Bob Lehman
Executive Pastor
Looking In the Right Direction
Yesterday as I listened to Pastor Lyon’s excellent sermon on depression, I found myself thinking that depression is in large part a matter of focus. During these times when what we have come to know as normal has gone out the window, it is easy for us to turn our focus inward and lament over the current circumstances. Days start to run together because the routine that brought structure to our lives is not there. The daily interaction that brought meaning into our day and gave us energy is difficult to find. So many of the things that we found so enjoyable we cannot currently do because they involve interacting with people. All of us can identify with these things.
The trick to overcoming these depressive tendencies, as Doug did a great job of pointing out, is to resist temptation to look inward and downward, but rather determine to look outward and upward.
In Lamentations 3:22-24 we are told:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!”
Take a moment to reflect on the following words taken from a familiar song written by Johnson Oatman, Jr.
“So, amid the conflict whether great or small, do not be discouraged, God is over all.
Count your many blessings, angels will attend, help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.
Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your blessings, see what God has done!”
I want to encourage you today to see the blessings of the Lord that are all around you, to realize that His mercies are new every morning, and to say to yourself, “The Lord is my inheritance, I will hope in Him.”