0:03 the dictionary defines depression as Low
0:06 Spirits gloomy feelings dejection
0:09 sadness a condition marked by feelings
0:11 of worthlessness failure and accompanying
0:13 accompanying
0:15 guilt sometimes the word depression is
0:17 used very generally to describe a lot of
0:19 things but I want to make sure we
0:20 understand what we're going to talk
0:22 about today as we read this chapter in a
0:25 moment depression is more than just a
0:26 case of the
0:29 Blues perhaps the best way to help us
0:31 understand that is a phrase that I read
0:34 this week it says depression is embodied
0:37 emotional suffering embodied emotional
0:39 suffering in other words it's not just a
0:42 state of mind or a negative view of life
0:44 but something that affects our physical
0:46 being as
0:49 well signs of a severe episode of
0:51 depression include unfounded negative
0:54 evaluations of friends and family and
0:58 oneself emotional pain physical problems
1:00 like lethargy difficult to getting your
1:02 thoughts together virtually no interest
1:04 in your
1:06 surroundings it it's not just having a
1:09 bad day we've all had bad days you
1:11 probably had a couple this
1:14 week depression is far more than that
1:17 depression takes over your body and
1:21 begins to express itself in some of the
1:23 things I have just
1:25 discussed it was a notable Sunday
1:27 morning back in
1:31 1866 and the famous British preacher
1:32 Charles Haden
1:37 Spurgeon shocked his 5,000 listeners as
1:39 he got up in London's Metropolitan
1:41 Tabernacle and began a sermon from
1:45 Isaiah 41 and this was his
1:48 introduction he said I have to speak
1:50 today to myself and while I shall be
1:53 endeavoring to encourage those who are
1:55 distressed and
1:58 downhearted I shall be preaching I trust
2:01 to myself for I need something which
2:03 shall cheer my
2:07 heart why I cannot tell wherefore I do
2:10 not know but I have a thorn in the flesh
2:13 a messenger of Satan to Buffet me my
2:17 soul is cast down within me I feel as if
2:21 I had rather die than live all that God
2:24 has done by me seems to be forgotten and
2:27 my spirit flags and my courage breaks
2:34 now you just stop and think about what
2:36 you would be thinking right now if I had
2:38 introduced that sermon and that was
2:42 me for some of his audience it was an
2:45 incomprehensible thought that this
2:48 world's greatest preacher Charles Haden
2:51 Spurgeon would confess to such
2:54 despair but John Henry JWT who was the
2:56 renowned pastor of the fifth
2:58 Presbyterian Church in New York City and
3:00 later of Westminster Chapel in London
3:03 wrote to a friend and he said you seem
3:05 to imagine that I have no ups and downs
3:07 but just a level and lofty stretch of
3:12 spiritual attainment unbroken Joy by no
3:15 means I am often perfectly wretched and
3:18 everything appears most
3:23 murky Martin Luther the great reformer
3:25 was subject to such fits of Darkness
3:28 that he would hide himself away for days
3:30 and his family would remove all
3:33 dangerous implements from the house for
3:36 fear that he would hurt himself in the
3:39 midst of one of these times he wrote for
3:41 more than a week I was as close to the
3:44 gates of death and hell as one can be I
3:46 trembled in all my members Christ was
3:49 wholly lost to me I was shaken by
3:52 desperation and blasphemy of God
3:55 reformer John Knox prayed Lord Jesus
3:57 receive my spirit and put an end to my
3:59 miserable life
4:02 Adan Iram Judson America's first foreign
4:05 missionary suffering from a deep
4:07 depression following his wife's death
4:11 wrote God to me is the great unknown I
4:14 believe in him but I cannot find him and
4:17 John bunan who wrote Pilgrim's Progress
4:20 said sometimes I should be assaulted
4:22 with such discouragement fearing that I
4:24 should not be able to speak the word at
4:27 all at such times I should have such
4:30 strange fatness and my legs have scarce
4:32 been able to carry
4:35 me Jeremiah the prophet said cursed be
4:37 the day on which I was
4:40 born Elijah experiencing deep depression
4:43 as he cries out it is enough now Lord
4:47 take my life for I am no better than my
4:50 fathers and Jay oswal Sanders one of the
4:52 great writers of Our Generation said
4:55 speaking of Elijah and Moses he said is
4:57 it not without its comfort that the two
4:59 men who conversed with the Lord on the
5:02 amount of transfiguration both broke
5:04 under the strain of their Ministry and
5:06 prayed that they might
5:10 die the dictionary defines depression as
5:14 Low Spirits gloomy feelings dejection
5:16 sadness a condition marked by feelings
5:19 of worthlessness failure and accompanying
5:20 accompanying
5:22 guilt sometimes the word depression is
5:25 used very generally to describe a lot of
5:26 things but I want to make sure we
5:27 understand what we're going to talk
5:29 about today as we read this chapter in a
5:32 moment moment depression is more than
5:33 just a case of the
5:36 Blues perhaps the best way to help us
5:38 understand that is a phrase that I read
5:42 this week it says depression is embodied
5:45 emotional suffering embodied emotional
5:47 suffering and other words it's not just
5:49 a state of mind or a negative view of
5:51 life but something that affects our
5:53 physical being as
5:56 well signs of a severe episode of
5:59 depression include unfounded negative
6:02 evaluation of friends and family and
6:06 oneself emotional pain physical problems
6:08 like lethargy difficulty getting your
6:10 thoughts together virtually no interest
6:11 in your
6:14 surroundings it it's not just having a
6:17 bad day we've all had bad days you
6:19 probably had a couple this
6:22 week depression is far more than that
6:24 depression takes over your body and
6:28 begins to express itself in some of the
6:30 things I have just
6:32 discussed now in the Book of Job we are
6:36 going to see one of the most profound
6:38 statements of depression you will ever
6:42 read in your life in the third chapter
6:46 We Begin our understanding of this book
6:48 by experiencing job's depression with
6:52 him job is standing basically naked
6:55 before God anything or anyone who he may
6:57 have counted on for help or
6:59 encouragement has been taken away from
7:03 him his health is gone his wealth is
7:06 gone his family is gone his wife has
7:09 abandoned him and unknown to job is the
7:11 fact that he has been the object of a
7:13 challenge between God and
7:16 Satan he only knows one thing he knows
7:19 the pain of his own life his misery is
7:22 Indescribable his Outlook is hopeless
7:24 and while he rejects the advice of Satan
7:28 and his wife to curse God and die job is
7:30 despairing of of his
7:33 life weeks have gone by since he was
7:34 first Afflicted with the terrible
7:38 disease described in Chapter 2 beside
7:40 the physical pain and the emotional and
7:43 spiritual anguish job was a man with a
7:46 broken body and a broken
7:49 Spirit as he sits on the ash Heap
7:50 outside the
7:53 city we are not left to wonder what is
7:56 going through his mind for later on in
8:00 the Book of Job in chapters 29 and 30
8:02 we hear job speaking of things as they
8:06 used to be and as they now are he's
8:08 thinking about how in days pass God took
8:10 care of
8:13 him that he felt the Friendship of God
8:14 in his
8:16 home he remembers when all of his
8:18 children were around and his life was
8:20 prospering and the Elders of the city
8:22 honored him and the young man of the
8:24 city stepped aside and reverenced him
8:26 when he walked by even the highest
8:28 officials in the city stood up in
8:30 respect for
8:33 job but that was then and this is
8:37 now now the young men make fun of him I
8:40 am a joke to them he writes they spit in
8:44 my face they lay traps for my path they
8:46 come at me from all directions he says I
8:48 live in Terror with no one to help
8:51 depression haunts my days I cry to God
8:53 but I get no answers my voice of joy and
8:55 gladness has turned into morning this is
8:57 what's playing on the track of job's
9:00 mind as he sits outside the city
9:02 and there's still been no indication
9:04 that God intends to explain to job what he's
9:05 he's
9:08 doing to job this experience is totally
9:12 void of meaning one writer says few
9:13 things are harder to Bear than
9:15 meaningless suffering if we could see
9:17 some reason for what we have to go
9:20 through we could more easily endure it
9:23 but pointless trouble is corrosive to
9:26 our souls now there are many who have
9:29 wondered how such a sweeping change
9:31 could come over job from chapter 2 to
9:34 chapter 3 from radical saintliness in
9:38 Chapter 2 to unseemly despair in chapter
9:41 3 but by this stage it should be clear
9:44 that an entirely new trial has now
9:49 overtaken job the trial of depression of
9:51 deep mental spiritual trauma the
9:54 terrible disasters of the first
9:57 chapter job managed to weather and he
10:00 even maintained his in the
10:03 process but now the Battlefront has
10:07 shifted from the outside to the inside
10:10 now it is Job's inner psychic life his
10:14 very soul that is under direct satanic
10:17 attack in the words of Proverbs
10:20 18:14 a man's Spirit sustains him in
10:25 sickness but a crushed Spirit who can
10:30 bear and so job begins to lament in the
10:33 third chapter sitting there on the ash
10:36 sheep outside of the city for the first
10:39 time he really begins to talk and it's
10:41 evident that something's really happened
10:43 in job he's become full of depression and
10:44 and
10:49 despair the chapter is made up of three
10:53 laments three cries on the part of job
10:56 and the first one I've called this Lord
11:00 why did I arrive why did I
11:04 arrive in verses 1-10 we read these
11:06 words after this job opened his mouth
11:10 and cursed the day of his birth and job
11:12 spoke and said May the day perish on
11:14 which I was born and the night in which
11:17 it was said a male child is conceived
11:20 May that day be Darkness may God above
11:23 not seek it nor the light shine upon it
11:25 may darkness and the shadow of death
11:27 claim it may a cloud settle on it may
11:30 the Blackness of the day terrify it as
11:32 for the night May Darkness seize it may
11:34 it not rejoice among the days of the
11:36 Year may it not come into the number of
11:39 the months oh May that night be Barren
11:42 May no joyful shout come into it may
11:44 those curse it who curse the day those
11:47 who are ready to arouse leviathon May
11:49 the stars of its morning be dark may it
11:52 look for light but have none and not see
11:55 the dawning of the day because it did
11:57 not shut up the doors of my mother's
12:00 womb nor hide sorrow
12:04 from my eyes job is saying why did I even
12:05 even
12:08 arrive why was I even
12:11 born and he begs that the night of his
12:13 conception and the day of his birth be
12:16 blotted off of the calendar these words
12:18 are the words of a man who is so broken
12:21 that he no longer cares what he says he
12:23 has come to believe that the only
12:26 solution to his set of woes is for him
12:28 never to have been born in the first place
12:30 place
12:32 he has lost his perspective of God at
12:35 this point he's overreacted he's made
12:38 exaggerated statements he's jumped to
12:40 wrong conclusions he's losing sound
12:42 judgment and that's the way depression
12:44 Works isn't it depression affects a
12:47 person's view of life it gives a twisted
12:50 perception of reality a distorted view
12:54 of God when Believers become discouraged
12:56 especially over an extended period of
12:59 time they can lose a right perspective
13:01 Ive on life and draw wrong and
13:05 exaggerated conclusions such Dark Nights
13:08 of the Soul can cause us to see life in
13:11 a way that does not square with reality
13:14 and job understands that turn over to
13:18 chapter 6 and notice in Chapter 6: 2 and
13:22 3 job realizes that he has spoken in a
13:24 way that he should not have spoken he
13:26 said oh that my grief were fully weighed
13:28 and my Calamity laid with it on the
13:30 scales for then it would be heavier than
13:34 the sand of the sea therefore my words
13:37 have been rash job acknowledges that in
13:40 his crying out in the midst of his
13:42 anguish he has spoken rashly he has
13:44 spoken words he probably shouldn't have
13:47 spoken he continues his lament with this
13:50 thought Lord if I had to be born why
13:53 couldn't have I just died at Birth so
13:55 the second question is not why did I
14:02 and in verses 11 and 12 job expresses
14:04 the fact that he wished that he had died
14:06 in childbirth he says why did I not die
14:10 at Birth why did I not perish when I
14:13 came out of the womb or why did the
14:16 knees receive me or why the breasts that
14:17 I should
14:20 nurse in his present state of depression
14:23 job can find no reason for his life he
14:25 cannot understand why God would have
14:27 allowed him to even survive his birth if
14:29 all these tragedies were going to happen to
14:30 to
14:33 him job's reference to knes here is an
14:34 interesting thing because it's a
14:36 reference to a Hebrew custom in which a
14:39 newborn child would be placed upon the
14:41 father's knee as a Mark that the father
14:43 received the child as his
14:45 own job wondered why his mother
14:47 sustained his life at Birth and did not
14:50 just abandon him if he was going to have
14:53 a life that ended up like this that's
14:55 the way people talk and the way they
14:57 think when they are
15:00 depressed not only does he help us here
15:02 to understand his desire for death but
15:05 he describes death as he understand it
15:07 and and I need to tell you in verses
15:11 13-9 job has a very uninformed concept
15:14 of death he says for now I would have
15:16 Lain still and been quiet I would have
15:18 been asleep then I would have been at
15:20 rest with Kings and counselors of the
15:23 earth who built ruins for themselves or
15:25 with princes who had gold who filled
15:27 their houses with silver or why was I
15:30 not hidden like a stillborn child like
15:32 infants who never saw light there the
15:34 wicked cease from troubling and there
15:36 the weary are at rest there the
15:38 prisoners rest together they do not hear
15:40 the voice of the oppressor the small and
15:42 great are there and the servant is free
15:43 from his
15:46 master please understand men and women
15:49 that the Bible is a progressive
15:53 revelation many seed Concepts grow and
15:55 develop in the Old Testament and do not
15:57 really bear fruit until you come to the
16:01 New Testament as far as we can Discover
16:03 at no time did the Hebrews ever think
16:06 about death as total
16:09 Extinction but job here is expressing
16:12 death as a hopeful relief for what he's
16:15 experiencing in life he sees death as a
16:17 time and place of rest and relief from
16:19 everything he's been suffering he
16:22 believes it to be the great equalizer he
16:24 speaks of kings and counselors of the
16:25 Earth with whom he would be in
16:29 association job was once Rich remember
16:31 now he's poor and he sort of feels like
16:33 maybe if I die I can recover my status
16:35 among the Kings and the
16:38 counselors and he even says that the
16:41 wicked here ceased from turmoil in
16:43 death and that shows the total depth of
16:46 his depression for in essence he would
16:48 rather be with the wicked in death than
16:52 to be alive in the misery that he was
16:54 experiencing now we should not be too
16:55 critical of
16:59 job for he did not know what we
17:03 no therefore what he is saying is
17:06 wrong absolutely wrong somebody said I
17:07 thought there was anything wrong in the
17:10 Bible well listen to me the Bible
17:12 accurately speaks of the things people
17:15 say that are wrong inspiration isn't
17:16 just that everything in the Bible is
17:18 absolutely true the Bible is Absolut
17:19 absolutely true about everything that's
17:20 in the
17:23 Bible and so the Bible is speaking here
17:25 honestly about what job was experiencing
17:27 and job only understood death through
17:30 his very very limited knowledge of what
17:32 death was all
17:35 about and he's wrong about death as we
17:37 now know because we have the New
17:38 Testament that helps us shine light on
17:41 the Old Testament he's wrong and so are
17:43 all those today who think that death is
17:45 Annihilation some people teach that
17:48 death is nothing but a deep dreamless
17:49 sleep that puts an end to all Earthly
17:52 troubles and trials that is the tragedy
17:54 of the thousands every day in this
17:57 country who deliberately seek death as
18:00 an escape from from the burdens of Life
18:03 the Bible teaches consistently that
18:06 death is no dreamless sleep or state of
18:09 non-existence but it brings us into the
18:12 presence of the Eternal God to whom we
18:14 must give an account the Bible says it
18:17 is appointed unto men once to die and
18:20 after that the Judgment people ask me
18:21 everywhere I go if we ever have a
18:24 question and an answer time Pastor let
18:26 me ask you this if somebody commits
18:27 suicide does that mean they we're going
18:28 to go to hell and they can't go to to
18:31 Heaven of course not if a person is a
18:34 Christian and they take their own life
18:35 that doesn't cancel out their
18:38 Christianity anymore than any other sin
18:41 would do it but I like to remind people
18:43 that it's not a good thing to
18:46 do there's always hope and that's never
18:48 the answer and you need to understand
18:49 the first person you're going to see
18:52 after you do that is the god of Heaven
18:54 who created you and gave you life in the
18:56 first place maybe some of you are here
18:59 today maybe your life is so unraveled so
19:00 messed up you you've even thought this
19:04 week about taking your life don't you
19:07 dare God loves you he sent his son to
19:09 provide salvation for you and there is
19:12 hope for you the enemy would like to
19:14 have you curse God and die that's what
19:16 he tried to get job to do but don't you
19:19 don't you take his word whatever that
19:20 negative stuff in that's going on in
19:23 your heart is not from God it's from the
19:25 enemy you got to decide who you're going
19:26 to believe and I'm here to tell you I
19:28 don't know anybody who is beyond the
19:31 reach of a loving God including you or
19:34 anyone else he is able to do what he will
19:40 do now by the end of the book job's
19:42 already gotten some more information
19:44 about life after death in fact I'm going
19:46 to jump ahead I know you should never do
19:48 that when you're telling a story job
19:50 comes back around and and if you'll just
19:52 let me read these verses from the 19th of
19:53 of
19:56 job he says this later on he says after
20:00 my skin is destroyed this I know that in
20:03 my flesh I shall see God whom I shall
20:06 see for myself and my eyes Shall Behold
20:08 and not another oh how my heart yearns
20:11 within me what's happened job has grown
20:13 over the verses of this book and now he
20:15 has a different understanding about what
20:17 happens after death but here in his
20:18 depression he's not seeing anything
20:23 clearly he sees only death as a way out
20:26 and so he asks first of all why did I
20:30 arrive and then second L why did I
20:34 survive and now thirdly why am I
20:38 alive verses 20- 26 job's thirdd lament
20:40 is one that is very common today job is
20:43 saying since I had to be born and I
20:45 didn't die in child birth why can't I
20:47 just die
20:51 now in these verses verses 20- 26 job
20:54 asks the question why and there's
20:56 nothing wrong with asking the question
20:59 why did you know the Lord Jesus asks the
21:01 question why on the cross why have you forsaken
21:03 forsaken
21:06 me but go back and read that and read it
21:08 carefully I didn't hear any answer from
21:09 Heaven did
21:11 you you see there's nothing wrong with
21:13 asking why you can ask it all you want
21:15 what's really wrong is if you expect God
21:17 owes you an
21:19 answer he
21:22 doesn't ask your wise if you will but
21:25 don't make God obligated to answer your
21:27 questions he is not and he did not
21:29 answer job's
21:31 and here we have these verses beginning
21:34 at verse 20 why is light given to him
21:35 who is in misery and life to the bitter
21:37 of Soul who long for death and it does
21:39 not come and search for it more than
21:42 Hidden Treasures who Rejoice exceedingly
21:44 who are glad when they find the grave
21:46 why is light given to a man whose way is
21:48 hidden in whom God has hedged in for my
21:50 sign comes before I eat my groanings
21:52 pour out like water and the thing I
21:55 greatly feared has come upon me what I
21:57 dreaded has happened to me I am not at
22:00 ease nor am I quiet I have no rest for Trouble
22:02 Trouble
22:04 Comes you see job is at a point where he
22:07 can't think of any purpose for his
22:09 life everything that brought meaning to
22:12 his life is gone his health his wealth
22:14 most of his family one does not have to
22:16 be a psychologist to understand why job is
22:18 is
22:20 depressed but here I want you to
22:22 understand job is not talking about
22:24 suicide he had plenty of opportunity to
22:27 go that route and he has not he's just
22:29 wondering out loud why God doesn't just
22:31 take him out of his pain and let him die
22:38 over here we are told that job has lost
22:40 his appetite he's filled with fear and
22:42 dread he groans day and night he has no
22:45 ease or quiet and trouble surrounds him
22:47 William Barkley says the very greatness
22:50 of job lies in the fact that in spite of
22:53 everything which tore at his heart he
22:55 never lost his grip on faith and his
22:58 grip on God job's faith is no grueling
23:01 passive unquestioning submission job
23:04 struggled and questioned and sometimes even
23:06 even
23:09 defied but the flame of Faith was never
23:12 extinguished in his
23:15 heart he lived later to Triumph in his
23:18 faith once again if I can jump ahead to
23:20 a few statements later on in the Book of
23:23 Job in Job chapter 13 He says though he slay
23:25 slay
23:33 job 16:19 surely even now my witness is
23:36 in heaven and my evidence is on high job
23:40 19:25 I know that my redeemer lives and
23:44 he shall stand at last on the
23:46 earth and the important thing to
23:50 remember men and women is this that God
23:55 spoke highly of job before and after his
23:59 experience in depression in Jo 42 which
24:02 is the last chapter in the book verses 7
24:04 and 8 we read these words and so it was
24:06 after the Lord had spoken these words to
24:09 job that the Lord said to alphaz the
24:11 temanite my wrath is aroused against you
24:13 and your two friends for you have not
24:17 spoken of me what is right as my servant
24:20 job has now therefore take for
24:22 yourselves seven bulls and seven Rams
24:24 and go to my servant job and offer up
24:26 for yourselves a burnt offering and my
24:29 servant job will pray for you
24:31 and I will accept him lest I deal with
24:33 you according to your Folly because you
24:36 have not spoken of me what is right as
24:38 my servant job has God said that at the
24:40 end of the book after all this stuff has
24:43 happened God did not excuse job because
24:44 of his
24:47 circumstances but God understood job's
24:49 Frailty and the strength of The
24:53 Temptations that assailed him and he
24:56 does the very same for us
25:00 today we have so demonized depression
25:02 that many Christians are afraid to even
25:05 exist in the midst of it or to say
25:08 anything about it don't ever forget to
25:09 tell people that it's all right to go to
25:12 someone and tell them as a Christian
25:13 that you're going through a time of
25:15 depression it may not have to do with
25:17 anything you know there is such a thing
25:19 as organic uh depression you can have
25:21 chemical misbalance in your in your
25:23 spirit there's all kinds of reasons for
25:24 depression and the last thing I want to
25:26 do is oversimplify it today that's not
25:29 my role what I I really want you to see
25:31 is a man of God who never lost favor
25:32 with God who went through a very
25:34 difficult time in his
25:37 life because once you see that you will
25:39 begin to understand that that's not
25:42 unusual that happens to
25:44 people so we've looked at this chapter
25:46 experiencing depression but I want to
25:48 take these last few moments and talk
25:50 with you about examining
25:52 depression and I want you to listen
25:54 carefully because I have had to choose
25:56 carefully what I would say and what I
25:58 wouldn't have time to say and I really
25:59 believe these are the things that God
26:01 wants me to leave in your heart as we
26:05 close our book on the third chapter of
26:07 job first of all I want to talk with you
26:09 about the reality of
26:11 depression more than one in 20 American
26:13 adults are treated for depression
26:15 sometime during their
26:20 life 14% or 31 million adults report a
26:23 major bout with depression in their
26:25 lifetime major depression is now the
26:29 leading cause of disability worldwide
26:32 no gender no age group or other
26:34 demographic is immune from depression
26:38 and the disease cost 55 billion in lower
26:41 productivity and workplace absenteeism each
26:43 each
26:47 year the reality is that Godly Believers
26:48 sometimes get
26:50 depressed depression has been called the
26:54 common cold of the Soul sooner or later
26:55 most people catch
26:58 one and God's servants including
27:00 including
27:06 Spurgeon and Jeremiah and Elijah and job
27:08 are not
27:12 immune to periodic visitations of
27:15 depression the reality of it let me
27:16 speak for just a moment about the
27:18 recognition of
27:20 depression according to the National
27:22 Institute of Mental Health those who
27:25 exhibit four of the following symptoms
27:27 should probably go and see somebody and
27:30 get some help and try to get through it
27:32 here are the things they've listed loss
27:34 of interest in usual activities feelings
27:36 of guilt worthlessness hopelessness
27:39 weight gain or loss now if you've gained
27:41 a lot of weight it may not be about
27:42 depression I just thought I'd throw that
27:44 in here you might be depressed because
27:47 you gained a lot of weight that might be
27:50 true sleep disturbances depressed mood
27:53 hyperactivity lethargy anxiety crying
27:57 slow thinking Suicidal Thoughts if you
27:59 have four of these says the Mental
28:00 Health Association you should seek
28:03 someone to help you work through it job
28:04 had them
28:09 all he scored a 100 on the
28:11 test the reality of depression and the
28:13 recognition of it here's something
28:17 that's really U to me is profound and I
28:18 guess any of us who think we've
28:19 discovered something that nobody's
28:20 written about before we think it's
28:22 probably the first time and it's more
28:24 than likely in a 100 books
28:26 someplace but I've noticed as I've
28:28 thought about this that there is a rout
28:31 routine of depression the routine of
28:34 depression someone has described it like
28:37 this in nautical terms listen carefully
28:39 you'll get this picture the height of
28:42 the wave determines the depth of the
28:46 valley that follows it all of us West
28:47 Coast people we've been we've been out
28:49 in the waves and we know that when a big
28:52 wave comes and almost blows us away that
28:54 after that there's a huge dip and and
28:56 then the next wave comes in the realm of
28:59 depression that is often the routine in
29:01 the scripture you see this for instance
29:04 Elijah was used by God to confront the
29:06 prophets of Baal if you look at First
29:08 Kings 18- 19 you will discover a
29:11 thrilling event in which God performed a
29:14 mighty miracle in answer to Elijah's
29:17 prayer God sent fire down from heaven
29:18 and burned up the sacrifice that had
29:21 been loaded up with with water and
29:24 Elijah knew God's Mighty
29:27 power and within just a matter of hours
29:30 he was running for his life from Queen
29:32 Jezebel and when he couldn't run any
29:34 longer he collapsed under a juniper tree
29:37 and asked God if to kill him said I want to
29:38 to
29:42 die you see often times after a Mountaintop
29:44 Mountaintop
29:48 experience you can suffer the valley
29:50 afterwards anybody been through that
29:53 anybody ever know that you you stand on
29:55 the mountain with your hands up high but
30:02 interestingly enough the word Satan does
30:05 not appear in the Book of Job after
30:07 chapter 2 listen to me listen
30:10 carefully the word Satan appears in job
30:13 2:7 and it doesn't appear again in the
30:16 book it seems as if Satan's testing of
30:19 job was finished with the completion of
30:20 the second
30:23 chapter job stood strong against the
30:27 test of Satan when he was Under Fire and
30:29 his family was taken and his health was
30:31 taken and his wealth was taken he hung
30:33 in there during that
30:37 time but when the contest was
30:39 concluded he fell into deep
30:43 despair all of the anguish turned inward on
30:44 on
30:46 him and you know it's not recorded of
30:48 Jesus that he was ever
30:51 depressed but he was tempted by the
30:53 devil do you remember that and you know
30:56 when it happened immediately after his
30:59 baptism sometimes if we suffer from
31:01 bouts of depression we do well to
31:04 observe its routine in our lives and
31:06 then the response to
31:09 depression and I need to just say I feel
31:11 like I'm apologizing here because folks
31:12 I am not a psychologist I'm not a
31:14 psychiatrist I'm just a student of the
31:16 word of God I'm trying to tell you only
31:18 what I observe in the scripture you got
31:20 to go beyond that yourself but here's
31:22 what I want you to know the response to
31:25 depression is not something I can cover
31:26 adequately cuz there's all different
31:28 ways to respond to to
31:31 it but I do have one observation from this
31:33 this
31:38 story and here it is face your depression
31:39 depression
31:43 honestly job did not hide his feelings
31:45 it was his honesty about his feelings
31:48 that ultimately brought him back to
31:53 health he refused to bury it before God
31:55 and anybody that would listen when he
31:58 finally hit it he just let it all all
32:00 out and expressed what was going on in his
32:02 his
32:05 heart honesty is always the best
32:08 policy on one uncharacteristically awful
32:10 afternoon during the 1950s Yankee
32:13 Slugger Superstar Mickey Manel struck
32:14 out three
32:17 times and he was badly depressed about
32:20 it he was sitting in the clubhouse he
32:22 remembered he said I sat down on my
32:24 stool and held my head in my hands like
32:26 I thought I was going to start
32:28 crying and I heard someone come up to me
32:32 and it was little Tommy Bara Yogi Bar's
32:34 boy standing there next to me and he
32:37 tapped me on the knee nice and soft and
32:38 I figured he was going to say something
32:40 nice like hey you hang in there or
32:41 something like
32:44 that but all he did was look at me and
32:46 then in his little kid's voice he said you
32:57 stink now I can't say this for sure but
32:59 I I would imagine Mickey Mano felt
33:01 better after that you
33:04 know most of us find it a lot easier to
33:06 be honest with somebody else than we are with
33:07 with
33:10 ourselves often in the Psalms we read of
33:14 David crying out to the Lord and this is
33:17 what job did too job 711 says this
33:20 therefore I will not restrain my mouth I
33:23 will speak in the anguish of my spirit I
33:26 will complain in the bitterness of my soul
33:29 soul
33:30 the fact that there is a point at which
33:33 Any Man simply throws in the
33:36 towel is Illustrated in the life of Job
33:38 he does not abandon his faith he just
33:40 gets thoroughly sick and tired of trying
33:42 to put a good face on things
33:46 and this is not sin it's just honesty
33:49 job is a forthright plain Spoken Man the
33:51 sort of person who's not afraid to say
33:53 what's on his heart and we need
33:55 grudgingly to acknowledge that such
33:56 uncommon honesty may be one of the
34:00 greatest virtues that a saint can
34:03 possess he's not putting a spin on his
34:06 walk with God he's in a dark place and
34:08 he acknowledges
34:11 it the reality of
34:14 depression and the recognition of it the
34:16 routine of it the response to it and
34:20 finally the result of it once again as
34:24 our friend Paul Harvey said here's the
34:25 rest of the
34:28 story even before his testing was over
34:30 job expressed confidence in the end
34:34 result in chapter 23 and: 10 he says but
34:36 he knows the way that I
34:39 take and when he has tested me I will
34:42 come forth as gold
34:45 wow and after it was over he expressed
34:47 gratitude for what had happened in his
34:50 life in job 42:5 he said I have heard of
34:52 you God by the hearing of the ear but
34:54 now my eye sees you therefore I abore
34:56 myself and repent in dust and Ashes he
34:58 said Lord God I used to know about you
35:00 but when you took me through this test
35:04 man I I know you now how many know that
35:06 when you go through test testing and God
35:08 walks through with you you come out of
35:10 it with a greater sense of intimacy with
35:12 almighty God than you've ever had in
35:14 your life that's what job is
35:17 experiencing in his book The Gospel
35:19 According to job Mike Mason summarizes
35:22 the impact of a chapter like Job chapter
35:24 3 I've had many people say they've never
35:26 heard a message on Job 3 I understand why
35:28 why
35:30 but listen to his analysis of why we
35:32 should never avoid even a passage like
35:34 this he said for the person who
35:37 struggles and agonizes the Very
35:40 blackness in the Bible is gold just the
35:42 presence in scripture of a book so dark
35:45 and chaotic and thoroughly eccentric as
35:47 job should come as an immense Comfort to
35:50 any suffering believer for the book says
35:53 in effect this is what faith is often
35:56 like do not be surprised if you find
35:58 yourself confused and doubting and
36:00 Afflicted and all but crushed it does
36:04 not mean you have lost favor with God
36:07 end of quote Charles Spurgeon left
36:10 behind a couple of little books called
36:12 lectures to my students and I have those
36:14 books my father gave them to
36:16 me these are the things he would say to
36:18 his preacher boys when he'd get them
36:19 together and hold classes and he would teach
36:22 teach
36:25 them and in one of his lectures to his
36:28 students here's what he said he said
36:30 before any great achievement some
36:33 measure of depression is very
36:35 usual such was my experience when I
36:38 first became the pastor in London My
36:40 Success appalled me and the thought of
36:42 the career which it seemed to open up so
36:45 far from a lading me cast me into the
36:48 lowest depths who was I that I should
36:50 continue to lead so great a multitude I
36:53 would take me to my Village obscurity
36:55 immigrate to America find a solitary
36:57 nest in the Backwoods where I might be
36:59 sufficient for the
37:02 things which would be demanded of me and
37:04 then he said this depression comes over
37:07 me whenever the Lord is preparing a
37:10 larger blessing for my Ministry the
37:13 cloud is always black before it breaks
37:15 and overshadows before it yields its
37:18 Deluge of Mercy depression has now
37:21 become to me as a profit in rough
37:24 clothing later on in the book he says
37:26 depression has become his John the
37:28 Baptist announcing something good that
37:29 is about to
37:32 happen you see the routine of depression
37:35 is not only the valley after the
37:38 Mountaintop it's the valley often before the
37:39 the
37:42 Mountaintop we were not made as human
37:45 beings to sustain holy highs throughout
37:48 every minute of our life we cannot do
37:52 that and God allows the dark moments so
37:53 that we can appreciate the moments of
37:56 glory and light that come before and after
38:02 and if you're going through a time of
38:04 depression maybe triggered by some of
38:05 the things that have been happening in
38:07 our culture let me assure you you have
38:10 not lost favor with god he has not
38:13 forgotten you nor could he ever his love
38:17 for you is so great and so
38:21 immense that there is no precedent for
38:23 it it is unprecedent there's nothing to
38:26 which we can compare it and if God would
38:28 love you so much that would not even
38:31 spare his only begotten son but would
38:32 send him into this world so that you
38:34 might be redeemed do you think he is
38:37 going to forsake you in the midst of a difficult
38:38 difficult
38:40 moment he has promised I will never
38:42 leave you nor forsake
38:46 you and I have no evidence anywhere that
38:50 God has ever out promised himself or
38:52 gone back on his
38:54 word if you feel unloved by God it's
38:57 because the problems of your life have
38:59 fogged up the screen through which you see
39:01 see
39:05 reality find somebody who can help you
39:08 and pray with you whatever you do don't
39:10 not talk about it find somebody who can
39:13 help you you can get past it you can get
39:15 Beyond it and like job you will stand and
39:17 and
39:22 say when he tested me I came out as
39:25 gold God never wastes anything and he
39:27 will not waste these moments on your life
39:28 life
39:31 so if you're in the midst of some deep
39:34 moments of discouragement maybe pressing
39:37 over the threshold into Despair and
39:39 depression I'm here to tell you today
39:45 you and he knows what you're
39:48 experiencing and he will never ever turn
39:51 his back on you so don't you turn your
39:54 back on him [Music]
40:01 [Music]
40:03 thank you for joining us today on
40:05 turning point if you have never taken
40:07 the step to believe in Jesus Christ as
40:10 your lord and savior you can do that
40:13 today if you will allow us Dr Jeremiah
40:15 would like to send you two resources
40:17 that will help you the first is a
40:19 booklet called your greatest turning
40:20 point which will help you as you begin
40:23 your relationship with Christ and the
40:24 second is our monthly devotional
40:26 magazine turning points to give you
40:29 encouragement and inspiration throughout
40:31 the year these resources are yours
40:33 completely free when you contact turning point
40:40 today next time on turning
40:42 point it is true to say that all
40:44 suffering is the result of sin it is
40:46 totally untrue to say that any
40:49 particular suffering is the result of
40:51 some particular sin and what elaz was
40:53 saying to job was job if you'll comb
40:55 through your history you'll find the
40:57 awful things that you did that made it
41:00 necessary for God to make you suffer
41:02 like you are suffering and that was
41:06 wrong don't ever go there join Dr
41:08 Jeremiah next time for his message
41:10 helping the
41:14 hurting here on turning point [Music]
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