“Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God—soon I’ll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He’s, my God.” (Psalm 43:5 MSG)
A fellow saint that I have seen grown from childhood to adulthood asked me, “Do you ever have a bad day?” My immediate response was “yes” and I identified my remedy for such days: God. Yes, I have some down times, but down times have to be dealt with; not alone but with the intervention of God. Yes, there are times I know why I feel in despair, depressed or just right down. I have accepted that I am not exempt or immune from either of these unwanted feelings. I have learned, like David had to learn, grief will last for a time, but then you have to get back to your normal position, practices, and pursuit of godly things; resisting the temptation to stay in a state of grief for a lengthy time. I have learned that when sorrow and suffering come, look with excitement, anticipating the joy that God ensures will show up in the morning. Elijah taught me that after high points in life, there will be low points. That’s when God steps in and tells you a remedy: “Continue the climb with the support of Heaven.” Dealing with changes that come from aging, I must look at my life and conclude like David as cited in God’s word, “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.” And sometimes, in reference to aging, I have to acknowledge that physical changes may be hidden by cosmetic technology and medical innovation, but changes will come. My remedy again, comes from God! It does not matter what changes I go through, the Lord is with me. I add to that the fact that here is a great change guaranteed by my relationship with God through Jesus that will come on some glad morning when I shall inevitably fly away to a place where joys will never cease! As you can tell, God is the remedy, regardless of what causes me to have that down in the dumps feeling. Let me share one more thing before you resume your day. I was sitting in my car at a grocery store parking lot. I had just finished talking to a son who had shared some recent experiences of how God intervened in his life. It causes a parent joy when his children acknowledge God moving in their lives. Yet even then, much like the Psalmist above, that feeling down in the dumps syndrome came out of nowhere, much like a strong wind that shows up with no hint of coming and no clue to where it came from. “The dumps” sometimes show up like an angry wave attacking you on the peaceful sea of life. Down? Yes, I am sometimes! It just happened to me yesterday. God was still me remedy in a threefold way: (1) I approached God in prayer, seeking His help. (2) As soon as I got home, I got into His word that revives; spent some intimate time with Him. (3) I kept being productive, active, motivated by the fact that the Lord would sustain me above the winds and the storms that bring about down in the dumps times. Can’t you hear Him saying to the dumps, “Peace; be still?” Be blessed!
“Awake now, he told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea, “Quiet! Settle down!” The wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as glass” (Mark 4:39 MSG)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King