Head-dibs

It’s  OK  to be disappointed and depression should have its run but both are not meant to be dwelling places. God does not intend for us to stay “down.” The Corinthian church was disappointed with the apostle Paul because he said he would come visit and he did not show up. Sadly, they held his absence against him.  What they did not know is the reason Paul did not come when he said he would. Paul wrote them: “For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayer...

"Depressions of spirit, humiliating thoughts of one’s self, deep and grievous bondage—all these, the children of God are well aware of. With Paul we have, at times, to cry, “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Beloved, it is well for us to know, as I am sure we do know experimentally, that in this matter of barrenness and desolation the creature can do but little. It is the Spirit that quickens—the flesh profits little. When we get into this state, we feel like a man who cannot swim. And the more we kick and struggle the more rapidly we sink. It seems as if all human energy were but the energy to sin and a power to make us yet more dead to true spiritual life. Well, what are we to do, then? Why, let us remember that the text is addressed to us in just such a state. ' Sing, O barren! Break forth and cry aloud you that did not travail with child .' But what can I sing about? I cannot sing about the present. I cannot even sing concerni...

Ok, in one hand I have a diamond and in the other, a glass of water. Which would you choose? Alright, now you’ve been in the desert three days, the sun bearing down on you and the heat reflecting back up in your face and in one hand I have a diamond and in the other, a glass of water. Which would you choose? Psalm 42 opens with this scene likening the soul’s desire for God as a deer longing for water. I’ve often wondered what was on the writer’s mind to liken the soul to that deer in such a desperate position. Had he been watching something take place in the field and was inspired to liken the soul to what he saw? Had the deer been observed going about his daily routine of foraging and looking for water, perhaps observing the writer and his entourage (if any) as they passed by? Was the deer just thirsty? Perhaps the writer had observed the deer in a more desperate situation, such as eluding a hunting party or a lion and is now looking for replenishment now that danger is past. I am inc...

"There are two selves: one that reacts to circumstances; the other responding from God to the situation." These words open a study on depression and despair. This is an intriguing thought as it exposes one of the most unique wonders of the universe found in man that will not be found in any other place or event in nature, namely that man can exist as two separate beings when he is only one. This is found in the statement "there are two selves"--by definition, man should not be able to exist in two selves simultaneously, yet he does. The book of James (in so many words) gives examples of how this strange phenomenon of works out in mankind. James begins right at the heart of the issue: temptation. Man has a choice of responses to temptation that he will go through--when it is set before him he cannot do anything but experience it. Man has a choice in his experience of temptation: he can either be joyful because the endurance of the temptation (and non-submittal to it...