Focus

Prepare yourself to discern what is and what is not of God today. Still yourself so you can hear how God is calling you.

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Read

Lamentations 3:1-9, 19-24

I am one who has seen affliction
under the rod of God’s wrath;
he has driven and brought me
into darkness without any light;
against me alone he turns his hand,
again and again, all day long.
He has made my flesh and my skin waste away,
and broken my bones;
he has besieged and enveloped me
with bitterness and tribulation;
he has made me sit in darkness
like the dead of long ago.
He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;
he has put heavy chains on me;
though I call and cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer;
he has blocked my ways with hewn stones,
he has made my paths crooked.

The thought of my affliction and my homelessness
is wormwood and gall!
My soul continually thinks of it
and is bowed down within me.
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 your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”

 

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Reflect

I am one of those fortunate people who has never suffered with a burden such as depression or anxiety. Now, that’s not to say I’ve never been blue a few times in my life. The occasional blah sort of day can creep in and disrupt my otherwise peppy personality. On the other hand, there are people who do suffer greatly. The weeping prophet in his book of Lamentations shares some of those forlorn and forsaken emotions.
This is the day the church observes NOTHING. For his friends, Christ was dead. For us, the church is symbolically dead.

Chapter 3 of Lamentations perhaps describes the forsaken and melancholy mood of the disciples. Despondent in the upper room they probably felt walled in and weighed down (v. 7). But perhaps by the end of the evening, someone in that tiny group remembered the words of hope and comfort promised to God’s people. God’s compassions never fail, they are new every morning. (v. 22, 23) Yes, in the morning it will be better!

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Pray

Thank you that you never change, even when everything around me is changing and unpredictable. (Hebrews 13:8) Thank you that you are stable, even when I feel so very unstable. (Isaiah 33:6) It feels like Satan has been whipping me around! Please sustain me, protect me, and enable me to stand. (1 John 4:4; Psalm 28:7)
I know that because sin entered the world, all of creation is under a curse–all creation groans. (Romans 8:22) Because of this, I struggle physically, emotionally and spiritually. Thank you for how my body is made, and that it sends me warning signals to tell me that I need help. Right now my brain and emotions are telling me that something isn’t right.
Help me to see if there is something physical that is causing my depression. Help me to sift through my circumstances to see if there is a need for change in some way. If I am experiencing depression as a result of a spiritual battle, please bring that to light and show me the best way to fight that battle.

Go with God!