Tried With Fire

I cried unto God...You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Psalm 77:1-20 This psalm describes the condition of a child of God under deep depression of spirit. He is much tried and bowed, and yet, at the same time, the saint at last gets the victory and, before the psalm is over, the clouds are all removed from the sky and the heart rejoices in the sunlight of divine love. It is known to every believer that the experience of a Christian is very variable. We are like our own strange weather in this land. South winds blow and all is warm and balmy, but in a few hours the north wind comes, or the cutting east wind—and soon the ground is covered with snow or hard white frost—and yet, perhaps, in another day or two there will be a storm! Some believers have all spiritual weathers in a week. Being somewhat excitable, perhaps naturally, they readily take to themselves wings and mount aloft, but then as a high soar is often followed by a great fall, these very belie...

It is hard to watch people I love going through times of suffering. It's especially hard when I haven't been through it myself, so I don't know what to say. In an effort to try to relate, I may search my experience database to see if there is any commonality, but even if that is the case, situations are so nuanced that it probably isn't wise to project my experience onto someone else. In an effort to break the silence, it's tempting to say "This reminds me of ..." which may not be helpful at all. But why is silence even a problem? Job's friends gave their best comfort when they sat quietly with him and mourned. Keeping their mouths shut would have saved him a lot of additional pain. But maybe what matters isn't about how closely I can relate or even give advice. When one member of the body suffers, we all suffer. Then isn't it enough to weep with those who weep because we love them even if we don't fully understand? A simple, "I don...

Here is a link to a recent Sunday school class by my pastor, Ryan Davidson, on the Christian and Depression, and Anxiety.  He's a professional Christian counselor as well as a pastor, so he has experience with the issue. It's a 1-class overview, but I found it very helpful. This is a related post on anxiety by Rachel Miller - Anxiety: My Thorn in My Flesh