Dealing With Depression

You know, most people, from time to time, suffer from a condition that is called depression. Some suffer from occasional depression. Sometimes you'll meet somebody who's never suffered from depression. That's actually very unusual, but occasionally you meet somebody that is something about their personality. They've never suffered depression. Most people suffer depression at some point in life for a number of reasons. Some people have chronic depression, where they struggle with depression a lot. Some people are in almost a constant state of despair and hopelessness, which comes from depression.

Now, of course, when you ask somebody to define depression, it gets very difficult. I mean, discouragement. I was looking through the sermon I gave in 2013. I gave a sermon last year at this time on discouragement. But discouragement and depression are two different things. Discouragement can lead to depression, but they're actually two different things, two different emotional states. Sometimes we can be unhappy, but we're not really depressed. Depression is a very deep emotional experience. We can be temporarily traumatized by something. We're in an accident, and you go through a sense of shock, or you lose a job or something.

But sometimes we can bounce back from that very quickly. But depression, and to put it in a very simple term. I don't want to use a clinical discussion here, because I want to talk about depression, and I want to talk about the spiritual side of depression. So in a simple definition, depression is a deep sadness of mental, emotional, and physical sense of hopelessness that's many times actually accompanied with high levels of anxiety. Depression is a deep sadness of mental, emotional, and physical sense of hopelessness, many times accompanied with high levels of anxiety.

Usually people who suffer from depression become very negative about life. They become very negative. They become very pessimistic about life and about everything else. So all they see is the negative and everything. And they just feel negative all the time. And that's why we also have to deal with the spiritual aspects of depression. Now, there can be many causes for depression. Some people are depressed for physical reasons.

We'll talk about that in a minute. Some are caused from emotional impact. Sometimes depression is caused because of events that have happened to your life that actually build up this sort of negative viewpoint of life and emotional distress. But there's also a spiritual element to depression. There's also a great deal of misunderstanding about depression. So when you suffer from depression, it's easy to feel shame about it. You feel shame. I can't tell other people I feel depressed.

They will say, I'm weak. Or, what's the problem? Why don't you just go pray? Or why don't you just snap out of this? Or whatever the people will say. So when we're depressed, many times we pull within depression. And guess what happens? You become more depressed. Depression is a self-feeding state where we feel more and more alone, so we make ourselves more and more alone.

And what happens when you make yourself more and more alone? You feel more and more alone. And depression can lead a person to actually living in such a tiny bubble that they can't get out of it. They cut off friends. They cut off family. They destroy all relationships. And they become almost totally dysfunctional in terms of being able to have a relationship with other people.

Let me give you some common myths about depression to begin with. Then we'll talk about depression from a spiritual viewpoint. One common myth is, Godly people never suffer depression. We'll read the book of Psalms. Look at Abraham's life. Look at Rebecca saying, God, if my son continues to go this way, I just want to die. You will find throughout the Bible lots of godly people who suffer from depression from time to time. And so, whether you're godly or not, is it the issue?

So, yes, godly people do suffer depression. Number two, all depression is a result of personal sin. Now, it is true that sin causes depression. Okay, that's true. But not all depression is caused by your personal sin. You know, they're not somehow that you can't reverse those two statements and make them into some kind of logical statement. Yes, sin can lead to depression, but not all depression is caused by your personal sin. It can be caused from a lot of reasons. Sometimes, people literally have a hereditary chemical imbalance that causes them to feel depressed, and they have to deal with that through health issues, many times through a very strict diet and exercise and, you know, things they have to do.

Sometimes, I've known people that never suffered depression until they had a head injury, and the damage to the brain causes them to suffer depression. Now, that wasn't caused because they were sitting unless they were driving drunk. Okay, yeah. Then, okay, you see the corollary. But if they just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and received a head injury, then, you know, that wasn't because of their sin, and yet they caused their depression as a result of that.

Sometimes, depression comes from an overwhelming sense of loss. Some people will suffer the loss of a loved one or a huge loss in life, and they just have a hard time recovering from it. And that sense of loss in mourning, mourning is a normal emotion. Even God mourns.

It says God grieved. Even God grieves. So, grieve is a normal emotion. But there's times when people get caught in grief to the point they can't get out of it. They're just trapped in grief because maybe something very terrible happened to them. Sometimes people are depressed because as a child they were beaten or a child, as a child they were sexually abused, and they just can't ever get out of that.

Well, they can, but you have to understand the depths of what happens there. Sometimes, depression is caused because somebody else sinned against you. And the result of that sin is depression. Number three is depression is a lack of faith.

No, not necessarily. It can be a lack of faith. It can be because somebody hit a softball that smacks you in the head if you have a brain injury. You see, that's not a lack of faith. So, we just can't label, oh, you're depressed. You must have a faith problem. No, I'm not. You can't just make those assumptions. Number four, a person suffering from depression should be able to just snap out of it. There's causes, and those causes reap effects, and the causes have to be dealt with. And number five, I've seen this with people too, depression means that God is angry with you. I'm depressed because I know God has thrown me away. Now, I want to tell you this, and we'll go through this in a minute. Because we have God's spirit, when we move away from God, we will feel depression. Because when God's spirit is active in us, it causes us to experience certain emotions. And when we move away from God, depression can become very profound. So, if you were depressed when you were close to God, drift away from God, and the depression becomes much, much worse. Well, here's what happens. I'm drifting away from God. I feel depressed. God must not love me. God's angry with me. So, therefore, there's no use reaching out to God because God doesn't love me, and God is angry with me. Therefore, I feel more depressed. Now, wait a minute. There's only one way to snap through that one, and we'll get through that in a minute. But this is one I, it's very interesting when dealing with this in counseling, when the depression has caused God is angry with me. We may be. So, what do we have to do? Well, I can't go to him. He's angry with me. Therefore, I'm now stuck in my depression, and I can never get out of it. Now, I state these at the beginning because I'm not going to try to give you the magical formula for dealing with depression because it doesn't exist. We are complex human beings with different causes for the effects that we have. But we at least have to understand there is a spiritual aspect. And we'll touch briefly on some of the emotional aspects of it and some of the physical aspects of it. But we have to understand that there is a spiritual aspect of this. Adam and Eve never experienced depression until they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. Well, until they ate of the fruit. They were still in the Garden of Eden when they went to hid from God and were filled with shame and guilt and all kinds of negative emotions. Where does the negative emotions come from? They interned against God. So we have to understand, until that point, there was no human depression. So there is a spiritual element to this. And if we're going to work through our depressions, we're going to work through these things. We have to deal with all of the causes, including the spiritual cause.

So the first thing I want to talk about is, if we are suffering, and you are suffering from depression, you have to understand that just like physical healing, you need to be healed. You need to be healed physically, and you need to be healed emotionally, and you need to be healed spiritually, and that we must understand and accept that we need to go to God and ask for healing, healing of the depression. Now that doesn't mean God is going to heal you and that you can continue to do the same causes that reach the same effects. I mean, that'd be like going to God and saying, God, I know I have diabetes, but I can't help it. I drink a gallon of Coke a day. Please heal me. If He healed you, you wouldn't know it. Right? God may heal you, but you wouldn't know it because you would recreate the diabetes right over again. Your actions will create effects. So we can't go ask God to heal us and not accept the change that takes place for the healing to take place. And sometimes it's very, very long term. If you suffer from chronic depression, you're not going to snap out of that in 24 hours. And the healing that's going to take place is going to take time, and it's going to have to be at all levels. It's going to be at your emotional level, it's going to have to happen at a physical level, and it's going to have to happen on a mental level, and it's going to have to happen on a spiritual level. It has to happen on all those levels. But this is the one that's ignored much of the time.

Isaiah 53.

You say, but I can't. You know, I think of my depression, and it's because as a child, my parents abandoned me. Okay? That's the cause. You can't go back and change that cause. You can only change who you are now. That means you have to be healed of that. You have to be healed of their sin.

You say, well, yeah, but nobody else, you know, nobody else was abandoned. That's the type of thinking we have to stop. There's a point we have to stop this thinking that somehow we hang on to the causes. Because if I forget the cause, then everybody gets off the hook. No. If you let go of the cause, you get better. No, everybody gets off the hook. No. You get better. Isaiah 53. We know what Isaiah 52 and 53 is. It's that great Old Testament prophecy about Christ coming and being tortured and dying for our sins. And what God is doing in that. I mean, coming up here in the Passover in a few months, we'll be going through this in great detail. Look at verse 3. Speaking of the Messiah who would come, He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Did Jesus Christ know what it was like to feel grief and sorrow to the depths of depression? Well, I don't believe God is ever depressed. God experienced grief. God experienced sorrow. But He doesn't because of His nature. He is not just sucked into these negative emotions that destroy us. But Jesus Christ is a human being connected to a chemical body.

He experienced sorrow at the depth that we do. He was a man acquainted with all these things. The sense of betrayal that could cause depression. The feeling that nobody understands me. All the things that can lead us to depression. And we hid as it were our faces from Him. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions. It's usually verse 5 that we really get into this, right? He was wounded for our transgressions, and He was bruised for our iniquities. But before I finish this verse, I want to go back to verse 4. He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Now, that can be translated sickness. It can be translated pain. So there's a physical aspect to this. He took our sickness. He took our pain. But it means more than that. And the reason I say that is because the rest of chapter 4 or verse 5. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him. And by His stripes we are healed. It doesn't just say that His chastisement was just for our forgiveness. It's for our peace. Depression is a state of internal conflict where there is no peace. So peace, the state that Adam and Eve are in before they sinned, is part of where God is taking us. You and I won't totally be there until we're changed. When Christ returns and we're changed, we will be there. But we're learning it now. We're growing in it now. And we can have the strength and the ability to pass through depression, to deal with depression, and eventually overcome depression. Now, once again, you may be a person that just your body is to the point where you're going to start with depression for a long, long time as you have to work through all that. So I'm not saying here's the magical formula. I am saying that healing of depression is one of the things God wants to do with us. But I just want to make sure you understand, oh good, I'll go get anointed for my depression and I'll never be depressed again. That's not how it works, because depression is an effect. So you have to also deal with the causes. And these causes can be very complex. Let's look at a place where David is suffering from depression. This is a psalm that I read in a sermon here, I think about six months ago. But I think I'm going to go back to it. I was looking at another passage, so I said, well, I'm not going to use that psalm. I used it here a couple months ago. And then I thought, no, this psalm covered the point I wanted to cover then, and it really covers the point I want to cover now. Psalm 77. Psalm 77.

In verse 1, David says, I cried out to God with my voice, to God with my voice, and He gave ear to me. In the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out the night without ceasing. His trouble, the anguish He was going through was so deep, He couldn't sleep. He says, all night long, I'm just praying. God, You have to help me. You have to solve this problem. I have no solution. Can you imagine being king of Israel? And there's times He has no solutions to the problems. And He's crying out to God. And then the rest of verse 2 here is very interesting. My soul refused to be confident. And this is where we find ourselves sometimes. We won't give up the negative feelings we have. We won't give up. Okay, okay. I want to get over my depression. But wait a minute. You're not telling me I have to learn to get along with that crazy boss I have? Well, then be depressed. Okay, wait a minute. You're telling me I have to... I want to get over my depression, but part of it is I have to learn to love my wife? Yeah. See how complex this is? There's spiritual aspects to this.

My soul refused to be confident.

He prayed, he prayed, and he still refused what God was given to him. But verse 3 says, I remembered God and was troubled, and I complained. Now my spirit was overwhelmed. He's now wrestling with God. God, why do you let me have these problems? Why is this happening in my life? Why did this happen to me in the past? Why is it that I don't know what the future's going to be? I mean, there's people... you can imagine me in the King. There's people trying to kill me. I'm just trying to be the King and do what's right, and there's people trying to kill me. I complain. See? This is where depression goes. Sometimes you want to know the cause of your depression. Think about what you say all the time. Is it always the bad? Do you look at other people and only... always... you just see the bad in them. There's your conversation as much as the time putting somebody down. Is your conversation always critical in criticizing everything? Yeah, my wife and I talked about this. There's times we talk... we just turn off the radio talk show host because they make us depressed. Because it's always critical. The sun came up this morning and there was a cloud over the sun. It was wretched morning.

Hey, you could be dead. It could be worse. Come on. At least you're alive. Can't you find something good? No, I'm exaggerating a little bit. But yeah, I mean, we've all met people, and most of us have been there one time or another, right? This is where David was. Verse 4, You hold my eyelids open. I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

What's wrong? Just let me be alone. Never been there? David was there.

I can't even speak. I'm so troubled I can't speak.

I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. Verse 6, Something begins to change. I call to remembrance my song in the night. I meditate within my heart, and my spirit makes diligent search.

And this is what he's searching, and this is where he's led to. Will the Lord cast off forever? You know, God, you just give up on me. That's why my life is so messed up. It's your fault. You know, I think it'd be pretty good if you didn't make all these rules. You may call these rules on me, and because of these rules, I can't get ahead of business. Because of these rules, I can't have the boyfriend that I want. Because of these rules, I can't go out drinking with my buddies on Friday night. Because of these rules, it's your fault. Will he be favorable no more? Has his mercy ceased forever? Has his promise failed forevermore? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Remember, I went through some of the myths about depression, and if you get locked into them, just about every myth I said is right here. Dave is locked in every one of them.

He's up all night long. It's, you know, three o'clock in the morning, four o'clock in the morning. He can't sleep. He's so distressed. He feels sick. He's got, he's angry. He's depressed. And you know what? It's your fault. Why don't you reach down here and touch me and help me? First 10. And I said, this is my anguish. But I will remember the years of the right hand of the most time. Remember, we talked in the sermon, it talks about the right hand of God. I'll remember when God literally guided my life, when God gave me purpose. I will remember what? The works of my life, the people that have hurt me, the jobs I've lost, the money I could have made, how my kids turned out, all my missed opportunities, the people who have hurt me. That's not what he says. I will remember the works of the Lord. Oh, yeah. Who really is God? And I've been blaming him for all this, and God's caused none of it. I will remember who he really is. Surely, I will remember your wonders of old. I will also meditate, think on your works. I will stop thinking about my life and me and my emotions, and I'll start thinking about God. What does God want? How does he think? How does he feel? And talk of your deeds. Not only did he say, I'll start thinking about this, I'll start talking about it.

Sometimes when I get really, really tired, I get very negative. I just walk around the house grumbling. You know, I just, I've been sort of tired. This last couple of weeks have been exhausting. Then I went to the home office. I said, come on, guys. I can't run a feast site. You're going to fly me up here again in two weeks to organize this feast site. I don't have time to run a feast site. The answer I got was, but you live 15 miles away?

Well, yeah, but wait a minute. So you're saying you'd rather we have somebody who lives two or three hundred miles away run the feast site? Yeah, I guess that is what I'm saying. So I'm now running the feast site, okay? I had no logical argument, except I'm going to throw a temper tantrum, and that doesn't seem to faze anybody anymore. So, you know, I run the feast site. I said, but I'm so tired. I see you getting wet. I can't hold that. I'm just grumbling all day yesterday. He's grumbling, walking around complaining. You know what changed it? I thought about this last year's feast site, and what a wonderful time it was. Every sermon and sermonette had an impact on my life in a positive way. Spending time with all those people and the service, the way everybody served, and the attitude, and God's Spirit was there, and I thought, why in the world do I not want to do that? See, this is where David had to go. This is where you and I have to go. And he said he talked about it. That's why I'm telling you. He talked about it. He said, I'm just not going to hide this. I'm going to tell everybody. So I'm going to tell all of you. Now, see, I can't allow myself to get all upset, because I know, especially some of the widows in this group will say, now, now, remember what God is doing to stop griping.

So I'm going to talk about it. Verse 13, your way, O God, is in the sanctuary. Now, the idea of a sanctuary, this church building that we rent, they call this the sanctuary. You know, for us, well, the Sabbath, it is a type of sanctuary. Coming to Sabbath services is not just something we do. It is a command, and it is a privilege. And you don't know how much of it is a privilege, so God takes it away sometimes. And if we water down the idea of coming together as God's people, invited by God to this sanctuary, we may lose the privilege someday.

O God, your way is in the sanctuary. Who is so great a God as our God? You are the God who does wonders. You have declared your strength among the peoples. And you read through the rest of this, and He's a changed man. He's a changed man. Now, He struggled with this. This was the only time He would go through this. We won't go there, but in Psalm 42, He goes through the same process, same process in Psalm 42. And He says He remembers, and He went back to an attitude of worship. And in an attitude of worship towards God, God's presence was once again rekindled in His life. And you see Him begin to be lifted out of that despair. David lived a hard life. David had a lot of good things in his life. He also lived a very hard life. Psalm 32. We won't go there, but in Psalm 32, He talks about how He's in despair because of His own sin. Sometimes we are in depression because of sin. You know how He got out of that depression? He went and asked for forgiveness, and He experienced God's forgiveness. He just went and laid it all out. Here's my sin. As I said before, that's one of the things about Psalm 51 that is so amazing to me. God, I am so horrible, I'm paraphrasing, but if you will forgive me, I'll write this down in a song and I'll sing it to everybody forever. And that's exactly what He did. He wrote a song about His own sin and how God had forgiven Him. Instead of hiding it, He fangered to everybody. Yes, I was an adulterer. Yes, I murdered a man. Yes, I'm a liar. Yes, I'm a thief. And the only reason I am here is not because somehow I became good except through God. God forgave me and God made me good, and I will do anything God tells me to do. And today we sing, thousands of years later, we sing a man's song. Why? Because He told the Almighty God, if you'll forgive me, I'll sing it to everybody. Can you imagine? Okay, who wants to next week? We'll get the choir together, piano player, guitar player, and you write a song about your sins. And then you're going to praise God for forgiving you. Anyone who'd volunteer for that? No. David did. He wasn't depressed anymore. We have to realize the spiritual aspect of depression. And sometimes it's because we will not let God heal us, or we won't accept, or we justify our sins, or we won't accept the fact that our sins have consequences. See, sin can be. No, it's not the only cause. And that's why I mentioned that. There's a lot of reasons. We start to go through the causes of depression. It's unresolved anger is a major cause of depression. Like some mental health experts say that may be the number one cause. I think it's more complicated than that. I also don't believe in psychiatry that says all causes of depression are physical. No, they're not. They can be. Now, I can tell you that, and I'll tell you why. I made myself depressed before by eating about two dozen chocolate chip cookies one time. I wasn't paying attention, and I'll never forget my wife. We had been married very long. She's just smiling at me. And she says, I just watched a man go through a remarkable transformation. She said, you start eating those cookies, and you were sort of, you know, jovial and talking, and after a while you became like hyper, and you were like, and you kept eating them, and then you became all anxious, and then you crashed.

You can't do that much sugar to your body. This was, oh, I know, we hadn't been married very long since over 30 years ago. I learned something. Of course, I learned something, too. I said, oh, so next time you just let me do this, right? Well, you weren't going to stop because I said so. I've learned, you know, when she says stop, there's probably a good reason. But we can actually put ourselves through, so there are chemical reasons we end up where we are sometimes. We have to recognize that. Let's talk about, well, I'll talk about depression in terms of beginning to get a clear mind by simplifying your life. Simplifying your life. First thing, simplify your possessions and property. Simplify your possessions. My tongue's all tied up there. First thing you can do with that, but first thing, go declutter your house and your property. I have a hard time decluttering because I want to keep everything. I'm a pack rat. Why? I don't know. I just want to keep it, you know? So every once in a while, my wife, she's the same way, but we force ourselves to declutter. And what we're amazed at is a year later, our house is full of stuff again.

Although, what we're finding is the stuff we're keeping more and more is stuff we want. Over time, you're really keeping what you want. Things that have value too. Declutter your house and property. If you live in absolute clutter—now, some people are messier than others. I'm not talking about we all have to have everything exact. I mean, different. Some messiness is just a personality issue. It doesn't cause depression. But I'm talking about extreme clutter causes depression. Realize too, the whole society you and I live in is based on one thing. When you have capitalism at this big, capitalism was a concept that was for small farmers and small businesses. The Roman Empire was very capitalistic—actually more capitalistic than we are because their government had almost no trade restrictions. And they had—you could manufacture whatever you wanted. However you wanted. You've used slaves. They didn't care. So, I mean, it was just pure open market capitalism. I guess the purest way to imagine. Whatever you manufactured, people could buy. But the whole idea as it got bigger and bigger and bigger to what we have today, this world economy, is that what happens if everybody gets saturated with goods? You have to sell more goods. So, you ever notice everything becomes obsolete very quickly, either because of a new design or because there's built-in obsolescence.

Well, I remember last time we bought a couch, because our couch is starting to fall apart. We're going to have to buy a new couch. And we're all happy because it lasted like 20 years or whatever. When they told us, this is only built the last 15 years. We said, why? They said, because everybody wants a new couch in 15 years. Now, high-quality things aren't built that way, but, you know, we were on a limited budget. And we're thinking, wow, what a shame!

So, the whole thing is, if you can't... if everybody's saturated with goods, you have to create an artificial need. And so, you're constantly told you need things that you don't need at all. You don't need it at all. But we're totally needed.

So, people will pay $150 for a pair of tennis shoes. That the only reason that they can get that price for them isn't because quality-wise they're worth $150, it's because they have the right for $10 autograph on it. That's all it is. And you need it. I need this. And we're all just inundated with this need that we don't have. And when you give up the needs, I don't need that. You start to experience freedom. I really don't need that. I'm free. It's like we're all hypnotized. Oh, I need...right? Wait a minute. Stop it. Oh, you zombies. Stop it. We can get out of this. We don't need this stuff. I mean, people will fight. People will light up what? They'll camp all night to be the first 10 people in someplace so they can get something they don't need. I guess some people do it for a social event. Okay. I mean, that's what you liked on. But we don't need it.

Declutter all this stuff. You don't need it. Seek realistic contentment in what you have. Seek realistic contentment in the ups and downs of life. You can't make this life perfect every day. You can't. And every day is going to have some good and some bad, some happiness and some sorrow. Sometimes the happiness...I mean, sometimes something good happens to you and it lasts for a week. Sometimes something bad happens to you and it lasts for six months. And at some point, we decide that you can't control it. You can't say, okay, I won't be sad. We're supposed to be sad at certain times. You can't say, okay, well, I won't be discouraged. We're going to be discouraged sometimes. You can't say, well, okay, I'm never going to be disappointed. You're going to be disappointed sometimes. But there is a point where you give up expectations and you simply say, I will be content with what God is doing in my life today.

I prayed a prayer of Jibbez years ago. God increased my borders, but I didn't know what that meant. I didn't want like position. I didn't want a lot of money. So I said, well, I guess that means, I remember praying this, help me to have more influence on helping people. There. I found myself on television. It's like, God, that's not what I meant. It's not really what I meant. It is what I prayed. We have to go with the ups and downs of life. Look at what Paul says in Philippians 4. This doesn't mean Paul is fatalistic. It's the exact opposite. It's a remarkable statement about how this man had reached an emotional equilibrium. Paul had hard times, and he had times when he felt bad. He had times where he was discouraged. He had times because you read his writings. Let's see, let's start in verse 11.

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. He didn't say to me, oh, we'll be happy all the time. He says, what I've learned is to take things in stride, is the way we put it today. I've learned, you know, there's a time to laugh, there's a time to cry. Remember when Solomon wrote? There's a time for peace, there's a time for conflict. And we have to understand, there's a time for life, there's a time for death. And that's part of life. He says, I know how to be a based, and I know how to abound. He didn't say, I know how to be a based, so I'm just, you know, oh boy, just hey, life is bad and you just, the Olympian dies, you know, a big deal. He says, I know the other side of this too. I know how to be happy. I know to have good things. I know how to have a nice meal, and I know how to be hungry. And you look, he went through both of them. Everywhere, in all things, I have learned to be both full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. Now, how did he do this? I could do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And if we can't do it through Christ who strengthens us, we won't do it. We won't. You and I don't do this ourselves. We have to have help. It's what David understood. The second thing, they simplify your possessions, simplify your relationships.

Do this. Do this and you'll change your life. Stop taking everybody's actions so personally. Stop taking somebody else's bad mood or rudeness or lack of understanding so personally. Just don't take it personally. Just say, oh, that person's being rude, or that person doesn't understand, or that person was being to me today, and let it go.

Just let it go. You want to change your life? You want to start simplifying your relationships? This is the first step you can take to change everything. Just stop taking it so personal. You have to. You have to stop taking it personal.

We have to learn to let other people be human, to let other people make their mistakes. I'm just, okay, but guess what? I'll still be your friend. I'll still be your Christian brother and sister. You're still a member of my family. And we just stop taking it so personally, because so much of the time we're walking around upset over things that really aren't that important. Now, I say that. There's another side to this, and that is there are certain people. I call them energy busters. There are certain people that are so negative. They just suck the energy out of you. It's like some science fiction movie. You know, they just suck themselves in your head and drain everything out. And it's because they're so negative. Live at your time with those people. I'm not saying to avoid those people entirely. Love them. Reach out to them. Care for them. But you know what? You ever have somebody at work? I worked for a guy that was negative. I went on vacation one time, went to the feast, came home from the feast, was so excited, walked through the door, sat down with him as the president of the company. And you know, I asked him how I was doing, and he spent a whole hour telling me everything that's bad had happened in the radio station since I was gone. I literally had to leave his office, get in the car, and drive home. It took me an hour before I could go back to work. He just drained everything out of me. I didn't have any energy to even work. Energy busters, you spend a little time with them. You help them. You encourage them. You serve them. And then you spend your time doing something else. You have to simplify your relationships. Don't avoid them, but limit the time. Number three, simplify your priorities of time. You know, entertainment can help us relax. It can also fill us with anxiety, fear, sexual images, violence. It can affect us in a dramatic way. I read a psychologist one time. He called it a Sunday afternoon neurosis. What role is that? He described it. He said, think about it's something. You get up, you do some work around the house, get a few things done, and then you sit and you watch a football game. And eat nachos and drink a beer and watch a football game. Then the three o'clock game is on. And you're watching that. And you're sitting around and now you've eaten the hot dog and had some jalapenos and had another beer. So between 12 and 6, all you've done is eat junk food and watch two football games. And he said, you know how bad you feel after that? Remember reading through that? I said, yeah. I'm like talking to the guy. You know, I read the book. That's Sunday afternoon neurosis. You've actually messed up your mind. Oh, yeah. That vague feeling of nothingness, you know, hopelessness. You're just sort of dumb, right?

Entertainment can be good and it can be bad. We have to be very careful about it. That's why physical exercise is so important for a healthy mind and body. Another point. And this is a simple higher priority of time. Here's two sources of depression. Now, remember, depression usually has more than one source. That's why it's so complicated. One is being a workaholic, because the only time you will feel good is when you're working. When you're not working, you'll feel less and less and nervous and anxious, and eventually you'll get depressed. The other is having no work ethic at all. You want to meet a miserable person? Talk to somebody who's lazy. They're always depressed and always negative, and they'll always tell you why they've missed out on life. You ever notice that about really lazy people? Everybody else gets opportunities but me. Well, what was the last time you held a job? 1997. Well, what do you mean everybody else gets an opportunity? Yeah, why even work? Everybody asks us opportunities but me. No one gives me opportunities. Lazy people end up depressed. Workaholics can suffer from depression sometimes. That's the way they avoid feeling depressed. If you keep busy enough, you don't have to be depressed.

So both of those can be sources. There's an interesting story in... well, let's just go there. Numbers... because there's one more point I want to give you here, and I don't want to miss that. Numbers 11. And I do want to end on time, so we have time to get a few refreshments and set up for the memorial service. Numbers 11. Moses is suffering in an emotional crisis here. Verse 10, Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door in the early east end, and the anger of the Lord was greatly aroused, and Moses also was displeased. So Moses said to the Lord, why have you afflicted your servants? Now, that's an interesting thing. He could have gone, oh God, please help me. You know, all the people are complaining. And Moses goes to God and says, why have you done this to me?

You can just see God, what did I do to you? And why have I not found favor at your sight that you have laid the burden of all these people on me? Why have you done this to me? Did I conceive all these people? I love this argument. You know, since he had two sons. I get two sons, maybe a few daughters. That's the only one I can see. I didn't conceive all these people. How about their dad?

Did I get them that you should say to me, carry them in your bosom as a guardian, carry the nursing child to the land which you smored to their fathers? He's a little bit more sarcastic with God here. Okay? Moses walks a fine line here. Why don't you get to me as God lets things finish? Go ahead. Are you done? I remember doing that with my kids. They're a little temper tantrum, thinking they were going to get something. Finally, when they're exhausted, hey, you done? And it's like, they just stare at you like, this was supposed to work. This is sort of the way it is, Moses is a god, you know? Well, I'm just a kiwi out of my bosom with my new children. What are you doing to me? He says, where am I to get meat to give all these people? For they weep all over me. They're crying. It's like weeping. I'm soaking wet here, God. Okay? From their tears, they weep all over me. Give us meat that we may eat. And I am not able to bear all these people alone because the burden is too heavy for me. If you treat me like this, I want you to remember God had done anything. God had done anything.

Please kill me here and now. If I have found favor in your sight, do not let me see my wretchedness. Okay? So, if you really love me, God, just kill me right now because I just hate this. I just hate the way I feel. I just can't stand this. I think he's depressed. Right? I think we have clinical depression.

Now, it's funny only because, you know why this is funny to me? Because I have done this. You know, God, this is too much. I'm trying to pass through all these people, do all this work, and be on television and be criticized by Muslims. Why are you doing this to me? God has not done anything to me. I've been here before. See, David said, talk about it. Okay, so I'm telling you about it.

I've been here before. I can't fix all these problems. I can't do all this. God said, are you done now?

So the Lord said to Moses, okay, I'll kill you. Don't answer what He said. Gather to me 70 men of the elders of Israel, who you know to be elders of the people, and officers over them. Bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that I may stand here with you. And I will come down and talk with you there, and I will take up the Spirit that is upon you, and we'll put some of it upon them. He says, okay, Moses, let's just get 70 good elders, and let's go ordain them, and I'll give them my Spirit, and then I'll give some help. How's that? And if you read through the story, the next thing you said, okay, don't worry about it. Tonight I'm going to send all these quail over, and I'll have all the meat they want. Anything else, Moses? Oh, you mean I could have just come and asked for them?

Aren't you glad God understands how little we are? Aren't you glad He does? He shows no anger at all with Moses in this whole passage. He just says, I know it's more than you can bear. I understand. I'll give you 70 helpers. Is that enough? And I'll give them all the meat they can eat, and you wouldn't even have to worry about it. Okay. Moses must have got up. I bet you his depression was gone. I bet you was feeling a little ashamed. At this point, he's probably feeling a little ashamed. But his depression is gone. It's like, oh, man, that was easy. But remember where he got his straight from. Just like David. Simplify the way you spend your time. He was overworked and stressed out. And he needed to simplify his time, and God gave him 70 helpers to simplify his time. The last point is simplify how you spend your energy. And I'm going to say something that will help you if you can do this. It's very hard, though. Seek to become childlike. Though I didn't say childish. Too much of the time, we're still childish. Okay. Which is selfish and, you know, I almost said petty, but it's selfish and it's cruel and it's very short-sighted. That's childishness. To be childlike is to look at the world through the wonder of the eyes of a child. Remember that. Remember that. Watch a child pick up a bug and watch all the other kids come and look at the bug. I watched something on television the other night that actually, I can't explain, it made me feel happy for a week. The March of the Penguins. How many of you have seen the March of the Penguins? If you haven't, go watch it. And to think that for thousands of years, the only one that ever saw that take place was who? God. Well, the angels. No human beings have never seen this before. God watched it every year. And He died this penguin time. Now think about that. Because He said He knows even when a sparrow falls. Every year, there must be some excitement in heaven because it's penguin time. And they're going to watch all this take place. And that's the way He is about everything. There's a joy to God that we don't know. And He loves His creation. Be a little bit more childlike. You see, other people won't, you know, I don't want to say, wow, look at that! Other people think I'm not cool. You know what? Who cares? Because children don't care. They all gather around and look at a bug. Be a little more childlike. Don't worry about what other people think so much. That means get rid of all the regrets of the past. Also become a little more health conscious. That's a whole other subject, but depression is fed by our physical health. And depression breaks down physical health. It does both. It's one of those loops we get into. Depression breaks down physical health. The breakdown of physical health causes depression. What we eat is so important. The rest we get is so important. You don't want to God's remedies for depression. It's called the Sabbath.

Rest, spiritual healing, coming together at the sanctuary to worship God. It's supposed to be a feast day. This is the day where we're supposed to eat well. Is it time to fellowship with others of like mind?

This is one of God's remedies, and we throw this one away so easily by not keeping the Sabbath holy, by not being serious about it, by not fellowshiping, by not resting. And we pay a price. Remember, most people at one time or another experienced depression in one form or another. Some of you will wrestle with it all your lives.

It is part of the bondage that you and I carry, even living in Satan's world. But God has given us healing. You and I are in the healing process. Healing always isn't just a miracle, God. Sometimes it is. Healing is a process. We have to learn the cause and effect. We have to stop the causes so that the effects go away. You and I have been called by God to receive physical healing. But more importantly, something that will last forever, mental, emotional, and spiritual healing. Because you and I will take these bodies into eternity. We will take our emotional, and mental, and spiritual self into eternity. So let God heal you.