ISAIAH 58:10 – If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.

THEME OF THE DAY. DRIVING AWAY THE SPIRITUAL BLUES. Wayne Mack opens his book Out of the Blues: Dealing with the Blues of Depression and Loneliness with this humorous but instructive illustration. He writes, “Concerned about his very depressed wife, a man made an appointment with a psychiatrist. When they entered the office, the doctor began by asking the wife a few questions. As they talked, the doctor got up and sat down right beside the woman. The woman seem surprised, but pleased. As they continued to talk, the doctor put his arm around the woman and smiled into her face. She smiled back. A moment later, he gave her a squeeze on the shoulders, leaned over, and planted a kiss on her cheek. By this time, the woman was beaming. The psychiatrist then got up, returned to his chair, and said to the woman’s husband, ‘Did you see how your wife’s mood changed when I sat down beside her, smiled at her, hugged her, and gave her a kiss on the cheek?’ ‘Yes,’ the man replied. ‘Well,’ continued the psychiatrist, ‘That’s the kind of treatment she needs, and she needs it at least three times a week.’ ‘Okay,’ agreed the husband, ‘If that’s what you think she needs, then l will bring her here every Tuesday and Thursday, but I can’t bring her on Saturday because that’s my golf day.’”

Though the story is fictitious and funny, there are three applications we may apply as Christians. First, Christians get depressed. Depression is real. The Bible states it as such. Read the Psalms and see how often we find the writer in a dark cave of depression. Read of the great Old Testament servant of God – Elijah – in 1 Kings 19. Read of the greatest Christian ever to live – the Apostle Paul – in 2 Corinthians 1. We are lacking the compassion of Christ and the sensitivity to the reality of emotionally suffering people, even Christians, who dismiss all depression as caused by sin. Granted, God will often use depression in His children as a tool of chastisement for their sinning (see Psalm 32), but we cannot label all depression as being caused by sin. The Bible doesn’t and neither must we.

The second lesson from the story is simple. Depressed people will respond to acts, looks, touches, and words of comfort from people who care. Sometimes just being there for an emotionally hurting person will take them out of the blues. And that leads to the third and important lesson from the story and a certain means of lifting the dark clouds of depression or discouragement in our own lives. It is what the doctor practiced and the husband ignored – being active in the life of an emotionally-hurting individual, going to the depressed person, and serving the suffering saint. So often when we are languishing in our own emotional pain, we stay in our self-imposed pit. We focus on ourselves. We become depressed and oblivious to other people. And this self-absorption is contrary to Biblical Christianity and the call of Christ to self-denial. If we want to dig ourselves out of the pit of the spiritual blues, obeying today’s scripture and reaching out to others in loving service will do the work. Forgetting ourselves and focusing on others is Christ’s way to joy and contentment.

So when we start to feel the “woe is me” blanket coming over us with the spiritual blues seeking to take up residency in our hearts, stop, pray, and go invest in someone; go serve a hurting sister or brother. Forget yourself and watch the dark clouds of depression and discouragement give way to the “clear sky” of the Lord’s Presence.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to see the way out of spiritual darkness is to look away from myself and serve others.”

QUOTE: “When in seasons of discouragement, even depression, don’t stay in those dark pits. Get out and serve people.”