Reality is Depressing, and Depression is Reality

Reality is Depressing, and Depression is Reality.

Psalm 119:25-32 (Daleth)

• Introduction:
  • Physical pain, emotional pain, spiritual pain:
    • “Pain insists on being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience but shouts to us in our pain. It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” ⁽¹⁾
    • Emotional pain can be worse than physical pain.
    • Spiritual pain: existential loneliness, dread or shame; loss of identity.
  • Meaning in life, depression and Ecclesiastes 3:18
    • Sorting out the good and avoiding the truth (defense theory).
    • Problem solving and accepting responsibility (control theory).
  • Compare: a more accurate perception of reality (depressive realism).
• Last Week: Hints and Helps with Memorizing Scripture
  • Read the passage over several times before starting to memorize it.
  • Repeat the passage every day.
  • Study the passage and ask questions the passage think about:
    • Its application to life.
    • How it helps to get to know God and understand my purpose.
  • Write it out longhand, and print it onto index cards that you can carry with you.
  • Learn one verse at a time.
  • Teach the passage to someone else.
  • Develop pictures to visualize the passage and its story.
  • Say it out loud, or develop it into a song, and use hand motions.
  • Record it and play it back.
  • Practice it with someone who will encourage you and hold you accountable.
• Today’s Storer-Uppers!
• Thinking about the reality of depression.
  • Proverbs 18:14
  • Isaiah 57:15
  • Isaiah 66:1-2
  • Psalm 34:17-18
• The Passion of Christ: Physical pain, emotional pain, spiritual pain.
  • Man of sorrows (Isaiah 53:3-12)
  • Soul grieved to the point of death in the “olive press” (Matthew 26:37-38)
  • Forsakenness, spiritual agony (Psalm 22; Matthew 27:45-50)
  • The full weight sin (2 Corinthians 5:20-21)
• Psalm 119:25-32
  • Why am I so depressed? (vv. 25-29)
  • Turning it over. (v. 30-31)
  • Back in the game (v. 32)
• Thinking about converting from a philosophy of “self-esteem” based on trusting ourselves, to self acceptance based on trust in God and His power, plans, love and forgiveness (Jeremiah 29:11 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 1 Peter 1:6-7 Hebrews 13:5).
• He is Risen!

 1. C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, (1940; repr., San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001), p. 91.