When I'm Depressed

[0:00] This past week I received a call from a local journalist who wanted to interview me about the rise in suicides that's been reported recently this past week.

[0:18] In terms of how we are to respond to depression and being aware that depression is one of the leading causes of suicide.

[0:42] It's one of the leading reasons that people commit suicide. And sometimes when people commit suicide, those near to them are surprised.

[0:54] And they're surprised because it is so typical for many who are walking through depression to carry on.

[1:09] And to cause things to appear as if they are normal, but privately they endure depression.

[1:19] And so friends around them are not aware of it. And I think it's one of the reasons that we can say that depression is far more widespread than we realize.

[1:33] And it even makes me wonder this morning how many of us present or perhaps watching or listening online, who might be depressed even though the very appearance of things would say otherwise.

[1:54] And that is because depression can be such a private prison in which many find their existence.

[2:07] depression or melancholy, as some people call it, is a very complex subject. In his helpful little book on depression titled, When the Darkness Will Not Lift, John Piper introduces the subject of depression and its complexity with these few words.

[2:33] It's a very appropriate statement. He writes, In addressing the topic of spiritual darkness, I am aware that I have put my oar in a very large sea.

[2:50] And I can identify with those words. I identify with those words because they express my own limitations. That I believe that as I attempt to speak to this particular issue of depression, that I'm putting my oar in a very large sea.

[3:16] And the reality is that depression, there are some parts of it that are physical. There are some parts of it that require medical attention.

[3:32] And it is something we should never be ashamed of. If we need to go to a doctor because we are feeling depressed. And so this morning I say that if you find yourself regularly depressed, you don't want to get out of bed, you're not motivated to work, you're wanting to be alone, you're having thoughts that life is not worth living, I urge you, reach out and get help.

[4:00] I urge you, talk to your doctor, get medical help. But having said that, I believe that for the majority of us, the extent to which we deal with depression has more to do with spiritual depression.

[4:21] And so for the sermon this morning, I want to confine myself to the aspect of depression that is spiritual depression and not physical depression for which medical attention is definitely encouraged.

[4:37] And so if you have not yet done so, please turn to Psalm 42. And this is the second sermon in the series titled When Life Happens out of the Psalms.

[4:53] And this morning we're going to be reading Psalms 42 and 43. And I'm reading from the English Standard Version. So if you have another translation, yours will read slightly differently.

[5:07] Psalm 42, beginning in verse 1. As a dear pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.

[5:22] My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night.

[5:39] While they say to me all the day long, where is your God? These things I remember as I pour out my soul, how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God.

[5:55] With glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude-keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul?

[6:08] And why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

[6:21] My soul is cast down within me. Therefore, I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mitzar.

[6:36] Deep calls to deep are the roar of your waterfalls. All your breakers and your waves have gone over me. By day, the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night, his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.

[6:55] I say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

[7:08] As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me. Why they say to me all the day long, where is your God?

[7:23] Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

[7:41] And then going into 43, vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people from the deceitful and unjust man.

[7:54] Deliver me. For you are the God in whom I take refuge. Why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

[8:11] Send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with a lyre, O God, O God, my God.

[8:39] Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

[8:56] Let's pray together. Father, we ask that in this moment you would speak to our hearts. We ask that by the power of the Holy Spirit you would grant us illumination and you would cause these words that we have read to be mediated to our hearts and that through them you will speak to us.

[9:25] Lord, you know where each person is present, watching online, listening online, and I pray that you would meet us in the preaching of your word.

[9:37] And I ask, Lord, that you would make me sufficient for the task of bringing your word to your people that they may be encouraged, that they may be strengthened, but most of all that you would be glorified.

[9:54] We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, Psalm 42 is the first psalm that is recorded in the second book of Psalms and it's a psalm of lament.

[10:17] It's a beautiful but a sorrowful psalm. And in case you're wondering why I read Psalm 42 and 43 this morning, I did so because in early Hebrew manuscripts, these two psalms were written as one complete psalm.

[10:39] And I think as we consider them this morning, you'd be able to see the unity that they share with this refrain in verses 5 and 11 of chapter 42 and verse 5 of chapter 43.

[10:56] Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you in turmoil within me, hoping God? For I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

[11:14] When reading these two psalms, it doesn't take long to see that the psalmist is in deep distress of soul. Four times he refers to his soul as being cast down.

[11:28] Three times he refers to his soul as being in turmoil. And it begs the question, what was the psalmist going through? We're not given the exact circumstances.

[11:44] We don't know what brought this distress of soul. But we are able to tell from these opening verses that the psalmist was unable to go to the temple in Jerusalem.

[11:57] Something prevented him from going. He longed to go, but he could not go. And he separated from the temple. And this is the place where God said he would reveal himself.

[12:10] And the psalmist, we see in verse 5 of chapter 42, he locates himself in the land of Jordan of Hermon.

[12:20] This is an area that is far north of Jerusalem, the boundaries of Jerusalem. And so he is very far away from the temple. He is far away from the place where God's presence would be most evident, where God says, I'll put my name and my presence will be there.

[12:42] And although he is praying to God, the psalmist is wrestling with God's apparent unresponsiveness to his prayers. And in addition to that, he is also grappling with people who don't mean him well, his enemies, those who he says were taunting him and saying, where is your God?

[13:07] And I think all of us, most of us this morning have lived long enough to identify with this psalmist state of soul. I certainly can.

[13:24] I've experienced seasons of despair and depression and discouragement. At times so strong that all I could do is take the words of the psalmist and psalms like these two that we have read and make them my own words and pray them as my prayer of lament to the Lord, pouring out my soul to him.

[13:53] And so this morning, knowing that we have been there and knowing that as we live life in this fallen and broken world, we will be there again different ways to different degrees but we know we will be there.

[14:10] I want us to consider from these two psalms how we can respond to those seasons of darkness in our soul when our souls are discouraged and when we are in a spiritual depression.

[14:30] And so this morning, I want to answer this question from these two psalms. How can believers walk through seasons of depression and discouragement of souls?

[14:44] How can we as believers walk through these things? I think one of the things we need to accept right from the outset is that God, our sovereign God, brings these things our way.

[15:02] We pray that he would lead us and he leads us and some of the paths that he leads us in are in these paths and these seasons of sorrow and depression and discouragement of soul.

[15:19] And so my goal this morning is not to help us how to get through a bad day when the tire is flat and the car isn't working and all the little things that irritate us.

[15:31] It's not that. This is about how do we walk through seasons where we are downcast, where we are in despair, where we are spiritually depressed.

[15:45] Now while there's a lot that can be said and answers that question from Psalms 42 and 43, what I want to do this morning is I want us to consider three ways as we consider the example of the Psalmist, three ways that we can respond to seasons of spiritual depression of soul.

[16:07] And the first way is this. We need to freely lament to God. Freely lament to God. That's what we see the Psalmist doing in these two Psalms.

[16:22] He is freely pouring out his griefs and his sorrows to God. He is freely and fervently lamenting. Notice how from the outset in verse 1 the Psalmist expresses his need for God in life-sustaining ways.

[16:43] He says, God, I need you desperately like a thirsty deer who can't find water. when we freely lament to God, it means that our emotions are not bridled down or they're not bottled up, but we are freely expressing and pouring out our deepest emotions to God.

[17:13] Look at how the Psalmist does that in verses 2 and 3. He says, my soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night while they say to me continually, where is your God?

[17:32] The Psalmist is saying that as he walks through this depression, he had no appetite. He says, I've eaten my tears. He's pouring his soul out to God in this particular way.

[17:48] I think one of the things that should be evident if you're halfway aware of what happens in so many churches is there is no place for Psalms of lament. There's only a place for happy Psalms and Psalms of victory and Psalms of you're always on the top.

[18:08] And brothers and sisters, what is sad about it is that the very people singing it know it's not their reality. There are seasons when Psalms like Psalms 42 and 43, these Psalms of lament, they speak the reality and the truth of our souls.

[18:29] And so lamenting to God means being honest with the Lord. He knows all. He knows our hearts. He knows everything about us. We should not be thinking thoughts about our situation or about God that we are not expressing to God as we pour our hearts out to Him, as we lament to Him.

[18:57] Notice the honest lament of the Psalmist in verse 9. He says to God, why have you forgotten me? See, there are some people just confess that God has remembered you.

[19:12] Just do something positive. That's negative. Don't say that. The Psalmist is honest. He says, God, why? You've forgotten me, God. Why? Why have you forgotten me? Now, we all know that God didn't forget the Psalmist.

[19:32] There's a very tender verse of scripture in Isaiah where the Lord talks about how can a mother forget her nursing child.

[19:46] Our father will never forget us. Yet, that's where the Psalmist found himself. His situation was so desperate, so drawn out, his prayers seemed so far from the Lord and so unanswered by God that he believed that God had forgotten him.

[20:11] And hence this question, God, why have you forgotten me? But he even laments even stronger in chapter 43, in Psalm 43, in verse 2.

[20:23] He says, God, I have taken refuge in me. Why have you rejected me? Now, there's another side to this honest lament that I must caution you about.

[20:43] I'm not at all suggesting that we come before the Lord and we thoughtlessly spout and vent whatever comes to our lips. That's not lamenting.

[20:54] That's venting. Lamenting to God is freely and honestly pouring out our hearts to him but doing so thoughtfully and respectfully.

[21:06] The psalmist is thoughtfully and respectfully lamenting to God. And while we can learn from what the psalmist is doing here and what is done elsewhere in the Psalms, we must remember that we have a better and a new covenant that the psalmist didn't have.

[21:36] We have a better and a new covenant. We have a covenant that Jesus has purchased with his blood on the cross and we have the Holy Spirit and we have the word of God that is all sufficient.

[21:48] and so we have so much more than the psalmist had when we walk through seasons of depression and discouragement and God's word teaches us that nothing can separate us from his love through Jesus Christ.

[22:09] His word also promises us that nothing that we will ever go through that the Lord Jesus will leave us in and he will forsake us. He promised he will never leave us. He will never forsake us.

[22:21] And so even when we feel forsaken we know that we are not forsaken. And I could not help as I prepared to reflect on my own seasons of lament over the years.

[22:40] And I was reminded of how lamentation, how lamenting before the Lord in prayer is like a spiritual medicine to our souls.

[22:53] When we are bowed low, when we are downcast, and we come before the Lord in honest lament, and fervent lament, it is a spiritual medicine to our souls.

[23:11] perhaps you hear this morning or listening online and you are downcast. You are bowed low in your soul.

[23:26] But even in that condition, you feel no impulse to draw near to God, to lament to God, to share with God, to pour your heart to God what you are experiencing, what you are feeling.

[23:47] And perhaps you may be thinking that it's not the state of soul that you want to go to God in. There are some people who think that we can only go to God when the sun is shining and all is wonderful and balmy and beautiful.

[24:01] And we somehow keep our distance downcast. But we see from this example that we can draw near to God and we can be honest with God.

[24:14] We don't have to pretend with him. We can lament. We can pour our hearts to him. And so if you find yourself this morning knowing that you are bowed low in your soul, but there is no impulse or desire to draw near to God, I urge you draw near to God and freely pour out your heart to him and you will find a spiritual medicine for your downcast soul.

[24:46] So first, when walking through seasons of depression and discouragement, we need to freely lament to God.

[24:57] and second, following the psalmist's example, in seasons of spiritual depression and discouragement, we need to honestly diagnose our souls.

[25:14] And here the point is that we need to understand why it is that our soul is in despair. fear. And you may have had this experience in different ways where sometimes you're feeling in a particular way and you're like, why am I feeling like this?

[25:35] I remember when I was younger, my mother, she would discipline us at times, but a lot of times she didn't, and she would call my father who would be at the food store and if it was something really, really bad, he would leave, he would come home and he would beat us.

[26:01] But if it could wait, he would promise us, he would say those words, he'd say, take your soul to the Lord and leave your behind to me.

[26:12] When I come home, it would be me and you. He'll say words like that. And I remember over the summer, we would be, I'd be playing and then all of a sudden something would come over me and I'm like, why am I feeling depressed?

[26:26] And I'm going to get beaten tonight. And so you would forget, but something would literally come over me and remind me, don't be having so much fun, you're getting beaten tonight.

[26:37] But I couldn't remember in the moment and so I have to really kind of think about it. And I learned that you have to put your finger on it. You have to put your finger.

[26:47] Sometimes we're feeling in particular ways. We diagnose it. Why am I feeling like this? You try to put your finger on it. We should, in seasons of depression of soul and discouragement, we should try to put our finger on what is the issue.

[27:10] Why am I depressed? Why am I discouraged? The psalmist diagnoses his soul in this passage by asking a question three times.

[27:26] He asks this question in verse 5 and verse 11 of chapter 42, and then he asks it in verse 5 of Psalm 43.

[27:38] He asks, why are you downcast, O my soul? And why are you in turmoil within me? One of the things that we should always do, when we see repetition in scripture, it is there for a reason.

[27:55] God is repeating it for a reason. It's not just empty words. It's there for a reason. So why does the psalmist, who knew his circumstances, why would he ask this question three times, why are you downcast, O my soul?

[28:19] He knew that he was separated from the temple. He knew he wanted to go there and he couldn't. He knew there were enemies all around him who were taunting him, but he still asked this question, why are you downcast?

[28:33] Why are you in despair, O my soul? He's talking to himself. And three times he answers himself.

[28:47] Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God?

[29:02] And while there are no doubt multiple reasons why the Lord would have inspired the psalmist to repeat this question and the answer to the question three times, I believe one of the reasons that he has inspired the psalmist to do this is that it is to encourage us to honestly diagnose our souls, to help us to see the importance of doing this.

[29:33] And it can very well be that the psalmist kept asking because he wasn't really seeing it. Perhaps in the first instance, perhaps that's the case.

[29:47] But I think we should be reminded that we can only diagnose our souls with God's help. Left to ourselves, we will never honestly and correctly diagnose our souls.

[30:00] And a lot of times when we try to diagnose our souls, it is easy to come up with the surface reason as to why we would say our soul is in despair and we are discouraged.

[30:16] So take, for example, someone who is unemployed. unemployed. Unemployment is a very difficult circumstance to walk through and many have fallen in depression because of it.

[30:31] There are examples of that in the pandemic as people lost jobs. Some who have, over that hard situation, taken their lives.

[30:45] But I think if you were to take two persons who were unemployed and you were to ask them why are you depressed? Why are you discouraged as you're walking through unemployment?

[30:58] I think we'd find that they'd respond in different ways. While it would appear on the surface that the issue is unemployment, there's a deeper root issue than just unemployment.

[31:16] unemployment. For some, it might be just the weight and the pressure of mounting obligations that they can't meet. For some, it might be the drastic decline in their quality of life, and that's what really is depressing them.

[31:35] For some, it might be just a loss of worth and esteem in terms of what they did and how they valued it. And so, it's not enough just to say, I'm depressed because I'm unemployed, because underneath that is where we look to really find the issue and what it is that is weighing that person down.

[32:00] And so, we need to go beyond the surface and we need to really determine, why am I truly downcast? And so, if you're downcast this morning, if you're depressed in your soul this morning, how would you diagnose your own soul and how would you answer that question?

[32:21] Why am I downcast? And I think the first hint that we should draw from this is that we don't immediately look to the periphery, we don't immediately look to the surface of things.

[32:35] It generally is something that is far deeper than that. It's easy to say, well, it's my marriage because things aren't working out the way I thought my marriage would work out.

[32:56] Or it is some health diagnosis that I got. Or some debilitating illness that I have. All those things are circumstances, but those things are really not the reason for the despair and the discouragement of soul.

[33:16] And let me say this as well as we think about why we may be in despair and discouragement in our soul. One of the overlooked reasons for spiritual depression is sin.

[33:30] Unconfessed sin. We don't have time to turn to this morning, but I encourage you to make a note and look at Psalm 32. And the psalmist speaks in very similar language that we find the psalmist here in Psalm 42 and 43 speaking.

[33:51] And in the end, what we see is that he says, it was because I didn't confess my sin to God. It was when I confessed my sin to God, that is when things began to change.

[34:05] And sometimes our souls are downcast because of the burden of sin that we carry. Our unconfessed sin because of our pride. And so whether we're depressed this morning or we will be in the future, we need to learn to take time with God's help to diagnose why it is that we are really downcast.

[34:38] And without dismissing the gravity and the weight of the circumstances in our lives, the difficulties that we may face, I believe that when we consider these two psalms, what we find in them is the common, ultimate reason that we come under spiritual depression.

[35:02] And as humbly and as compassionately as I'm able to say it, I believe that the reason that we oftentimes come under spiritual discouragement is because we're not putting our hope in God.

[35:26] We're not putting our hope in God. And this brings me to my third and final point. In seasons of despair and discouragement, we need to patiently hope hope in God.

[35:49] We need to patiently hope in God. Notice that at the end of this three times repeated question, why are you downcast, oh my soul?

[36:01] And why are you in turmoil within me? The psalmist gives the same answer each time he says, hope in God. Hope in God. for I shall again praise him, my salvation, and my God.

[36:20] The psalmist is both identifying the source for his soul being downcast, the cause of it, and also the cure for it.

[36:34] The root cause of spiritual depression is that we, in our circumstance, are not hoping in God. And the cure for that depression is we need to hope in God.

[36:54] And so as the psalmist asks the question, why are you downcast? The reason you would say, well, you can't go to the temple. That's why you're downcast. But the reason is found in the answer that he gives, which is hope in God.

[37:08] God is the cure for the cause. And I trust you see this this morning.

[37:20] I trust you see this, that no matter what we're going through, no matter how difficult, no matter how hard, if we are able in the moment, if we are able as we walk through that situation, to put our hope in God.

[37:38] Brothers and sisters, it doesn't mean that the circumstances change. It doesn't mean that all will be wonderful and well, but what it does mean is that we are not going to be in despair and in discouragement because we cannot both hope in God and be in despair at the same time.

[37:56] We cannot. And it doesn't mean that you go and throw a party. It doesn't mean that you go and you sing a bunch of happy songs, but your hope is anchored in the Lord.

[38:09] We can sing with conviction, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And yes, sometimes we sing it with tears. But there's a hope that we hold on to, that we will continue to look to the Lord and trust in the Lord, regardless of whatever situation we may face in this life.

[38:39] Hoping in God is the ultimate cure for spiritually depressed souls. And hoping in God is not hoping that he does what we want him to do.

[38:58] Hoping that he will bring about a particular outcome that we are expecting, that we are hoping for. No, hoping in God is hoping in God and in God alone.

[39:17] And his track record is worthy of our trust and our hope. We're hoping in one who knows our frame.

[39:27] We're hoping in one who counts strands of here on our head. He keeps track of them. And if he's concerned about that insignificant detail, you can be assured that he is concerned about the details of our lives that really matter.

[39:48] Psalm 43 does not end like a fairy tale. Psalm 43 does not end and they live happily ever after.

[40:01] No, it ends with the psalmist asking the same question. Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you with turmoil within me?

[40:14] And give me the same answer, hope in God. For I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. We don't know how much longer the psalmist walked through this season and these set of circumstances that he actually faced.

[40:33] We don't know how long it was before he went to the temple, was able to go back. And the truth is that for us in our own depression of soul, whatever those circumstances may be, whatever the attending circumstances may be, we don't know how much longer they will last.

[40:53] We don't know how much longer we'll walk through it. And like the psalmist, we have to patiently hope in God, waiting for when and how he chooses to act on our behalf.

[41:14] Now, I know the term hope in God can sound a bit vague. There's something we throw out, some cliche we use.

[41:26] But I would describe that hoping in God, I would describe it as a prayerful expectation and trusting what you know to be true about God.

[41:45] It's trusting in the Lord and what we know to be true about him. That's what it means to put our hope in God. It's trusting in the sovereign goodness.

[41:58] It's trusting in the sovereign care. And to help us to do this, he's given us his word. He's given us all of his word.

[42:09] And the psalmist didn't have all of his word, as we do. And from God's word, we know that the one in whom we hope, the one in whom we trust, did not spare his own son and freely gave him up for us.

[42:31] As our substitute on Calvary's cross, we know that. That's the one that we hope in. And we know that in doing so, God has demonstrated that he will not withhold anything else from us since he has freely given up his only son.

[42:55] And let us not forget that our seasons of depression, our seasons of despair that we walk through are part of his sovereign dealings. And he uses them for good.

[43:07] He uses them for his glory. I remember an old preacher who's dead now. He said something to me that I thought was, he was joking when he said it, but he said to me, he said, the garbage truck never comes, never backs up to God's workshop.

[43:28] And his point simply was, God waste nothing in our lives. He waste nothing. He uses it all for our good. and for his glory. And he can do that because he is God and nothing is too difficult for him to do.

[43:49] And so brothers and sisters, wherever you find yourself this morning, wherever we will find ourselves in the days ahead, when we find ourselves in despair and discouragement and in distress and depression of soul, let us be reminded that that should be a signal to us that we need to hope in God.

[44:15] And we're downcast in that moment because we are not hoping in the true and the living God. Our eyes are more focused on our circumstances, our hearts are more set on what we want than God himself.

[44:31] And that's what the psalmist was crying out for. Crying out for God himself. And we set our hope on him. And we trust in him. And we wait patiently for him to act how and when he chooses regarding our circumstances.

[44:48] But we patiently hope. And we patiently wait. Because we know that he is altogether good and altogether wise and altogether powerful.

[45:01] And he will use for good the very circumstance that we find ourselves walking through. I've directed what I've shared this morning primarily to believers and how believers can walk through seasons of despair and discouragement.

[45:26] encouragement. But if you hear this morning or listening online as an unbeliever, and especially if you're struggling with depression, know this.

[45:39] The Bible says that God is near to the broken hearted. He is near to those who are crushed in spirit. And that's without distinction. It doesn't matter what may have broken you, what may have crushed you.

[45:53] Scripture says God is near to such. And I encourage you this morning to allow the Lord to use the hardships of your life.

[46:07] Allow him to use those things that have broken you to get your attention and to help you to see what your greatest need is. Your greatest need is not relief. Your greatest need is forgiveness.

[46:19] forgiveness. Your greatest need is to be reconciled to God and to be forgiven of your sins. And the Lord Jesus promises that all who come to him, he will turn none away.

[46:34] He will receive and he will forgive. And if you're here this morning as an unbeliever, we're going to close with prayer and at the end of that, we're going to give an opportunity for anyone who wants prayer.

[46:54] If you need prayer, we invite you to come. If you want to talk about the sermon, you want to talk about what it means to trust in Jesus and to follow Jesus, I'd be glad to talk with you about that.

[47:07] Let's pray together. Lord, thank you for your mercy and your grace that abounds to us even when we are spiritually depressed.

[47:22] I pray you'd remind us that ultimately we are spiritually depressed and downcast when we are not hoping in you.

[47:38] Would you help us, Lord, to put our hope in you, remembering all your attributes that you've revealed to us in your word, that you're sovereign and you are wise and you are perfect and you are good and you're just in all of your ways.

[48:00] And so, Father, I pray that you would help us to trust in you, whether now or in the future, we find ourselves in seasons of despair.

[48:17] The song that we're going to close with this morning is a hymn that was modified by Bob Coughlin.

[48:31] It's an old hymn, God Moves in a Mysterious Way. It was written first by William Cooper in 1774, and he was a man who for most of his adult life battled depression and despair and darkness of soul, so much so that he attempted suicide several times.

[48:55] And we're told that if it was not for the compassionate and persistent care of John Newton, that humanly speaking, Cooper would have taken his life.

[49:13] But this one will be closed with a hymn that this man has written who just knew darkness and depression for most of his life. And we can see how the Lord uses even that, even the hardships of our lives, to bring glory to his name.

[49:28] So let's sing together God moves. God moves.

[49:42] God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea and rise upon the storm.

[50:03] Deep in his dark and hidden mind with never-failing skill, he fashions all his bright designs and works his sovereign will.

[50:23] So God, we trust in you. Oh God, we trust in you.

[50:42] Verse 2. O faithful saints, new courage take the clouds that you now tread are big with mercy and will break in blessings on your head.

[51:03] Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace. Behind the frowning providence he hides the smiling face.

[51:24] So God, we trust in you. Oh God, we trust in you.

[51:39] you. When tears, when tears are grazed and comforts you, we hope in mercies ever new.

[51:51] We trust in you. God's purposes will ripen.

[52:02] God's purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower.

[52:22] Blind unbelief is sure to air, and scan his working way. God is his own interpreter and he will make it plain.

[52:42] So God, we trust in you. you. And oh God, we trust in you.

[52:59] When tears, when tears are great and comforts you, we hope in mercies ever new.

[53:10] We trust in you. When tears, are great and comforts few, we hope in mercies ever new.

[53:26] We trust in you. Let's pray together. Amen. Amen.

[53:37] Amen. Amen. Father, would you help us to trust in you no matter what.

[53:52] No matter what our circumstances are, no matter how dark, how difficult, would you help us to hope in you and to trust in you.

[54:09] And Lord, may we be reminded that you are a trustworthy God. You're the God who cannot lie. You're the God who cannot fail.

[54:22] You're the God who keeps promises. And you will perfect the things that concern all of your children. Oh, Lord, I pray that you would remind us and you would help us in our darkest moments, our darkest hours, to trust in you.

[54:55] And now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[55:14] And may you remember that he who calls you is faithful and that he will surely do it for your good and for the glory of his holy name.

[55:28] In Christ's name, amen. Amen. God bless you. Thanks for being out this morning. There are refreshments prepared. Please stick around and enjoy those.

[55:41] But if you're here and you need prayer this morning, as the others leave, I invite you to come. I'll be a joy to pray with you. God bless you. So I will cast my kiss on you.

[56:01] Yes, I will cast my kiss on you. I will rest within your arms knowing I am safe from harm.

[56:19] I will cast my kiss on you. So I will cast and so I will cast my kiss on you.

[56:35] Yes, I will cast my kiss on you. I will rest within your arms knowing I am safe from harm.

[56:54] I will cast my kiss on you. I will rest. Yes, I will rest within your arms knowing I am safe from harm.

[57:11] I will cast my kiss on you. Thank you.

[58:11] Thank you.

[58:41] Thank you.

[59:11] Thank you.

[59:41] Thank you.

[60:11] Thank you.

[60:41] Thank you.

[61:11] Thank you.