Coping with Depression
BY ROBERT M. NORRIS
Exodus 6:1-8 Moses has been set apart by God to deliver the Israelites from their enslavement in Egypt. He has been commissioned to tell Pharaoh to let his people journey into the wilderness to worship God. But Pharaoh has refused. Instead, he has retorted by increasing the burdens that the Israelites are suffering under. They have to make the same quota of bricks as before, but now they have to find their own straw.
Moses comes back to the Lord with a heavy heart, a ravaging fear and enormous disappointment. Thinking that he is responsible for the increased misery of his people, he is in a stage of depression. He therefore complains to God in the closing verses of Exodus 5:
Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.O Lord, he is saying, why have You brought added misery upon these people? Why did You send me to do this? Since I talked to Pharaoh, he has given our people greater burden. Why haven't You delivered them?A process. What Moses does not know is that the redemptive work of God is such that it involves a process, a process that God works out in His own timing and according to His own plan. Moses had expected God to deliver Israel from Egypt instantly. Not being able to see the end of the process from the beginning, he considers
his mission a failure.That's something you and I often experience. As we try to live as Christians, we find ourselves being persecuted by the world. We then claim the promises of God and want those promises fulfilled at once. When we don't see instant results, we become depressed and begin to wonder, "Why should I bother to be obedient?"
But notice what Moses does in his disappointment and depression. He goes back to God and presents his case to Him. And look at God's reaction. He is not angry with Moses. He condescends to deal with him graciously because He is also in the process of training Moses into having more patience and trust.
You and I, too, are called to be trained under the mighty hand of God, trained in His ways and not our own expectations, trained under His grace and not simply by our own mind and imagination. We need to have our independent spirit broken and then harnessed under a new mastery and energy.
Causes of depression
As we look at the first eight verses of Exodus 6, we see God addresses the three underlying causes of Moses' depression.Fears. First, Moses brings to God his fears. He is afraid that he has been a burden upon his nation, that he is a failure as a leader, and that he will only lead these people into despair, into bankruptcy and eventually into annihilation.
Now, all of us have fears. We fear of failing God, of failing our friends, of failing all the things that we stand for, of failing the very obedience that is due to God in the Scripture. Well, God deals with that fear, and we'll see how.
Grief. Secondly, Moses comes to God grief-ridden. He has to witness the agony suffered by a whole nation as it is convulsed. The expectation of the Israelites had been built highthey thought they were going to be delivered. But when the deliverer came and spoke to the Pharaoh in the name of God, the great master of the universe, the Pharaoh ignored him. So, the people are now utterly disheartened and dispirited. And Moses grieves for them.
You know, often we want to help those of our loved ones who are facing serious problems of one kind or another. And when their problems worsen, we grieve for them and for our helplessness. Sometimes we hurt so very much that we just want to lash outsometimes even at God. But as we'll see, God deals with this grief, this added anguish in the life of Moses.
Discouragement. The third element in Moses' depression was the loss of zeal. It has taken time to build this man up. It has taken time to see him become the servant that he is. And here, suddenly, the heart of Moses is lost. When God tells him to go back and speak to the captains of Israel, Moses goes, but he goes with no great desire. There is no fire in him.
This is what God promises. Not only will He deliver us, but He will do so by the demonstration of His supernatural power. Have you ever felt like a beaten dog and you can't find the energy to go and face the next whipping that you know in your mind is going to be there? That's exactly where we Christians often get to in the service of God. We've got it all stacked correctly, but deep in our souls we are depressed because we don't want to do it. We've been whipped before. Thankfully, God deals with this problem too.
Name hitherto unknown
God deals with Moses. Oh, the grace of God. He condescends to meet this man's heart. He deals with his fear and his grief and He puts new zeal in him. He does all these things by one simple statement. He says to Moses, "I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them" (v. 3).This is the first time God has revealed Himself in this term to anyone at all. Up until this moment, in the revelation of Genesis and of Exodus, in the whole progress of time, God has been known as El Shaddai, meaning the great, the omnipotent all-powerful one. He is the Creator. He can do anything.
But now, says God unto His servant Moses, I am more than that. You have known that I am God and you've trusted in my majesty, my power and my omnipotence. But know this alsobecause you are in this anguish, because your soul is so tormented, because you're so drawn downknow that I am Jehovah .
God the Savior. In this name Jehovah , God is revealing Himself as the Savior. We read in Isaiah 12:2, "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation."
As God makes known this name to Moses, He speaks a great truth that enables Moses to stand again. God tells him that He is more than a God of power, more than the creating energy of this universe, more than the guider of all nations. He is the lover of His people and He is the One who will bring salvation to them.
And, my friends, if you're discouraged, if you're at the place where obedience is difficult, hear this. Listen to this reassurance from God: I am not just the Almighty God. I am also Jehovah , the God who loves and brings deliverance to His people.
When God says to Moses, "I am Jehovah," as our text outlines, He promises him four things.
Deliverance. The first is given to us to understand in the first part of verse 6: "Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage"
God assures Moses that He, being Jehovah, will indeed bring the people out of captivity. He has a purpose within His heart for His people and He has the power to accomplish that purpose. It is not dependent or contingent upon anyone else.
Likewise, when you are going through deep waters, God is saying to you: I will deliver you. I will be your Jehovah.
Do you hear in your soul God's promise given in the very revelation of His name: Listen, you who are in your misery and your bondage, I'm the deliverer. I will bring about great things in your lives. That's what He is telling us as He reveals Himself as Jehovah.
Supernatural power. Secondly, this deliverance would be effected by the demonstration of His great power. Verse 6 continues, "and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments."
It is the stretching forth of the hand of God so that the world will not miss the fact that God is involved. Moses needs that assurance. He doesn't need Pharaoh simply to change his mind and let the people go. He wants to see the mighty hand of God manifested; he wants the power of God to be laid bare.
You and I share this common need, the need to see the mighty hand and power of God. All too often, churches nowadays have a false confidence in their own abilities. They design all kinds of programs for all kinds of people. But I tell you this: I have absolutely no interest in these majestic programs unless God is there, unless God is in the midst revealing Himself in doing that which we cannot do.
My friends, this is what God promises. Not only will He deliver us, but He will do so by the demonstration of His supernatural power. Only God can convert the soul. Only God can create that thirst for Himself. Only God can create the desire for the revival that stirs us anew to His presence. When people become Christians, it's the breaking through of the Spirit of God upon darkness with a light that is able to cleave through it.
Faithfulness. Thirdly, incumbent in His revelation of Himself is that He will keep the covenant He made to the forefathers. God says in verses 4 and 5:
I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant.God assures Moses that He remembers the promise He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He knows how much the children of Israel are suffering and that He remembers what He will yet have to do for that mighty people. As a result, Moses begins to see slowly that God indeed has a purpose from beginning to end and that there is a bright future for the people because it lays with God.We can see what God has done in our life. But we have yet to live by faith in what He will do. It is the covenant that we claim, it's the promise that we receive to ourselves that holds us for the future. If you're distinctly depressed in this sense, know that your future is in the mighty hand of God.
Inheritance. Finally, as God reveals Himself as Jehovah, He reiterates the promise that the land of Canaan would be an inheritance to his people. He says in verses 7 and 8:
And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the Lord.Moses has cultivated in his soul the desire to see his people freed from bondage and the honor of the invisible God upheld and maintained. And now, God promises him that this pure desire of his heart will be granted.If what you desire is of God, He will honor it. If the spiritual calling that weighs heavily upon you is to glorify Him, He will fulfill it. It might be by process and by time, but He will do that thing, for He is Jehovah. This revelation lifted up Moses from his discouragement and he resumed walking in the way of obedience. It can lift you out of your depression as well. o
Dr. Robert M. Norris is pastor of the Fourth Presbyterian Church, 5500 River Road, Bethesda, MD 20816.