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In times of Trouble

Psalm 37:39  But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble.


March 3

Where would we be without the book of Psalms ? If there is any part of my Bible with the most tears staining the pages it is there. I often recommend the Psalms to people who are hurting, and not just because there is much healing there, but because there is a picture of one who hurt and made it through. Think about this; if King David never went through trials and struggles then we would not have the book of Psalms to lean on. As you read the book of Psalms you quickly notice that people have problems, people have pain, people are sad, but yet God brings them through. That is why you will see me use the book of Psalms so much in this devotional. There is not a better place to find help in times of trouble. But again back to David who was no stranger to trouble; I find it hard to understand how one could read the book of Psalms as well as most of the entire Bible and not understand that life is hard  and filled with troubles. I listen to some of the famous preachers out there today and marvel how they promise us a life of smiles when the Bible promises us a life of trials. Maybe their reading the NUV; the (New Utopia Version)? I say that with tongue in cheek incase you didn’t get my sarcastic humor. All through the Bible we read of tribulations, we read of people betraying us, people hurting us, lives lost and sickness overcoming us- it is truly a symptom of the universe to have troubles but dear friend- Our God is a help in those times of Trouble. And more then a help he is deliverance , salvation, and peace of mind. In Psalm 37 we read of the Lords strength in times of Trouble. The Lord doesn’t just take our hand and help us cross the street, no He becomes our strength to cross that street. Notice also that this strength of the Lord is for the righteous which means we better make sure our hearts are right with our Lord in order to get that strength. Today be thankful that our Lord is our strength, He is our God and our King. More then that He is able, able to do what He promises to do. Today embrace your day with His strength and leave yours at home. We simply need to believe that He is and He will enable us to do the rest.

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Chapter 5

When Ending It All Appears So Appealing

 (Yes Christians think about suicide)

Job 3:1-3  After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day.
  And Job spake, and said,
  “Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.”


Today we begin a journey into the darkest place of all; that is that place of contemplating suicide. Though thinking about taking your own life is bad enough what is also sad is how many Christians there are who don’t thinks it is possible for a believer to even think of such a thing. If there is a taboo in Christian circles there is certainly one in this area. Dear friend before I move on with this chapter I want to vent here a bit with the hopes that I don’t offend anyone even though I probably will. Sometimes the worst people I have ever encountered are Christians themselves. If there is anything that is a liability to Christ’s work, it is how we take His wondrous love, grace and salvation and trample all over it by our pious self-righteous, hypocritical lives. Yes I said it- Christians are sometimes the worst examples of Christ and do more damage to the Gospel than even an Atheist can do. We are truly our own worst enemies. We judge others even though we have been forgiven of all. We live like the world and yet complain about the world that we really and secretly miss being a part of. We fight among ourselves over trivial things to the point that churches split over them. We are sneaky, nasty, and so far from where Christ longs for us to be. We dress, talk, and act like the world while claiming to be followers of Christ. We have our pet peeves of certain sins that we like to march and protest about but yet feel no remorse for our own sins of lying, lusting, greed, pride, laziness, and inconsistency in what we say we believe. When it comes to things like depression and anxiety we are so quick to point a finger, and accuse a person of not having enough faith. What’s worse is that all these traits come right down from our pastors and leaders. Every day another one bites the dust and falls. We say you need more faith while our own faith is far from perfect. We choose what we seem as important while tossing Christ’s Will and desires out the door. Sometimes I watch preachers on TV and at certain venues or online churches and say to myself “if I was an unsaved person this bozo is the last person I would turn to, and Christianity is the last place I would run”. Have you sat back and watched ourselves and then wonder why we are the laughing stock of the world and media. No it is not because we are proclaiming the Word of God that we are attacked but because we are hypocrites and fools. I personally don’t think that the average church service today is anything like Paul would have approved of. We have made church into a business and used the world’s tricks to do it.
Ok I am done with my rant but I needed to set the stage for why things like depression and mental issues in the church are so stepped on and over while we claim to be beacons of love and understanding. It is like we are trying to hide the fact that we are sinners by pushing our dirty laundry out the door. Dear friend, when you become a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ you don’t stop being human. Sure some pastors and teachers on TV try to sell you that lie. They try to sell this vision of us becoming superheroes the minute we come to Christ. Well just read your Bibles and you will see that becoming a follower of God doesn’t make one better than anyone else or exempt us from problems.
Depression is real, suicide is real, and shame on us if we are ashamed of our own people for not being able to part the seas the day after they are baptized in the Holy Spirit through believing in Christ. We fall, we are tempted; cut us and we still bleed. I feel that the moment the church of Jesus Christ starts acting like Christ, is the moment we will become real to the world and not a joke.
So let us begin this discussion on depression now and try to understand its varied dynamics, causes, and treatments. If you have lived, you have thought about not living. From the casual thoughts of –“what’s the point? I wish I was never born” to the all-out desire to end it all. Dear friend I have been there and if I was not, I could not honestly write about such a thing as suicide. I have been there all the way with death just seconds away. My first time was with a gun in my hand, bullets loaded and a note left for my family. I spent many hours lying in bed with tears trying to figure out the best way to take my life and then running through every scenario of the aftermath and what people would find and say. I planned on killing myself in a garage with exhaust fumes, to jumping off a roof, to driving my car off the side of a road. There was a time when it was all I could think about and focus on. I was sneaky, quiet, and deceptive. This wasn’t a cry for help or to get noticed it was a genuine desire to leave this life and be with the Lord. So those who know what I am talking about know that I know about this darkest demon of depression. See, depression has one goal in Satan’s mind and that is to get us to take our lives. It is Satan’s favorite desire and will of human kind. If he could have a mass suicide he would, which is why you find those cult mass suicides so often found around a corrupted Christianity or religious group.
Let us now go over suicide and what brings us to that place, how we can turn around from that place, and even how we can be blessed by that place. First off, if you are, or have ever thought about taking your life, you are not insane or ready for the loony bin. If so, then Elijah, David, King Saul, Job, and so many great people of faith would also be ready for the loony bin. Maybe they didn’t so much plan it but at the least thought of having had enough of this place. No, suicide is not so much the issue but why you are there.