PSALM 42:5, 11: Why are you cast down (in despair), O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation, Why are you cast down (in despair), O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”

I have a book in my library titled Out of the Blues: Dealing with the Blues of Depression and Loneliness by Wayne Mack. In the opening chapter, he wrote, “I have heard it said by some mental health experts that depression is the common cold of mental ailments. In other words, depression is such a common human experience that nearly every person regardless of their background will experience it to some degree or another during their lifetime.”

In today’s scripture, we find David with this “common cold.” He is depressed, fighting inward turmoil, even despair. As we observe him, there is a powerful lesson for us that will be a great help in getting ourselves out of the spiritual blues. But before we look at David’s remedy, we must be cautious. It is insensitive and wrong to label all mental illness, even depression, as being caused by someone’s sin. Ultimately, all forms of suffering come from sin, including mental suffering, but we simply cannot look at the depressed person and say, “Repent. Sin is the cause of your depression.” Nor may we cruelly say, “Trust God. Snap out of it.” The mind is a complex thing and we must handle depressed people, even ourselves, with kindness, gentleness, love, and patience. However, David does model for us an important truth to apply when the “beast of depression” grips us. And as we get better at doing what he does, we will find ourselves driving the “beast” away more consistently.

First, he is confronting himself with the irrational. He basically is saying, “David, why are you depressed? Why are you in turmoil? Aren’t you a child of God? Why are you not focusing on Him and the hope you have in Him?” This is extremely important. Most of the time when we are in the “spiritual blues” our thinking is not rational. Emotions are ruling us and when that happens, nothing good comes from it. David knew this so he goes to war with his irrational thoughts by confronting them with God’s truth. And truth always wins in battles with lies and irrational thoughts.

Next, David tells himself deliverance from his depression and spiritual blues will come. He points himself to the future – Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation. Notice the tense. David says, “I shall again praise him.” That is faith in action. That is faith when all feels dark under the blanket of depression. David is taking control of himself. He knows deliverance will come and aggressively tells himself this certainty.

So, talking ourselves out of the spiritual blues. It starts with learning to tell ourselves the truth instead of listening to irrational thoughts and lies that may come from within ourselves.

PRAYER: “Father, teach me to talk more of Your truth to myself than listening to my self-talk of often false emotions.”

QUOTE: “Truth not only reigns in the heavenly realm but it must also reign in our hearts and minds.”