Castaway
Romans 8:26-27
…But misery still delights to trace
Its semblance in another’s case.
No voice divine the storm allayed,
No light propitious shone;
When, snatched from all effectual aid,
We perished, each alone:
But I beneath a rougher sea,
And whelmed in deeper gulfs than he.[1]
Show YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQaJ5L8f0BY (stop playing at 2:00 mark)
Zack Eswine’s book “Spurgeon’s Sorrows.[2]
- Mental Arthritis
- Unlike cancer that can go into long term remission, for those who battle depressive conditions and disorders, they have brief times of remission where they can love, have joy, and happiness, yet it is short lived and such remissions is few and far between.
- Saying to someone “Get over it” is neither helpful nor appreciated.
Psalm 88:3–7 (NLT): 3 For my life is full of troubles,
and death draws near.
4 I am as good as dead,
like a strong man with no strength left.
5 They have left me among the dead,
and I lie like a corpse in a grave.
I am forgotten,
cut off from your care.
6 You have thrown me into the lowest pit,
into the darkest depths.
7 Your anger weighs me down;
with wave after wave you have engulfed me.
Romans 8:26–27 (NLT): 26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.
Matthew 17:14–23 (NLT): 14 At the foot of the mountain, a large crowd was waiting for them. A man came and knelt before Jesus and said, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son. He has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 So I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him.”
17 Jesus said, “You faithless and corrupt people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18 Then Jesus rebuked the demon in the boy, and it left him. From that moment the boy was well.
19 Afterward the disciples asked Jesus privately, “Why couldn’t we cast out that demon?”
20 “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”
22 After they gathered again in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. 23 He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.” And the disciples were filled with grief.
[1] The Castaway. William Cowper. https://poets.org/poem/castaway
[2] Eswine, Zack. 2017. Spurgeon’s Sorrows : Realistic Hope for Those Who Suffer from Depression. Fearn, Ross-Shire, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications Ltd.