Weathering the Blues • Psalm 31:1-8
By Bobby McKay
I love the Blues! To the north, a few miles from where I live is the Robert Johnson Blues Memorial Highway and to the south a few miles is the Bo Diddley Memorial Highway. The Blues is the foundation of most popular music of the last 100 years. My personal favorite is Lightnin’ Hopkins from Texas.
In Mississippi, you can hardly find a place on the map that does not have some connection to a Blues artist, performer, or songwriter. What sets the Blues apart from most other genres of music is the authenticity of its lyrics. For example, B.B. King from Indianola once sang, “Nobody loves me but my mother, and she could be jivin’ too.”
The best part about the Blues is if it begins to get you too sad for your liking, you can simply turn it off, change the station, or hit the “next” button on your smartphone music app. When it comes to real life, turning off the blues is not so easy. There are no buttons or apps able to alter the sadness that can find its way to the doorstep of our hearts and minds.
In our study of emotions these past few weeks, none may hit closer to your situation than depression. We are in the post-holidays, middle-of-winter, limited-daylight, time of year. Since the escalation of the pandemic, it has been documented repeatedly the rise of anxiety and depression in our nation. These uncertain times seem to be a breeding ground for the enemy to attack God’s people.
Depression is real. Depression can be debilitating. Depression can also be a starting point with the help and mercy made available by God.
Psalm 31 reveals the heaviness of the situations surrounding King David. It is most widely accepted that David penned these words while his son Absalom was in rebellion against him and seeking to overthrow him as king. No family is free from problems, and it is more discouraging when those problems are our very own.
We may not have difficulty with the idea of someone, somewhere, facing adversity but when the same adversity moves in with us, our perspective and attitude may change. Depression can cripple the most faithful and godly of people. It does not discriminate, nor is it indicative of being an immature believer. Job, David, his son and successor King Solomon, and the Apostle Paul all wrestled with darkness that at times seemed to be relentless.
My favorite author, Frederick Buechner, wrote these vivid words: “To be in a state of depression is like this; it is to be unable to occupy yourself with anything much except your state of depression. Even the most marvelous thing is like music to the deaf. Even the greatest thing is like a shower of stars to the blind. You do not raise either your heart or your eyes to the heights, because to do so only reminds you that you are yourself in the depths. Even if, like the Psalmist, you are inclined to cry out ‘O Lord,’ it is a cry like Jonah’s from the belly of a whale.”
As with many cases in the human experience, the Scriptures provide us a much-needed flicker of light in a dark world that can guide us toward a better way. Psalm 31:4-8 prods us to do two things: take and trust.
We can take refuge in the reputation and record of God’s righteousness. Jesus tells us to “come to Him” when we are burdened. God is not waiting for us to get our act together to come to Him, or even when we feel better. He is wanting us to take our hurts and sorrows to Him now!
I do not know of anyone who enjoys taking out the trash each week, but it’s something that must be done. We must frequently be willing to take our hurts, sorrows, disappointments, grief, anger, worries, and so on to God. No one has sterile junk. All our junk stinks, but we can all rest assured it will never repel our Almighty God.
Once you learn to take your hurts to God, you must learn to trust Him. No one goes through their garbage dumpster repeatedly before the workers come to take the trash away; we too should leave it with God. He is more than able to be trusted. There are real and lasting hurts that our time on earth will not erase. However, we have an eternal God whose grace and love transcend time. One day, all the hurts and depression in your life will be removed. The blues will end, and joy will begin. Take and trust.
McKay is pastor of Pleasant Grove Church, Brookhaven.
