Often, the Word of God refers to life as a walk—or at least a journey. We see verses like Galatians 5:16, which says, "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.," or John 14:6, "I am the way the truth, and the life..." I can also think of verses like Proverbs 14:12, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."
And so, imagine if you will, this walk of life leads through fields of fresh green grass; it passes by patches of wildflowers, winds through chasms and climbs hills and leads you through forests at times. The picture above is a place that I often go to meditate. It is actually something along the path, but there was a time when it was easy to walk straight through into a field where various crops are grown. Within 3 years, this is how quickly the wild thorns and vines have climbed the trees and have nearly obscured the view to the field. This is the best way I can describe for you what happens as a result of depression. Many of us battle it. Many who you may not have ever imagined struggle with depression are the ones who do the most. I am not ashamed to admit that depression has often dominated my life and has hurt the ones that I love. It has been the common denominator of spoiled opportunities, wasted time, and abandoned friendships. I say this kindly and with total sympathy on the part of those who don't struggle with depression; but those who don't struggle with it, many times are the first to forsake the one who struggles—many times not even realizing that was the problem. And if you did, you were afraid of being sucked into the very nimbus of the person struggling. But if you're familiar at all with depression; you are probably the only lifeguard on duty, if you know how to rescue them. If you don't know how to rescue someone who's drowning, you may drown with them. The problem with trying to help a person with depression is that we try to help them. The only person who can help one struggling with depression is the person struggling with depression. You can't buy them anything, you can't say things to cheer them up, you can't do anything to help them. The only thing available is to get their attention away from what they've been focusing on; and get their attention onto something else.
Okay, so what is that?Normally, a depressed person is focused on something that is impossible to attain. It's very sad, because they know they can never have it; but they stare off into the unknown, and imagine that they have it; and if you dare to interrupt their little fantasy, they explode. After all that I've said so far, I want to clarify something very important:
Depression itself is not sin...it is a sin indicator.This is where many preachers fall short of helping a person struggling with depression. They attack the depression as sin; and this is devastating. The reason is because if you call depression sin, it is like saying that if your engine light on your car comes on; the solution is to go to a mechanic and pay $50 dollars to get it turned off without finding out why the engine light came on in the first place. No, depression is an indicator that there is existing sin. My reason for saying this is because first of all, it's true; but secondly, it will clarify the root of depression. There is another post called THE WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY that I wrote back on October 4 that kind of says the same thing I'm about to say here. You can click the title to read more of it; but many times a person with depression is staring down a way that is impossible to go through; or as I said, a window that is closed, while the accessible ways are ignored and produce a deterrent. The key is to take the way that is accessible. Here are some promises from God's Word that you can claim that will give you courage to take the first step in the right direction, though it may seem grievous to do so.
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." ~John 14:6
"O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him."~Psalm 34:8The reason I shared these two verses is because we read the first one and selfishly say—if we're honest—so??? We are unwilling to even taste and see that the Lord is good because we are so focused on the way that seems to be the happier one even though we can't attain it! But the Bible says very clearly,
"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." ~Proverbs 14:12Chances are, if you are looking in a direction that is unattainable, it's a direction that seems right, but because the end is death, it is likely that sin is there, because the Bible says, "sin bringeth forth death." Now, why is it so important that a man has access to The Father? Well, we find the answer to that in James 1:17, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights..." I don't know about you, but I want every good and perfect gift...and according to this verse, I don't have to covet them! Here's another verse that supports what I just said,
"Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." ~Psalm 16:11These are key verses that often have rescued me from depression. I will be covering more on this particular topic in future posts; but for now; if you struggle with depression, the first thing you must do is take you focus away from the impossible goal, and onto that which can be accomplished, and the first step is to take THE way....And His name is Jesus!