Unshackled Moments ~ November 13 ~ Dealing With The Blues

Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. He penned Lamentations, a book so full of woe and lament that even the title refleted it. Jeremiah wasn't a bullfrog, he was a blues man. I bet if he'd had a harmonica, he'd have wailed on that mouth harp into between the verses. Jeremiah understood what it meant to be depressed. Everything in his life was going wring. His country was falling apart and under attack, no one was listening to him, even his health was going down the drain. And in his depression, Jeremiah blamed God for all of it.

 He [God] has made my flesh and my skin waste away, and broken my bones.

-Lamentations 3:4

His whole world was caving in. He was in emotional, mental, spiritual and physical distress.The more he looked at his circumstances and the situation, the more depressed he got. Until he changed where he was looking.Instead of continuing to look at and struggle against the quicksand sucking him down and began to look to God.

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in Him'.

- Lamentations 3:21-24

"But this I call to mind..." The distress had plenty of cause. The situation really was as bleak as it seemed. Jeremiah had legitimate cause to be depressed. And he didn't play positive thinking games, trying to trick himself into accepting the unacceptable or that things weren't so bad after all. He turned His attention elsewhere. He didn't stick his head in the sand and pretend the problems didn't exist. He looked to the only One who could make a difference. He tore his gaze from the shifting sand and remembered the firm foundation of the Rock below.

He recalled and spoke five promises. When everything is wrong we can do the same. There's one for each finger on the hand we reach out to God with for help and in praise.

1.The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.

2. His mercies never come to an end. 

3.They are new every morning.

4. Great is Thy faithfulness.

5. The Lord is my portion.

The sand didn't stop shifting beneath him. Everything didn't magically start going His way. The health and wealth and prosperity priests didn't throw him a parade and use him in promotional materials. The situation didn't change a bit, but his depression did. He had hope, hope that did not fail because it didn't have anything to do with the situation changing and everything to do in the faithful love of God.

Today when everything not only doesn't go our way, but seems to turn against us, let us recall to mind those five truths and promises. Let us turn our eyes from the problem to the Solution. Jesus is the answer, today and every day.

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