(Part IV in a four-part series on depression)

I heard recently that the FDA has approved a new depressant (not "anti") for those who are incessantly, annoyingly cheerful. It has been tested successfully on hundreds of real estate agents and kindergarten teachers!! But for many of you, annoying cheerfulness is not a problem you deal with. For you, life is not a TV drama where everything is resolved in one hour minus commercials.

As silly as the observation may seem, Job did not have the advantage of having read the book of Job. He didn’t know about the council of Heaven and God’s conversation with Satan. He didn’t know the "purpose" of it all. Would it have mattered if he did? Not much. All Job could see was the tangled bottom side of the tapestry of his own torn life.

JUST BECAUSE IT’S IN THE BIBLE DOESN’T MEAN IT’S TRUE!

Satan speaks in the Bible and he is the father of falsehoods. It is true that he speaks and the Bible is true in quoting him accurately. But he is a liar.

We must exercise caution in quoting the book of Job to prove a doctrinal point. Job’s friends’ counsel was mixed. They were wrong in what they said; their attitude was haughty. Occasionally, they said something that was technically true, but in the wrong spirit. Job himself was sometimes wrong, sometimes right in what he said. But when Job cries out of the anguish of his heart, feeling that God had forsaken him, whether he was right or wrong in what he affirmed, he was honest in how he actually felt.

As a mountain falls and crumbles away, and as a rock is

moved from its place; as water wears away stones, and as

torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so You destroy

the hope of man. Job 14:18-19

Let me state this principle as plainly and painlessly as I know how. God is absolutely, unquestionably sovereign. In His sovereignty, He sometimes causes or allows (who can possibly know which, and what difference does it make?) things to happen in our lives we cannot begin to understand and He, for the most part, does not bother to answer why. One of those things is an inexplicable sense of desertion, a period, sometimes extended, of withdrawal from and silence toward a true child of His for no apparent reason. Everything may be right in your relationship with the Father. You may truly be walking in the Spirit, enjoying sweet intimacy with the Lord Jesus. You are witnessing, praying, in the Word, experiencing the joy of His salvation. Then, either suddenly or gradually, He’s gone!

What did you do wrong? Maybe, nothing. You are experiencing Spiritual Depression (also known as Desertion) at God’s sovereign choice. "Well, MY GOD would never do something like that!" or "MY BIBLE doesn’t say that!" Careful. Please be very cautious in declaring something false just because you have not experienced it. Yet. Do not become one of Job’s "friends."

I said no apparent reason, meaning desertion is baffling only to us. Of course, God does nothing without reason. Let me repeat a couple of statements. The question of God’s love for you was settled once and for all at the Cross. And, everything that happens occurs for God’s glory and for your good. You can trust a God like that.

But why would God desert us for a time? The first and right answer is, "I don’t really know." We only know what God has chosen to reveal to us and there may be as many reasons as there are Christians who have experienced Spiritual Depression. So let’s not try to guess too much about why God is sometimes silent. After all, you don’t even know what I’m thinking unless I tell you. And I’m not all that deep.

Let me just propose one possibility before I wrap up this brief series on Depression and Spiritual Depression. I’m quite aware that I’ve stirred up a lot of questions and not provided many answers. Folks, that’s real life. My favorite theologian, Hank the Cowdog says, "Ma used to say that back there at the beginning of time, God created a thousand questions and only 250 answers. So, there you are!" My purpose has been to urge you to put the truth of your own pain and confusion on the table and admit to yourself, to others and to the Lord that it’s there and that you want some help.

One possible reason for desertion is that it is a test, just a test. We must learn to walk by faith and not by feelings. The mountaintops are spiritually fun, but stuff grows in the valley. Will you continue to seek the Father’s face when you can’t even see His hand?

He loves you enough to be silent for a season.

Never give up,

Dan

I’ll be in the interior of Mexico and out of touch for most of March and April.