MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL WELLNESS (4)

“I call to remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within my heart, and my spirit makes diligent search” – Psalm 77:6

Psalm 77 contains profound truths on MENTAL and EMOTIONAL WELLNESS: “I call to remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within my heart, and my spirit makes diligent search” (Psa.77:6). Verses 1-3 depict what it means to be honest with God in our struggles: “I cried out to God with my voice – To God with my voice; and He gave ear to me.  In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord;…” (vv. 1-3).

Many of the psalms capture depths of mental conditions and ranges of human emotions. They present personal struggles of the psalmists in response to: the presence of an enemy, the schemes of the wicked, or a general lament over personal sin. They depict how we feel when things are not right in our lives, showing that: Struggle is not strange to Scriptures; battles are common to life on earth; and it’s okay to face challenges. They were rarely written from palaces of ease and comfort, but in hard and difficult seasons of pressures and pain. Many great Bible personalities have faced deep discouragement and depression.

Job was singled as a blameless and upright man, yet suffered staggering losses and long, painful illness (Job 7:6, 7). Moses was described as the meekest man on earth (Num.12:3). Submitting to God, he rose from ordinariness to become one of the greatest Old Testament characters. Yet, he was faced with the arduous task of administering God's Law, and leading over a million Hebrew people who had the tendency to gripe, doubt God, and attack their leader. There came a time when he felt the crushing weight of this assignment and cried out: “How can I alone bear your problems and your burdens and your complaints?" (Deut. 1:12).

Elijah, a great prophet of old, asked for his life to be taken (1Kgs.19: 1-3). His confrontation on Mount Carmel was spiritually, physically and emotionally demanding on him. He was emotionally drained, and said what he probably didn’t mean. David, in his efforts to hide sin, made journal entries that reveal total loss of strength, ebbing away of all that is worthwhile in life, and unceasing groaning (Psa. 32:2ff.). Jonah, the first foreign missionary, became dejected when God did not destroy Nineveh (Jon.4: 1-3). Jeremiah was so sad that he is known as the weeping prophet who confessed that he wished he'd never been born (Jer.20:18). 

The company of the depressed is an elite company! A writer calls depression “the common cold of emotional disorders.” All of our lips have uttered words of discouragement. All of our hearts have felt negative emotions, deriving from: the slap of setback, grief of loss, or discouraging effects of stress. The good news is that: God is closer than we think when we’re troubled and depressed.

In preceding devotionals, we examined Psalms 42 and 23. Today, we sieve three brief but significant lessons from Psalm 77. The psalm provides a pattern pathway out of the pit, into regained emotional equilibrium – Prayer, Meditation, and Worship:

An Honest SOS to God: depicted desperation and seeming despair in a dark tunnel (vv.1-3). But in battling depression, he didn’t pretend, bury his disillusionment, fake happiness, or turn to food, alcohol, or such ‘escapes’! In prayer, he asked sincere questions (vv.7-9). Real and reverent, honest yet humble, he traversed a range of emotions but didn’t try to hide from God (Psa. 34:18).

Redirection of Thoughts: During his sleepless nights, Asaph concluded that God was keeping him awake for a reason (v.4). Laying there in the silence, he redirected his mind from the dungeon, to sweeter times and songs in the night (vv.5-6; 10-12). It was time to take a long look in the rear-view mirror at God's past blessings. When we mark God's faithfulness in the past, we condition our weary hearts with hope for tomorrow.

Magnifying God Diminishes the Problems (vv. 13-20). Though not the natural instinct of the depressed, Worship recalibrates the soul! Asaph willed himself to come to worship, and broke through the pit into Mental and Emotional Wellness! Now it’s our turn!