At times like that I wanted to fall into self-pity, but feeling sorry for myself wouldn't help one bit. I know rejoicing will, but how do I get there?
Well, let's look to the time when David was at Ziklag, as told in 1 Samuel 30. The Amalakites invaded David's camp with 600 men. When David and his men returned from dealing with the Philistines, they found their camp burned down and their wives and children taken hostage by the Amalakites.
David and his army lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep (v. 4). Now notice what happens next. In their deep grief, David's men turned on him, blamed him for the whole mess and threatened to stone him to death.
Do you know why they did this? Because while they had wept before God, they didn't go the next step: they didn't seek God's deliverance or praise Him in the midst of their trouble. It is not enough just to vent our emotions, men; we must then do what the Word instructs. The only one in the group at Ziklag who did this was David!
Now put yourself in David's position.
His home is destroyed by the enemy, his wives and children are missing, and now his own men turn on him and even talk of killing him. He was in trouble and hurting immeasurably. What would you do in his circumstance?
1 Samuel 30:6 tells us what David did. Even though he was greatly distressed, David encouraged himself in the Lord (30:6). In other words, he put courage back into himself!
Can you imagine how fear tried to jump on him, how discouraged he could have allowed himself to become? If ever a man could have gotten into a pity party (the kind of party no one else wants to attend!), it was David.
But instead, he encouraged himself in the Lord. How did he do that? Well, we can see a pattern in David's life. Whenever he was in trouble, he cried out to God in psalms, and then he began to praise God for His goodness and rejoice in His victory.
He must have done that this day at Ziklag, after he had poured out his heart and wept until tears would come no more.
Then we are told he inquired of the Lord and found out how to pursue his enemy. Verse 19 says David recovered all that was stolen: "And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great...."
I wonder if this chapter would have ended the same way had David simply wept and not encouraged himself in the Lord. I doubt it!
In my own life, I have often identified with David. I have found myself on many occasions literally singing my way back to emotional health and strength just as David did, just as Paul and Silas did in prison. When we rejoice and praise God, the enemy flees and victory is ours!
When Paul told the Philippians to rejoice, he knew how important it was to rejoice in all situations. His own circumstances were miserable! He had been arrested for preaching the Gospel and treated like a criminal!
Think about the word rejoice. When you are all out of joy, refuel on joy through rejoicing (think: re-joy)! The word rejoice has triple definitions. First, it means to grin really wide (which you do when you are filled with joy)!
Second, it means to jump up and down. Third, it means twirl around! Get the picture? Notice Paul doesn't say to rejoice when you feel good, or when things are going great. He says to rejoice always!
If you do a study of other heroes in the Bible you will notice they all had "like passions," as any man. There is no need for us to live with the John Wayne mentality and never show our feelings.
We can't honestly relate with God or others if we aren't open before them. In addition, we are likely to explode in anger, develop ulcers, or retreat into depression if we keep it all inside.
God showed us the way to deal with them in His Word—we are to cast all our cares on Him and rejoice our way through it all. Now it is up to us to obey God's method of treating depression.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers