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Getting Yourself Out of the Dumps

GETTING YOURSELF OUT OF THE DUMPS

MIKE CUNNINGHAM

JULY 30, 2006

Some folks believe it’s a sure sign a person is either mentally ill or on something if they talk to themselves. I can’t say I believe them but that’s their business. Other people see nothing wrong with it. In fact, they readily admit to speaking to themselves often. These folks claim it’s therapeutic. It helps them to get troubling things off their chest and to organize and sort other things out.

How about you? Do you sometimes speak to yourself? I do. I believe it’s helpful. So much so, that I recommend the practice very much. If any of you folks you haven’t, you ought to try it sometime. However, before you do I would like to offer a couple of words of caution. I wouldn’t vocalize what I am saying to myself in a public place.

For instance, can you imagine a petite worry-wart sitting on a bus watching a new passenger coming down the isle towards her and then saying to herself out loud, “Oh wow; I hope that big momma doesn’t sit next to me? I’ll be squished. Or the massive barrel chested guy sitting in front of her wondering out loud, “man I hope I can hold off throwing up again until I get off this thing. Vocalizing the things we say to our self probably isn’t very cool.

My second suggestion is that I wouldn’t spend too much time listening to what you are saying to yourself. If you do, you are apt to find that it is dangerous to your mental health. So much so, that you may become depressed and go crashing down into the dumps. Now if my last remark has any of you folks wondering if the oppressive heat and humidity is getting to me, allow me to explain.

You may be the kind of person who wakes up slowly. In fact, you think you’re barely alive until you have scoffed down your second cup of coffee. Then again you could be a morning person who is off and running the moment your feet hit the floor next to your bed. It really doesn’t matter which kind of a riser you are. As soon as you reach that particular point in your day when you are fully awake all sorts of thoughts start popping into your mind. And guess what? You listen to them.

I’m not suggesting that this is bad. On the contrary, it’s perfectly normal to listen to our self talk to us. We do it all the time. Something jogs our memory and we start right in. For instance, it might be a recollection of the wonderful time you enjoyed the previous day.

As your mind starts to wander you might say to yourself something such as, “That was nice of so-and-so to do that for me yesterday. I still can’t get over it. He didn’t have to do it. What a complete surprise. I wonder how I can make it up to him.”

As I said a moment ago, we talk like this to ourselves all the time. And it’s perfectly normal. However, perhaps not that morning or afternoon or even that day, but sooner or later we may begin to hear our self say something that is not so pleasant. Such as, “Look at those clouds. They’re getting closer. I hope it doesn’t rain on my barbeque. It’s too hot to have all those people crammed in my little house. Everyone will have a miserable time. The little kids will go ballistic running all over the place and I’ll be a nervous wreck.”

Listening to yourself say these kinds of things, even the unpleasant ones, probably won’t have a permanent adverse effect on you. However, let’s consider one more.

Imagine a person listening to him or her self saying something such as this: “I don’t know how much longer I can continue living like this. My pain is really getting to me. At times it’s unbearable. Sure it eases up every once in a while and I have a somewhat normal day. But those times are too few and far between.

It isn’t as though I don’t appreciate those days because I do. I’m very grateful. I thank God for them. What’s God do? No sooner does He get my thanks than He sends my pain back with a vengeance. If He can take it away from me for a while then He can keep it away all the time. But He doesn’t. My orthopedic guy knows how I feel. He has a name for it. He calls it the Devils Grip.

Why won’t God do something about it? He could if He wanted to. He would if He cared about me. It seems as though He’s toying with me like He was a big fat cat and I’m a helpless tiny bird. I can’t get away from His clutches. Why doesn’t He just get it over with? At least that would be merciful. Then He can go and find someone else to torment. I wonder how much longer He’s going to enjoy Himself watching me suffer such intense physical and emotional torment before putting an end to my miserable existence. He better not wait too long or I might just beat Him to the punch.

Can you folks imagine a believer speaking to him or her self with such despairing anguish? Of course you can. That’s why I recommended earlier that you shouldn’t spend too much time listening to your self or you are apt to become depressed and wind up in the dumps.

At this point I would like to call your attention to the fact that, other that finally waking up completely in the morning, there was nothing you had to do to trigger your thoughts. They just popped into your mind and you started talking to your self. None of these thoughts originated with you.

The person who had suffered the chronic pain for such a long period of time no doubt started talking to his or her self at the onset of their pain. However, because that poor soul kept listening to what he or she was saying over such a long period of time, we shouldn’t be surprised to hear such desperate comments as we did a little while ago.

No child of the Living God ought to allow him or herself to stay in such a depressing state. If they already are down in the dumps then they ought to do everything they possibly can to get themselves out. And God will add His blessing to their efforts if they follow His instructions. We need to remember that, for reasons known only to Him, our Sovereign Lord has allowed some of His most precious children to make their way through this dark sin infested world traveling along the pathway of pain.

Psalms 88:1-18 (ESV) 1 O Lord, God of my salvation; I cry out day and night before you. 2 Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry! 3 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol. 4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength, 5 like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand.

6 You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. 7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah 8 You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape; 9 my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O Lord; I spread out my hands to you. 10 Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah

11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon? 12 Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 13 But I, O Lord, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you. 14 O Lord, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me? 15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless. 16 Your wrath has swept over me; your dreadful assaults destroy me. 17 They surround me like a flood all day long; they close in on me together. 18 You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.

No Christian who has endured chronic pain, either physically or emotionally for a long period of time, will have any trouble identifying with that sufferer who was afflicted and close to death from the time of his youth. Listen to this one.

Psalms 6:2-7 (ESV) 2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. 3 My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, O Lord—how long? 4 Turn, O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love. 5 For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise? 6 I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping. 7 My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes.

Don’t just continue to passively listen to your self talk to you about those troubling things that have popped into your mind at the beginning of the day and allow them to control you. You will do a number on yourself and feel like you’re down in the dumps. Go on the offense and initiate a good talk with yourself. Take control of your mind and heart. Ask yourself the same question King David did.

Psalms 42:5;11; 43:5 (ESV) Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?

David already knew the answer to that question before he even asked it, and so should you and me. Speak it to yourself and then listen as you hear yourself say: “Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.

Talk to yourself and knit together a string of pearls of thankfulness as you make your requests known to Him. Open up the Blessings Log I suggested last week with which you can jog your memory about past deliverances.

Psalms 18:1-6 (ESV) 1 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, The servant of the Lord, who addressed the words of this Song to the Lord on the day when the Lord rescued him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said: I love you, O Lord, my strength. 2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. 4 The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me; 5 the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me. 6 In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.

Psalms 18:16-19 (ESV) 16 He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. 17 He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. 18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. 19 He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

Psalms 18:25-29 (ESV) 25 With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; 26 with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous. 27 For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down. 28 For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness. 29 For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.

Psalms 66:1-12 (ESV) 1 To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm. Shout for joy to God, all the earth; 2 sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise! 3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you. 4 All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.” Selah 5 Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man. 6 He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There did we rejoice in him, 7 who rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations— let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah

8 Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of his praise be heard, 9 who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip. 10 For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. 11 You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; 12 you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

Psalms 66:16-20 (ESV) 16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul. 17 I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue. 18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. 19 But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. 20 Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!

Psalms 107:1-32 (ESV) 1 Book Five: Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble 3 and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. 4 Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in; 5 hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. 6 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.

7 He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in. 8 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men! 9 For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things. 10 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons, 11 for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High. 12 So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor; they fell down, with none to help.

13 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart. 15 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men! 16 For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron.

17 Some were fools through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities suffered affliction; 18 they loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. 19 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 20 He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction. 21 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men! 22 And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!

23 Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters; 24 they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep. 25 For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. 26 They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight; 27 they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits’ end. 28 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 29 He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. 30 Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven. 31 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men! 32 Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

Stop listening to your self talk to you so much. One day you may discover that you have been listening to a demonic ventriloquist who was hell bent on keeping you down in the dumps and having you rob yourself of the joy and peace the Lord, wants you to have and has made possible for you to experience in the midst of your sorrows.

Listen to this passionate plea our God made to His people thousands of years ago. It also applies to each of us this morning: “Oh, that my people would listen to me” (Psalm 81:13A). Oh, if only we would. Then we won’t have to contend with getting ourselves out of the dumps, because we won’t allow our self to go down there in the first place.

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July 30, 2006 Posted by Categories: Uncategorized 1 comment

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