Depression

        I got out of the hospital on a day in June 2016 and went home to recuperate after having a stroke. It was a hot day and then we heard the warnings of an impending storm. It had a different kind of name as it was called, “El Derecho.” It is a Spanish term and I never figured out the connection. It was a storm with a straight line of wind that was traveling in a line from Chicago to mid Pennsylvania and heading south at a good clip. It hit us in the evening with 80 mph winds and flattened trees and power lines. In about 20 minutes, it was over and we were in the dark. I was not that excited about being in the hospital, but this looked like I was going to be worse off than before I left the hospital. People said that the streets of our town looked like a war zone with transformers popping as the poles went down. Well, some war zones look a lot worse. Sometimes, though, storms can devastate an area and leave people with everything gone but the clothes on their backs. It can be just a bit depressing when such things take place. Job was a man that cursed the day that he was born. Job 3:3-4 says, “Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived. Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.”

        Job had lost everything. His livestock were all gone, his sons and daughters were gone, he had skin problems and he couldn't come up with an answer as to why these things were happening to him. You might say, he was just a bit depressed. Such disasters can cause one to go into a fit of depression. For some, the loss of just one item can cause depression. Job had a lot of questions and he had his friends to thank for their words of reply which didn't really help matters that much. Job shows some glimmer of hope in such passages as Job 19 where he speaks about the fact that he knows in the end, he will see his Redeemer face to face even after his physical body is destroyed, yet he will stand in the flesh before God. He never lost that hope but he had a lot of questions. Finally, God sits him down and says for him to be quiet while God presents a series of facts before Job about many different subjects from the universe to the animal kingdom to the weather and the oceans. In the end, Job gets “doubly” blessed but you could say that Job was depressed while this was going on. We often find ourselves in times of need when we question God as to why certain things are happening to us. In such times, we may even question God and be angry with him for allowing such things to occur in our lives. Depression is real and can be debilitating to many people. The story of Job is in our Bible to show us that there is always a hope that is beyond our understanding. God will always take care of us no matter what is going on. He will provide and He will meet out needs in His time and in His own way. He has His reasons and they are beyond our own reasoning. You may have things going on your life today that could be depressing if it were not for God Who is still working in your life. There may be those times when God says to us, “Be quiet and sit down and listen to what I have to day.” Praise God today for the fact of the story of Job and the encouragement that it gives to us.