01/21/2009 Psalms 42:5

01/21/2009

Psalms 42:5 (HCSB) ⁵Why am I so depressed?
    Why this turmoil within me?
    Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him,
    my Savior and my God.
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In my late teens, I began weight training. A friend and I would go to the gym and lift weights in the morning before lunch. The first day was fun. I lifted modest weights considering I had never lifted before with any regularity. But together, we did a full workout. The muscles in my arms and chest were tight and felt good as we went to lunch that day.

But the next morning, I could hardly move. My muscles ached so much that it was painful to move. My entire upper-body was racked with pain.

We managed another workout that day, but not nearly as vigorous as the first day. I didn’t feel so good as we went to lunch that day. Every move of my arms and back sent pain through my body. I’m sure I looked like a robot as I tried to walk without moving my arms or back. This lasted a good three days, gradually subsiding till the fourth day, when I was able to move without the pain. From there, my weight-lifting progressed and each day, after the workout, my muscles would be tight and feel good. The next day there would be a little soreness, but nothing like the first workout.

Many can relate to this experience as we have all at one time or another stressed some muscle and had to pay the consequences the next day or so. But few of us compare this physical experience to the emotional realm.

While our emotions are not muscles, we are still subject to hurt and pain. When we extend our emotions out to another in a relationship, and the relationship fails, we feel that pain for quite a while. Many things happen in our emotional lives that can cause pain.

King David was no different than we are. He had his high moments and low moments. And in one of his low moments, he laments about his situation. If you read the entire chapter, David questions why this has come on him, and why God doesn’t immediately lift him out.

The day after my first workout, I was regretting that I had agreed to it in the first place. However, I still knew in my mind that the aching I felt was my muscles getting stronger. In weight-lifting, like many physical exercises, they say: “No pain, no gain.” That is, if your muscles are not uncomfortable, then no benefit is being produced.

Like David, I have experienced deep depression over emotional pain. But I am also confident that those experiences have caused me to be stronger. The day after my first workout, I had two decisions; 1) go back to the gym and continue, or 2) give up. I chose to go back. In our emotional life, we too have the choice to continue with life and continue to attempt relationships and such, or we can give up and withdraw.

Consider the pain in your life as an opportunity to become a stronger person. Seek peers to talk with or counselors to assist. But no matter what you do, never stop recognizing God as your source of hope, the object of your praise, and your savior. He has not left you in depression because he has forgotten you or doesn’t care. He wants you to be a stronger person and to experience the joy of that stronger emotional state that you will find on the other side of this pain.

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