Counseling

Lording it Over your Circumstances

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I have one possible, but powerful cure for what ails you today. What most troubles you? Well, you do! We fear our fears. We worry about our worries. We are anxious about our anxieties.  And so, the monster feeds itself. We limp through our days wounded and walking in egg shells often of our own design. When we rest our minds on our fears and worries we give them life and strength and power. Yet, Paul exhorts us “The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything.” Phil 4:5-6

It can’t be that easy, can it?  My worries and fears are great, towering clouds that block out any light!  I cannot see beyond my fear. When worry triumphs and terrorizes, what does it matter the the Lord is near? 

Well, I think that I know what the deeper problem is. Your fears are too great and your Lord is too small. A big worry makes a small Lord. But, a big Lord makes your fear shrivel.  Now, do not misunderstand. I am not belittling your anxieties. No. Wait. Yes I am – I am belittling them – in comparison with the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord is near. Where is the comfort in that you ask? The one who has conquered sin and death has also given the antidote to fear and worry. The one who has all power in heaven and earth is your elder brother and friend. Omnipotence is in his hands. Jesus, who has loved you from before the foundation of the world, will hold your hand into eternity future where you will see him face to face; this is the Lord that is near. This is our worry-crushing Lord. He has your troubles and your tomorrows in his gracious hands. All will be well.

“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6-7). Rest your mind on the living, triumphant, reigning Lord of Glory and your anxieties may dissolve like mist. You are not enslaved in circumstance’s capricious hands, but set free by the nail scared hands of your savior.  Fear not, for the Lord is at hand.

The Great Commission – Simplified

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When you lose something it is often a good idea to retrace your steps in order to find what you lost.  Fallen man has lost his way.  We don’t know who we are anymore, nor what we are to be doing.  Who are we, and what are we doing here? Natural man has many unsatisfying answers to those questions.  How can we retrace our steps and find where we lost our way?  Well, let’s go back to the beginning, back to the owner’s manual for human life, back to Genesis.

Who are we? “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). We are made like God, and to like God. We are created to know God, walk and talk with him, and reflect his glory. That is who we are – the children of God.

What are we supposed to be doing? “And let them have dominion …over all the earth… Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it (Genesis 1:26, 28).  We are to rule over the earth for the glory of God. How do we do that? By multiplying the image of God and extending the rule of God from Eden to the ends of the earth.

Ok, that is the general principle, but how do we practically do that? Grow in the fear and knowledge of God, keep your garden well, raise your kids to know and love God, extend the gracious rule of God to fill the earth with the image of God that reflects the glory of God.

Let me try that again, updated for our moment of redemptive history. Go to church, raise your family, invest in your extended family, love your neighbors well, work at your job to the best of your ability for the glory of God, support the Great Commission, and walk with God in the garden in the cool of the day. That is what we are to be doing.

The Christian life is both simple and comprehensive. We do all that we do for the glory of God. As you do, know this encouragement from our Lord Jesus Christ, “behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

One Path out of the Darkness of Depression

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Because our depression is a deeply personal experience it is better described than defined.“I have felt my mangled heart periodically strangled by the silent thief lurking in the melancholy shadows.” Or, “It is a thickly clouded midnight sky that chokes out distant starlight.”

There are many potential cures for depression but let me give you one. 1 Peter 5:6-7, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”

‘Humble yourself,’ really great advice for one who is already depressed! Aren’t they crushed enough already? Hear me out. One cause of depression is a faulty view of ourselves. We can either love ourselves too much, or hate ourselves too much. And one common factor in both tendencies is thinking about ourselves too much.  Our self loathing or self love becomes our all consuming obsession and it produces a deepening darkness. And therefore we need to humble ourselves. We need to shift our focus from self, and our slights, wounds, worries, and distasteful circumstances to God our creator and how he sees us. And the first thing this altered vision produces is humility. 

What do we really deserve anyway?  I remember moving from a 2 bedroom 6-Plex with bad neighbors to a 3 bedroom home in the woods with a finished basement and great neighbors for only $25 more a month.  My wife said, as a good Calvinist, “We don’t deserve this.” I retorted, as a better Calvinist, “We don’t deserve anything.” From that place of humility almost everything can seem a blessing.  The mind shifts from what we deserve, to how ridiculously we are blessed. And that is healthier air to breath. Remember, God is mighty, mightier than our depression, and looking to him will bring exaltation, in His time – eventually but also certainly. So humble yourselves in the presence of God.

Second, cast your cares upon Him. But, we like our cares, concerns, conundrums, and corruptions. Better the devil you know applies to depression. “I would rather live with this misery than risk it growing worse.” We tend to cling to our wounds and worries instead of casting them unto the stronger shoulders of our compassionate Savior.  Transfer the weight of your depression to the other side of the yoke, the side that Jesus bears.  He care for you. That is at times difficult to believe, but it is necessary to stare down the beast of depression. Jesus sees you was the object of his love, the reward of his labors, the apple of his eye, and a friend in need. His opinion of you must take precedence over your own.  That is one method of starring depression down by looking to Jesus.