Down in the dumps? You’re not alone

When you turn your life, heart, and soul over to Jesus Christ as your Savior, you may think you are going to live a happy ever after life, like in a fairy tale.  But it isn’t like that. Christians have the same problems as the world has, but Christians have Jesus, their Rock and their Good Shepherd to lean on and cry out to in their times of need and times of despair.  The world does not, for they love the darkness rather than coming to the Light.

In the Bible, you will find people turning to God in their depression and despair.  Job is one example.  Satan took just about everything away from Job.  Job had a right to be angry and sorrowful.  He lamented the fact that he had even been born.  Yet Job turned to God to vent his anger and sorrow.  He knew who his Helper was.

Hannah was sorrowful because she could not get pregnant.  So she went to the temple and poured out her sorrow to the Lord.  Hannah’s sorrow was so profound that Eli, the priest, couldn’t understand what she was saying to the Lord.  Yet Hannah knew that the Lord would comfort her and heal her.

David, the great man of God, also suffered from great sadness.  Most of David’s sorrows were of his own doing – he sinned by sleeping with Bathsheba, he had rebellious sons because he didn’t discipline them correctly, and at times, he didn’t trust God to deliver him from the hand of Saul.  Yet, like Job, David took his sorrows to the Lord and confessed his sins.  In the book of Psalms, we find David’s lamentations and we can relate to his sorrows. 

Even Jesus was sad.  He was half-human, after all, so He has all the emotions that we have.  He cried when Lazarus died, even though He knew He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead.  He wept over Jerusalem, even though the people had hailed Him as Messiah and four days later, demanded that He be crucified.   In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus wept so hard, it was like great drops of blood fell because His human side didn’t want to die a horrific death on the Cross. 

You are not alone, my fellow Christian.  I too have been sorrowful, for reasons I don’t wish to go into detail about here. You may have noticed that I have not written many posts on this blog in the last two years and my sadness and sorrow is why.  There is a line in Psalm 56:8 where David says, “You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book?”  God’s bottle of my tears must be as big as the Atlantic Ocean.  I have done more than my share of crying and despairing.  But I too have turned to God as my Comforter. 

We can look forward to the day when there will be no more pain and no more suffering.  In Revelation 21:4, it says: "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."

God will comfort you from your sorrows too, if only you will turn to Him.  He is always available when you need to pour out your sorrows.  But sometimes, the pain and despair are so deep that you feel the only way to be free from your sadness and despair is to end your life. My friend (for if you are reading this, I count you as my friend), that is when you need to cling to Jesus all the more.  But if you are in deep despair and need a human to talk to, visit with your pastor and he will give you godly counsel; or, if he’s not available, call the Suicide Prevention Hotline at (800) 273-8255 or go to the website.

Thank you as always for reading.   

Diane