flock and come see Christ. And we will become a monument to the world of what Jesus truly is. And that's our responsibility. Jesus says, learn about me. Learn to be more like me. Learn to follow in my steps. Learn my character. Learn my temperament. Learn my personality. Learn what I like and learn what I don't like. That's your responsibility. Jesus says the rest It's all up to me. Amen. There's an easy cure for depression. Just seek the Lord. Seek his will, seek his word, seek his way. Let's go to Lord in prayer. Father God, we thank you for tonight. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the examples that are given in your word. We know that depression is real. We know that people deal with it every day. Some deal with it more severely than others. But Lord, I believe from the examples we've looked at, we have seen the reasons why people deal with depression. And sometimes there's unforgiven sin in our lives and we need to get that right. Lord, I pray that if somebody here today may be dealing with depression because of guilt that they have, that they would realize that they can just confess that to you and you will take that burden from them. that it is forgiven, that it is washed away white as snow by your blood that was shed on the cross of Calvary. Maybe somebody's dealing with depression because they have unrealistic expectations of themselves. Their standards of themselves are higher than your standards. God, you know us better than anybody and you know that we're going to make mistakes and we're going to fail and your grace and your mercy fills in the gaps and we praise you for that. Lord, I pray for those tonight that are dealing with depression. It's not an easy thing. It can be a plague that sits on our shoulder, but Lord God, we don't have to let it be there. Maybe it's just something we need to deal with tonight. Maybe it's something where we just need to bring it to you and have you shoulder the weight for us. And our responsibility is just to come to you and learn about who you are and what you want and your desires for us. God, I pray that you'd be with us tonight as we leave here. Lord, I pray for those who are dealing with depression. I ask that you would help them, give them clarity of mind to help them see how they can have victory over this problem in their life. God, we ask this tonight in Jesus' name. Amen. Bye.