Sunday
Morning Bible Study
November 2, 2003
Psalm 40 – Out of the pit
Depression seems to be something pretty common to mankind.
Some of our favorite people in the Bible went through some pretty low
times.
Moses went through some times of despair, feeling like he couldn’t handle
the weight of responsibility in leading the nation. He wanted to die (Num. 11:15).
Elijah experienced a time of great darkness, even after having had the most
incredible high anyone could imagine, having called down fire from heaven, yet
when Jezebel threatened his life, he too wanted to quit and die (1Ki. 19:4).
Jeremiah became discouraged in his ministry. He felt everyone hated him and he wished he
had never been born (Jer. 15:10).
Charles Spurgeon, becoming a pastor at age 16, addressing crowds of 5000 by
the age of 20, was known to have gone through extreme times of depression. In the “Minister’s
Fainting Fits”, Spurgeon wrote,
“Knowing by most painful experience what deep depression of spirit means,
being visited therewith at seasons by no means few or far between, I thought it
might be consolatory to some of my brethren if I gave my thoughts thereon, that
younger men might not fancy that some strange thing had happened to them when
they became for a season possessed by melancholy …”
So what do we do with depression?
How do we handle it?
Things not to do when you’re depressed:
Don’t weigh yourself.
Don’t watch Old Yeller.
Don’t go near a chocolate shop.
Don’t open your credit-card bill.
Don’t go shopping for a new bathing suit.
-- Barbara Johnson, Mama Get The
Hammer (Word, 1994), p. 62.
Did you know...
...a psychological study in 1995 found that 3 minutes spent looking at
models in a fashion magazine caused 70% of women to feel depressed, guilty and
shameful.
We won’t talk about how it made the men feel. Probably just guilty.
:1 I waited patiently for the LORD
Or literally, “waiting I waited”
Lesson #1
Wait patiently
Spurgeon writes, “Patient waiting upon God was a special characteristic of
our Lord Jesus. Impatience never
lingered in his heart, much less escaped his lips. All through his agony in the garden, his
trial of cruel mockings before Herod and Pilate, and
his passion on the tree, he waited in omnipotence of patience. No glance of wrath, no word of murmuring, no
deed of vengeance came from God’s patient Lamb; he waited and waited on; was
patient, and patient to perfection, far excelling all others who have according
to their measure glorified God in the fires.”
Impatience leads to miry clay. “Why isn’t God doing things quicker?” leads
to depression.
Illustration
Paul Hampton writes, “Three weeks before Christopher's fourth Christmas, he
was having trouble understanding there was nothing he could do to make it come
any sooner. So we came up with a plan.
We circled December 25 on a calendar posted on the refrigerator and each
evening, Christopher's job was to mark off another day. Less than a week into
this ritual, my wife and I went out while a babysitter watched
Christopher. When we arrived home, our
son was fast asleep. But in the kitchen, he certainly had been busy. Every day
up to December 25th had been marked with a big black X.”
Trying to push God to make things happen quicker is only going to make me
frustrated.
:1 and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
Lesson #2
Pray
God heard David’s cry. That means David
was praying.
Jesus handled His time of agony with prayer.
The Garden of Gethsemane
was probably the time of Jesus’ own greatest darkness. And Jesus prayed. Mark records,
(Mark 14:33-35 KJV) And he taketh with him Peter and James and
John, and began to be sore amazed,
and to be very heavy; {34} And saith
unto them, My soul is exceeding
sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch. {35} And he went forward a
little, and fell on the ground, and prayed
that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
Luke records at this point,
(Luke 22:44 KJV)
And being in an agony he prayed
more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling
down to the ground.
We read last week:
(Psa 34:4 KJV) I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and
delivered me from all my fears.
Don’t just think about prayer here in church. Pray.
:2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit,
out of the miry clay
This is God getting me out of the depression.
:2 and set my feet upon a rock
Lesson #3
Look above you
The Rock is higher than you are.
(Psa 61:2 KJV) From the end of the earth
will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is
higher than I.
You have to put your eyes on something higher than you are. Look at Jesus.
(Heb 12:1-3 KJV) Wherefore
seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us
run with patience the race that is set before us, {2} Looking unto Jesus the
author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of
the throne of God. {3} For consider him that endured such contradiction of
sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Jesus is the one who can get you out of your pit.
Illustration
A man fell into a pit and couldn't get himself out.
A NEWS REPORTER wanted the exclusive story on his pit.
CONFUCIUS said: “If you would have listened to me, you
would not be in that pit.”
BUDDHA said: “Your pit is only a state of mind.”
A PHARISEE said: “Only BAD people fall into a pit. You
deserve it.”
A REALIST said: “That’s a PIT.”
The MOVIE LOVER said, “Is this Brad’s Pitt?”
A GEOLOGIST told him to appreciate the rock strata in the
pit.
The COUNTY INSPECTOR
asked if he had a permit to dig a pit.
A SELF-PITYING person said: “You haven’t seen anything
until you’ve seen MY PIT!!”
An OPTIMIST said: “Things COULD be
worse.”
A PESSIMIST said: “Things WILL get worse!!”
JESUS, seeing the man, took him by the hand and LIFTED HIM
OUT of the pit.
:3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even
praise unto our God
Lesson #4
Praise God
God can give us songs, even during the night seasons of life:
(Psa 42:8 KJV) Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness
in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto
the God of my life.
(Psa 77:6 KJV) I call to remembrance my song in the night: I
commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.
We tend to think that we should hold off on our praise to the Lord until
things turn out okay, but sometimes the very thing we need to break the depression
is to begin to praise God.
Jehoshaphat was in one of those horrible situations, being surrounded by
his enemies. Yet he found that when the
people began to praise God for His promise to deliver the nation, the very act
of praising God brought the deliverance.
What can I praise God for?
You can praise Him for loving you unconditionally.
(Rom 5:8 KJV)
But God commendeth his love toward us, in
that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
You can praise Him for saving you from hell.
(John 3:16 KJV)
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
You can praise Him for having good plans for you.
(Rom 8:28 KJV)
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love
God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
:3 many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in
the LORD.
People see what God is doing in your life. They see God taking you out of
the pit. People are brought to Christ through the witness of a life that has
been changed.
:4 Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his
trust
blessed – ‘esher –
happiness, blessedness. This summarizes
all we’ve been looking at. Happiness
comes from trusting in the right thing, in the Lord.
:5 Many…thy thoughts which are to us-ward
Lesson #5
Remember God’s thoughts about you
David wrote in Ps. 139 –
(Psa 139:17-18 KJV) How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O
God! how great is the sum of them! {18} If I should count them, they are more
in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
Jeremiah records –
(Jer 29:11 KJV) For I know the thoughts that I think toward
you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an
expected end.
God is thinking about where He’s taking you. He’s thinking about the good things He has in
store for you. He’s thinking about the
potential He’s put inside of you.
Illustration
Once someone came on Michelangelo
chipping away with his chisel at a huge shapeless piece of rock. He
asked the sculptor what he was doing. “I
am releasing the angel imprisoned in this marble,” he answered. Jesus is the one who sees and can release the
hidden hero in every man.
-- William Barclay's
Commentary on The Gospel of John
Paul writes,
(Rom 8:31-32 KJV) What shall
we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? {32} He
that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things?
:6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire;
God would rather have us learn to obey Him than to always trying to pay for
our sins with sacrifices.
:6-8 mine ears hast thou opened:
opened – karah – to dig, excavate; it is usually used
to describe “digging” a pit. It is also used to describe the piercing of flesh:
Ps 22:16
For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked
have enclosed me: they pierced my
hands and my feet.
(NIV) “but my ears you have pierced”
In David’s time, a pierced ear meant something different than it does for us
today. To the ancient Hebrews, it was a symbol of a willing slave. A Jew was
only allowed to be the servant of another Jew for six years. On the seventh
year the slave was allowed to go free, unless he made a choice to willingly
stay with his master.
(Exo 21:5-6 KJV) And if the servant shall
plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out
free: {6} Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring
him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear
through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.
A pierced or “opened” ear was a sign that this person had made a choice to
follow their master for the rest of their life, out of love for their master.
Lesson #6
Be an obedient servant
One of the keys to getting out of the pit of depression is not to let yourself sit in a corner too long. Get up and serve the Lord. Do what you need to do.
Jesus was a willing servant of God.
(Phil 2:5-8 KJV) Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: {6} Who, being in the form of
God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: {7} But made himself of no
reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men: {8} And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself,
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
We too ought to have this same heart, to be a willing
servant of God, to have our “ears pierced”.
Corrie ten Boom said, “Don’t bother to give God
instructions; just report for duty”.
The Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, translates this
phrase in a slightly different way, as “A
body thou hast prepared for me”. Why does it translate it this way? We
don’t have a clue. Yet we don’t want to totally throw out this translation,
because the writer of Hebrews refers to this verse and quotes the Septuagint,
and even bases one of his points on this translation.
(Heb 10:4-14 KJV) For it
is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
The writer is going to deal with how sins are taken care of. In reality,
the blood of bulls or goats isn’t enough to pay for your sins.
{5} Wherefore when he cometh into the world,
The “he” is talking about Jesus. When did Jesus come into the world? When He took on human flesh in Mary’s womb.
he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast
thou prepared me:
Here’s the verse we’re looking at. The “body” that had been prepared was
the physical body of Jesus that was being formed in Mary’s womb. This “body” is
going to be crucial to the writer’s argument later.
{6} In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no
pleasure. {7} Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written
of me,) to do thy will, O God.
The writer finishes quoting from Psalm 40:6-8
{8} Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings
and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which
are offered by the law; {9} Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He
taketh away the first, that he may establish the
second.
The writer is saying that the sacrifices that were prescribed by the Law
were “taken away” or done away with because they were not sufficient. They were
replaced with what would be accomplished by the one who came to do God’s will,
the one written about in the “book” (Jesus).
{10} By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
The language is a little confusing, but the “will” is the “will” of God
that Jesus delighted to come and do. It was God’s “will” that Jesus come and offer up this body that was “prepared”. We are in turn made
right with God, not through the sacrifice of bulls or goats, but through the
doing of the will of God by Jesus. We are made right by Jesus giving His life
for ours.
{11} And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering
oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: {12} But this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right
hand of God; {13} From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. {14} For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are
sanctified.
A priest would have to keep offering one sacrifice after another, trying to
keep up with our sins. Yet Jesus’ sacrifice was so incredible, so powerful,
that it was able to wipe out all of our sins for all time.
Lesson #7
Complete cleansing
One of the greatest causes of grief is guilt over our sin.
Some of us have this problem where we wonder if we’ve finally done the one
sin that’s going to make us go forever into hell.
Please don’t misunderstand me here – if you are caught in a sin right now,
God desires that you repent – that you turn from your sin, confess your sin to
God, and stop sinning.
But some of us, even after we’ve turned from our sin, feel like we can
never be forgiven for the sin that we’ve committed.
You need to understand that power of Jesus’ one sacrifice.
You may think that your sin is just too horrible, but I have to tell you that
Jesus’ blood is far greater than any sin you could ever have done.
When you continue to wallow in your guilt and condemnation, there is a
sense in which you are saying that Jesus’ sacrifice might have been enough to
pay for the sins of the world, but it wasn’t great enough to pay for you. Don’t
belittle the sacrifice of Jesus like that. His sacrifice is more than enough.
:7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the
book it is written of me,
The Bible is all about Jesus.
:9-10 I have not concealed thy lovingkindness
David says that He won’t hide what God has been doing in his life.
Lesson #8
Talk about God’s goodness towards
you
Share your faith with others. Don’t
hide the treasure God has given you. God’s forgiveness of us ought to impact
others. It ought to even affect the way we share our faith.
Illustration
Hudson Taylor, dressed in a Chinese costume, while waiting for a boatman to
take him across the river, stood on a jetty. Presently a richly dressed
Chinaman came and also stood waiting. When the boat drew near this man not
seeing that Mr. Taylor was a foreigner, struck him on the head and knocked him
over into the mud. Mr. Taylor said the feeling came to him to smite the man,
but God immediately stopped him. When the boat came up, the Chinaman looked at
Mr. Taylor and recognized him as a foreigner. He could hardly believe it, and
said, “What, you a foreigner, and did not strike me back when I struck you like
that?” Mr. Taylor said “This boat is mine. Come in and I will take you where
you want to go.” On the way out, Mr. Taylor poured into that Chinaman’s ears
the message of salvation. He left the man with tears running down his face. Such
is the power of the Gospel of Christ.
I’m afraid that sometimes we get caught up in the moment of being offended
and miss the fact that maybe God is giving us an opportunity to show grace and
kindness. His grace and kindness.