Job 17:6-16 “Rise From the Dust”

Job 17:6-16 “Rise From the Dust”

We may all struggle with blue days, but Job represents those of us who struggle with or have struggled with depression. 7% of people over 18 in the United States suffer from depression. It is also one of the suicide. Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Feeling hopeless, inadequate, lost, even smothered.

What causes depression? Physical changes that effect your bodies chemical balance, hormonal changes that come with age. Physical exhaustion, running your body on high for too long, until it shuts down. We feel like we have been Ridden hard and put away wet. “To little butter spread on to much bread” Life events can trigger depression, death of a friend, loss of a job, divorce, failure at school, success at school. People in their 50’s and 60’s when they reached the top of their profession. When the children are grown and out of the house. These can trigger a chemical change in our brains that leads to depression.

Sometimes, after a while our bodies will settle out on their own, or through theory we can get past the thoughts that keep triggering depression. There are medications that can restore your balance. Some of us, like myself will be on medication for life.

Depression is not a weakness or a lack of faith, nor is it something you can just snap out of, man up, get a grip on it.

So how do we deal with it.

1.      Realize that our strength and our goodness come from God not us.

a.      Zechariah 4:6  
Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.

b.      Jeremiah 29:11-14  
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, 
I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

c.       1 Peter 5:8-11 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 
Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

2.      How the church can help

a.      By not shunning depressed people. They are not fun to be around

b.      The more isolated we are the more variable we are to depression.

c.       1 Thessalonians 5:11 ¹¹Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

d.       2 Thessalonians 5:14 ¹²We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,   ¹³and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.   ¹⁴And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, ^£ encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

e.       Hebrews 10:25  
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 
not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

f.        Ecclesiastes 11:1-3  Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.   Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.    If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth, and if a tree falls to the south or to the north,

g.       Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.
For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

3.       Depression does not have to win

a.       Though you are weak, you are valuable to God

b.       Your strength does not matter our strength comes from God

c.       Don’t be afraid or feel ashamed to ask for help.