Selected Writings |
| "How to Hold Your Head Up When You’re Feeling Down" Lamentations 3:1-25 and 1 John 3:1a point out different ways of looking at life. Reading those scriptures will help you understand what follows. Have you ever been in a situation where you felt really low, so low that you were tempted to give up and call it quits? So low that you despaired of life? So low that you didn’t care if you lived or died? If you have, you shouldn’t be ashamed. It is a common human experience. We just read the account of one person at the point of despair. The Lamentations, traditionally attributed to Jeremiah, are laments of the Jewish community written after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. The Lamentations are mournful dirges over the loss of their beloved holy city. The speakers could not understand how God could let such a thing happen to Jerusalem and its people. There was devastation, hunger, personal loss, and loss of self-esteem and confidence. The people were about as low as they could get. Yet, as we read the Lamentations, we see some biblical principles that, if remembered, can help us hold up our heads when we are feeling down. The first principle is this: Remember that you are loved. One of the first things we begin to think when we are feeling down is "nobody loves me." I have thought it, perhaps you have thought that, and I’m sure that the composers of the Lamentations thought it. Though we may not be able to see it because of the dark clouds that obscure our lives, there are always people in our families, in our church, in our community who love us. In spite of his depression and discouragement, the writer of this lamentation was able to assure us, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases." When you can count on little else in life, you can still count on the steadfast love of God. As the apostle John put it, "Behold what manner of Love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called the children of God; and that we are." If we can only remember that we are loved, we will have already begun the process of picking ourselves back up again. Second, Remember that you are not alone. In the early part of this lamentation, the author feels all alone. He says, "Against me alone he (God) turns his hand." You see, the writer feels that through the destruction of Jerusalem, God is punishing him personally. He felt all alone in his suffering. And that’s often the way it is with us. When trouble comes, we may immediately ask, "Why is God punishing me?" And then we may feel that we are all alone in our suffering. People suffering terminal illness or diseases that carry social stigma often feel isolated or alone. And that is why the human touch - the squeeze of the hand, a pat on the shoulder - is so important to one who is hospitalized. The psalmist in Psalm 25 said: "I am lonely and afflicted." In the 102nd Psalm he lamented, "I am like a lonely bird on the housetop." But the truth is, we are never alone. There is always a family member, a friend, a neighbor, a coworker to stand beside us. And God is always there too, to hold us up with his invisible presence. As put so beautifully in Deuteronomy, "The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms." Remember that you are never alone. And third, remember that things often seem worse than they really are. I am sure that the author of this lament felt that things would never turn around, that the devastation would last forever, that Jerusalem would never rise again, and that things would never be any better than they were right then. I’m reminded of the prophet Elijah, who contended against the evil Jezebel and the prophets of Baal. Elijah saw things to be much worse than they really were. He, too, felt all alone and saw little hope for positive change. Elijah lamented, "The Israelites have thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away." And yet God revealed to Elijah that there were thousands in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal, and who were in the same boat he was in. Things were not as bad as Elijah thought them to be. And so it often is with us. Things often appear much worse to us that they really are. We may feel that we are left alone to deal with unsolvable problems, that nobody knows what we are going through, that things cannot possibly get any better than they are right now. But things often seem worse than they really are. Finally, remember that there is always hope. The author of this Lamentation said, "This I call to mind, and therefore do I have hope: God’s mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning." Great is God’s faithfulness! You have heard the old saying that "the darkest hour is just before the dawn." What that means is "morning comes." Just when we think that our world cannot get any darker, we see the glow of light on the horizon. God usually sends some sort of angel of hope to us, as he sent an angel of help to Elijah in the wilderness. Clara Barton, professional angel of the battlefield and organizer of the American Red Cross Society, was plagued with depression off and on throughout her life. A nervous breakdown incapacitated her for two long years. At another time she was so depressed that she despaired of life. During this dark time of depression, Barton wrote in her diary, I "have done ... with my efforts on behalf of others. I must take the little remnant of my life, that may remain in me, as my own special property and appropriate it accordingly." Later she confessed to her diary, "Have been sad all day. I cannot raise my spirits, the old temptation to go from all the world. I think it will come to that some day, it is a struggle to keep society al all. I want to leave it all." Her biographer states that Clara Barton at this point was considering suicide. What is so surprising about all this is that this dark period when she contemplated suicide occurred before she founded the Red Cross. At this point in her life, Barton felt that there was no hope. Yet her greatest work, her greatest happiness, and her greatest contribution to the world was yet to come. There is always hope! Unless you are some kind of super human, the time will come when you will feel as low as low can be. It is the common experience of all humanity. But these four biblical principles, if you will remember them, will help you hold your head up when you begin to feel down. Remember that: You are loved; you are not alone; things often seem worse than they really are; and there is always hope. |