“Hope is never ill when faith is well.”
John Bunyan
Last Sunday’s sermon was delivered by Colton Stalsby. His text was Psalm 42 and 43. Here is a portion of that remarkable psalm that is repeated three times:
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation 6 and my God. (Psalm 42:5-6a, 11; 43:5)
Colton acknowledged the reality of spiritual depression and then directed us to six remedies from this passage. Here is an excerpt from his helpful sermon:
But note that your heart being in a position of spiritual depression is not wrong in and of itself. Feeling far off from God is one of the most Christian feelings a person can have. We are not perfect beings, we need a savior and we need his guidance constantly.
However, your reaction to your spiritual depression is what matters. So easy is it to sit in your depression and wallow in the murk and mire but what good does that do for your soul. What good does that do for those around you. Just as the psalmist did here we need to remind ourselves that God provides a remedy for our trials. The Lord has given us remedies in our trial, through responses and remembering the Lord.
Both response and remembering act as bandages to heal wounds. While the bandages themselves do not heal the wound they put the wound in the correct spot for healing to occur. The same is true about these remedies, the acts themselves do not heal but rather it is the one that these remedies point towards that heals the soul. God is the only one that can heal our spiritual depression, and we must remind our souls of that and point them towards the great hope that we have in the LORD.
May the Lord bless you this week as you look to him to provide a remedy for your current trials.
Love in Christ,
Pastor Dale
