The first step to conquering depression is to admit it. When you’re depressed, recognize it and begin to confront yourself as to why you’re depressed. I see three steps in these psalms for dealing with depression:ġ. When you’re depressed, rouse yourself to seek God as your hope and help, no matter how despairing your circumstances. He shows us how to pull ourselves out of the nosedive of depression: He grabs himself by the shoulders, takes stock of his situation, confronts his depression, and seeks God with renewed intensity. Their oppression (42:9 43:2) had plunged the psalmist into deep depression. He was being taunted by enemies who said, “Where is your God?” (42:3, 10). We cannot say for sure who wrote it, but we do know that the author found himself exiled from Israel and from the worship festivals of God’s people. Many reputable scholars think that David was the author, in which case the title, “of the sons of Korah” indicates a group of Levites in charge of temple worship to whom he presented the psalm. Whether two psalms or one, the subject is obviously similar and they are united with the common refrain of 42:5, 11, and 43:5. In some ancient Hebrew manuscripts these companion psalms are a single psalm. A thorough study would consume many sermons, but Psalms 42 & 43 give us some solid counsel. It should not be surprising that the Bible has much to say about depression. The disorder is so common that it is called “the common cold of mental illness.” 48), an estimated 30-40 million Americans, twice as many women as men, will experience depressive illness at least once. According to a Newsweek article (5/4/87, p. “Mild or severe, depression affects more people in our culture than any other emotional disorder,” says Harvard psychiatrist, Dr. We laugh, but real depression is a serious problem. Speaking specifically about manic depression, she asked, “How would you diagnose a patient who walks back and forth screaming at the top of his lungs one minute, then sits in a chair weeping uncontrollably the next?”Ī young man in the rear raised his hand and answered, “A basketball coach?” The psychology instructor had just finished a lecture on mental health and was giving an oral quiz.
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