Why Are You Downcast, O My Soul?

 Psalm 42:5-6

Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

My soul is downcast within me; 

therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan,

the heights of Hermon--from Mount Mizar.

Do you ever feel like this at times?  Do you ever wonder why you can't just be happy?

This is a tough place to be.  You can tell yourself, "Just be happy.  Stop being so depressed and grumpy," but that approach never works.  If you have ever been in the same place as this Psalm writer you know that it's not that easy.  You would like it to be.  People around you would like it to be.  But it just isn't.

Whatever you're going through that has put you in this emotional and spiritual funk just has to be gone through.  There is no short-cut.  You have to deal with whatever is causing this "spiritual depression" and learn the lessons along the way.  The problem that makes this so difficult to work through, and help others work through, is that no two situations are the same.  What triggers my soul to be downcast is not the same thing that triggers yours.  Therefore, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to working your way out of this funk.

I would love to be able to tell you how to snap out of it as soon as you recognize this onset, but I don't have that answer.  I have been battling this myself, on and off, since September.  There are good days, and there are not-so-good days.  There are days when I feel like I have made peace with my current situation, and there are days when I struggle hard because I am frustrated because I am so far away from where I want my life to be professionally and ministerially.  I am sure some of you reading this know exactly what I'm talking about.

The only way I have found to deal with this and keep searching for what's next is found at the end of the first paragraph of the Psalm above:  "Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God."  I know that ultimately, this I why I am going through this struggle right now- God is drawing me closer to him.  I need to learn how to rely on him for everything and trust his plan, even when I can't see it.  Even when it doesn't make any sense to me.  I will trust it.  I will trust him.

Psalm 46:10-11

"Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

The best advice I can give you when you're struggling with a "downcast soul" is: Be in God's Word more.  Double the amount of time you spend reading Scripture everyday.  Double up your prayer life as well.  Bible reading and prayer is the best way I have found to deal with this situation.  

Finally, you need to act.  There is probably something that you know you need to do.  Do it!  Step out on faith and do it.  The more it scares you the more you need to do it.  Faith is displayed by our actions not our words.  If you truly trust God's love for you then you need to do the things you know you need to do. 

I know for me, this is typically what causes a downcast soul- I'm not doing the thing I know I need to be doing.  This leads to incredible frustration and depression.  I know I said above that their is no easy solution to this condition, but the best thing you can do is to start doing that thing you've been avoiding.  The thing you've been too scared to deal with.  That thing that you know would change everything for you.  Do it today and trust that God will bless it how he chooses.  Doing nothing will only make your funk worse.  Trust me.  I've tried that before too.  Doing nothing never makes anything better.

The Lord Almighty is with you.  Do it!

God bless

Jason Fredrick