Happy or Sad?

Do any of you have to deal with recurring depression?  I know I do.  I'm not talking about the kind that requires lots of counselling and doctor prescribed medication (clinical depression) although, I have had counselling and have taken medication from time to time.  I'm talking about a mental and emotional pull towards sadness.  A hundred years ago it was called "melancholy".  Some of the greatest Christian thinkers and pastors had ... melancholia.  They, like us, just had to deal with it.

I've done a little study on this and have heard (and I somewhat believe) that some depression is genetic ...that genetics has a significant role in our "happiness quotient".  Pshchologists say that maybe 40% of our sense of happiness or sadness is determined by our gene pool.  These same experts also say that the remaining 60% has much to do with our own determination and understanding.

My father, my deceased brother, myself and one of my daughters all struggle (stryggled) with depression but I don't consider myself sad or depressed and it is mainly because I work on it ...I fight it.  I usually get through the rough spots in a day or two.

One of the greatest exercises I do on a regular basis ...2 or 3 times a year is to read through the book of Ecclesiastes ...non-stop in one sitting.  To take bits and pieces from this strange book is counter-productive to combating dark feelings and sadness but to read it straight through is one of the most encouraging things I've learned to do. 

Here's what I'd like those of you who are relating to this post to do.  Next time you are having feelings of "woe is me" or "I wish I had" or "if only ..." read Ecclesiastes ...all of it.  Write down what Solomon said was the greatest source of inner peace and joy.  It's better than Zanax.  Try it.

Other may want to watch "Happy" on NETFLIX.  Watching or reading something that is not necessarily based on God's Word contains both truth and error.  I liken learning from these sources to eating fish.  I love fish but I spit out the bones.  Happy has a few bones in it but it has a lot of meat too.  It will definitely get the mental juices flowing.

DO YOU "FEAR" GOD?

Prov 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

As I read the entire chapter of Proverbs 7, verse 7 seems to be the defining verse.  How easy it is to isolate this powerful verse and come up with a legalistic, rules dominated religion. 

As I read the Bible I see various attitudes, life-styles and belief systems that are totally at odds with God's character and will.  The Bible mentions things that God "hates" and practices that are an "abomination" to Him.  For a new believer these things may appear arbitrary ... because these aspects of fallen humanity have become "mainstream".  Everybody's doing it, or at least, everybody's accepting this as "okay".  The dilemma is the immutability of God ...He doesn't change because truth doesn't change.  Either He is always truthful or He is not.  We must answer that in our response to His Word.  Proverbs 1:7 teaches me that the fear of the Lord is the "beginning of knowledge".  It is not the end of knowledge.

As you read the entire seventh chapter of Proverbs, can you see the love behind the warning?  There is a "fear" that leads to legalism and doubt and alienation and there is a "fear" that leads to a peace and ease and a closeness in our relationship.  Check out verse 33.

Some of us have experienced religion and have mistakenly put an angry face on God because we haven't taken the time to try to know Him.  There are reasons why He says "No" to certain ideas and these reasons don't have to do with Him being arbitrary ...they have everything to do with our experiencing His grace.  Let me end with a true story of a man who held to a misconception until he discovered the real truth surrounding this misconception.

Bill, a pastor friend, told our church about a horrible incident that happened when he was in the 3rd or 4th grade.  He was going home from school one winter on a schoolbus and travelling on a snowy country gravel road.  A beautiful dog appeared out of nowhere and was standing in the middle of the road about 100 feet ahead of the bus.  To Bill horror, the bus driver never put on the brakes or attempted, in any way, to avoid this dog.  He ran right over it and kept right on going.  Bill said he hated that bus driver for that.  15 years later, after he was married, he took his new wife to his old home town and was showing her around his old stomping grounds.  Then it happened ...he realized he was travelling on the very same road he travelled that day on the bus when the driver ran over the dog.  It suddenly became clear to him what had happened that awful afternoon.  The road was very narrow and had no shoulder with five foot drops on either side.  He realized that the driver, in order to maintain control and therefore the safety of the 30 children ...he could only do what he did.  Any other manuever would have ended in disaster ...even for Bill ...the very one who developed a hatred for the bus driver.  His lack of experience and understanding of life and of a caring adult looking out for his safety blinded him to the real motives of the bus driver.

Proverbs 7 teaches us about that kind of love God has for us.  God's motives are always good and His ways are designed to help us ...not hurt us ...even when He seems harsh an unbending.