Family Movies and Depression

Suggested Reading: Psalm 42

Not long ago, I watched one of those family movies. You know, the ones where the family is struggling and the teenage daughter lashes out at her mother and screams, "I hate you!" And everybody knows she doesn't mean it. Everybody knows that she is angry and hurt and frustrated and that, even if she means it right this moment, she won't mean it tomorrow.  Fortunately, this particular movie was a little more original in the way they resolved the situation than some of the cornier movies I have seen.

While I think most of us understand this concept of feeling soemthing in the moment that we know is not true, we sometimes forget to apply that dynamic to our relationship with God. In Psalm 42 and 43 (two psalms that may have been a single psalm at some point in the past), the psalmist seems to express this dynamic of feeling something he knows is untrue. The psalmist remembers his times of joy, going to the house of God and celebrating with God's people, he remembers God's powerful acts of the past, and yet the psalmist feels like God has forgotten him. The psalmist feels as if God has abandoned him and his life is falling into ruin. The psalmist desperately wants to know that God has heard him. In the midst of this internal conflict, the psalmist writes, "Why am I so depressed? Why this turmoil within me? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him, My Savior and my God" (Psalm 42:11 and 43:5, HCSB).

Even though his circumstances made it feel like God had abandoned and forgotten him, the psalmist knew that his feelings were not reality. In the midst of his turmoil, the psalmist chose to continue praising God and to call God, "My Savior." God had not yet saved him from his circumstances; his enemies were still pursuing him, and things had not yet worked out like he hoped that they would. He was still depressed and writhing in inner turmoil, but the psalmist made a choice to hope in God and to praise God, acknowledging that his feelings, however much they were based on the reality of his circumstances, did not define his reality. The psalmist acknowledged God's faithfulness and God's role as Savior, even when he still felt like he needed saving. The psalmist was willing to acknowledge his depression, knowing that his emotions did not have to define his existence.

There are times for all of us when we feel like the psalmist did, when we feel depressed or that God has forgotten us, when it feels like the world is falling apart and there is no hope. We are allowed to feel that way, and refusing to acknowledge those feelings is unhealthy. But allowing those feelings to overwhelm us and define our reality is also unhealthy.  Every moment of every day, including those moments when our feelings of depression and abandonment seem to overwhelm us,  we face a choice -- a choice to give in to those feelings and let them define our existence or to acknowledge that our feelings don't tell us everything we need to know -- a choice to feel sorry for ourselves and wallow in our misery or to lift our heads and acknowledge God's faithfulness, even when we don't understand what God is doing.

While it's alright to feel depressed and forgotten, we can't allow our feelings to define us. We must choose to put our emotions in perspective.  "Why am I so depressed? Why this turmoil within me? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him, My Savior and my God."

Doing Research on Zealous Internet Start-ups

Suggested Reading: Proverbs 19:1-8

Logan was really excited. He had just found out about an internet start-up company that had great potential and in his excitement, he jumped into the deal, paying five million dollars for this company. The deal went through and he couldn't contain his excitement. But then the first lawsuit hit. The company Logan had purchased had stolen it's primary concept from someone else and Logan hadn't done his homework. As a result, he lost everything. He was excited. He was ready to work hard. But he didn't have the knowledge he needed to make informed decisions.

This fictional example from the series Gilmore girls, mirrors a number of times in life when we make bad decisions because we are excited but we don't have all the information. We are sincere.  We are eager. But we lack the necessary information and we allow our emotions to guide us. We fall desperately in love and marry or give ourselves away only to discover later that we really didn't know the person. We invest our money in an expensive item we're really excited about, only to discover its a piece of junk and all our money just went down the drain. We jump into an exciting job opportunity only to discover we missed some key details and now we live without any prospects, stuck in a position we hate.

One of the common problems we experience is allowing our excitement to overrule our better judgment. But Proverbs 19:2 reminds us, "Even zeal is not good without knowledge, and the one who acts hastily sins" (HCSB). Paul, also reminds us of his fellow Israelites who, though extremely zealous for God, missed salvation because their zeal was not based on knowledge and they "sought to establish their own" righteousness instead (Rom 10:3) . Being excited about someone or something can be exhilarating and sometimes we can get a thrill from just jumping into something. But acting on emotion without having all the necessary information can be not only detrimental but, according to this verse, sinful.  

Don't get me wrong, there are times when God says, "Jump," and we need to obey. But if the direct command of God isn't there, make sure you have as many facts as possible before making life-changing decisions. You'll save yourself a lot of heartache.