SERIES: Playlist
MESSAGE: Radioactive
SPEAKER: Skip Heitzig
SCRIPTURE: Psalms 42-43

MESSAGE SUMMARY
When suffering strikes, it may feel like a nuclear bomb just hit your life. The question is: How do you deal with the fallout? In the message "Radioactive," Skip Heitzig explains how to deal with difficult circumstances and the spiritual depression that can follow.

DETAILED NOTES

  1. Introduction
    1. The lyrics of an ancient worship song
    2. The theme of these two Psalms is depression
    3. Spiritual depression
      1. Phrase coined by Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
      2. In his book Spiritual Depression
    4. Psalms 42-43 were originally the same song
      1. Or Psalm 43 was the appendix to Psalm 42
      2. Same chorus
      3. Different verses: dryness, drowning, dejected
    5. Sons of Korah
      1. Numbers 16; 26:11
      2. Descendants of those sons conducted the public worship in Israel
      3. Eleven Psalms ascribed to them
    6. The background of these Psalms
      1. David fled Jerusalem because of Absalom's rebellion (2 Samuel 15) and brought with him one of the sons of Korah, a Levite, who wrote these Psalms in longing
      2. A person struggling with God to make sense of the experience they're going through
    7. The ancients called this the dark night of the soul
    8. In a word, you are radioactive
  2. Reality of Spiritual Depression
    1. There are three spiritual flaws when it comes to depression
    2. "It's all in your head"
      1. Center for Disease Control in Atlanta
        1. 9 percent of adults have depression
        2. 3 percent have major depression
      2. Psalm 139:14 implies that we're complex beings, held together in a delicate balance
      3. A lot can go wrong
        1. Including imbalance in brain chemistry
        2. To deny the possibility of clinical depression is flat out wrong and unhelpful
    3. "Christians should never be depressed"
      1. The book of Psalms is all over the emotional map
      2. Some people will paint a false picture about coming to Christ
      3. In some cases, coming to Christ makes the road rougher
    4. "If you are depressed, it means you are unspiritual or immature"
      1. David (see Psalm 6:3, 6)
      2. Elijah (see 1 Kings 19:4)
      3. Job (see Job 1:8; 3:1)
      4. Paul (see 2 Corinthians 1:8)
      5. "I have been in depths of which I hope none of you ever go" —Charles Haddon Spurgeon
      6. "There are dungeons beneath the castles of despair" —C.H. Spurgeon
      7. And yet we feel like we need to add stigma to people who are low
  3. Reasons for Spiritual Depression
    1. Unfulfilled expectations (see Psalm 42:1-4)
      1. This person felt cut off from spiritual life
      2. Proverbs 13:12
      3. The sons of Korah's whole purpose in life was the public worship of Israel
      4. Whenever our purpose or usefulness is challenged, we become susceptible to spiritual depression
      5. The more unrealistic your expectations are, the more severe the depression will be
    2. Criticism (see Psalm 42:3, 10; 43:2)
      1. Whenever you suffer for doing right, but you're mocked because of it, it produces anxiety
      2. Proverbs 12:25
      3. When we preach the gospel to every creature (see Mark 16:15), not every creature likes it, and you get caught in the crossfire
    3. Accumulation—one struggle after another (see Psalm 42:7)
      1. 2 Corinthians 11:27-28
      2. Daily pressure that adds up
    4. Recollection—the wrong use of your past (see Psalm 42:4)
      1. Memories of better days, what it used to be like
      2. The past will either become a rudder to guide you or an anchor to hold you back
      3. Huge attraction to the "good old days"
    5. Preoccupation with yourself
      1. When you are preoccupied with yourself, you are in the swirls of a depressive behavior pattern
      2. Fifty-one personal pronouns (I, me, my) in these two Psalms
      3. Twenty mentions of God; one mention of the Lord
      4. One basic problem that leads to depression is self-centeredness
  4. Remedies for Spiritual Depression
    1. There are lots of remedies; many of them are not good
    2. Three remedies summed up in one word: replace
    3. Replace your thoughts with His truth
      1. The psalmist talked to himself (see Psalm 42:5, 11; 43:5)
      2. "We must talk to ourselves instead of allowing 'ourselves' to talk to us!... Most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself" —Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
      3. 2 Corinthians 10:5
    4. Replace yourself with your God
      1. The nature of suffering is to be self-absorbed, but at some point you need to bring God into the picture (see Psalm 42:8-9)
      2. Focus goes from inward to upward
      3. "Look around and be distressed. Look within and be depressed. Look to Jesus and be at rest" —Corrie ten Boom
      4. Your outlook is determined by your uplook
      5. Others can help you do this; Martin Luther and his wife, Katie
    5. Replace your past with your future
      1. Hope appears three times in these Psalms
      2. Psalm 43:1-4 forgets the past and looks ahead toward the future
      3. Philippians 3:13
      4. Revelation 21-22 is your future
  5. Closing
    1. If you are experiencing depression, you are not a failure—you are a fellow member of the human race
    2. "I am now the most miserable man living.... Whether I shall ever be better I cannot tell; I awfully forebode I shall not" —Abraham Lincoln

Figures referenced: Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Corrie ten Boom, Martin and Katie Luther, Abraham Lincoln

Cross references: Numbers 16; 26:11; 2 Samuel 15; 1 Kings 19:4; Job 1:8; 3:1; Psalm 6:3, 6; 42-43; 139:14; Proverbs 12:25; 13:12; Mark 16:15; 2 Corinthians 1:8; 10:5; 11:27-28; Philippians 3:13; Revelation 21-22


Topic: Depression

Keywords: depression, spiritual depression, song, Psalms, suffering, pain, trials, emotions, sadness, purpose, criticism, the past, self-centered, self-absorbed, self, truth, God's Word, the Bible, hope, future


Radioactive - Psalms 42-43 | SkipHeitzig.com/2689
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