Good Medicine

It is overwhelming to me at the multitude of drugs on the market for the ailment of depression.  While I believe some may be needed, I fear most are not.  For the believer, there are avenues to seek before drugs:  prayer, the Word, and service.

We have the awesome privilege to have conversation with the Creator of the universe.  (Did you get that?  THE CREATOR of all things!!)  Whether we “feel” Him or not is not significant to prayer.  Do you believe in Him?  Have you trusted Jesus as your Savior?  Then God is there, even when feelings are out of whack.  PRAY!  Exalt Him!  Pour out your burden to Him!  Intercede for others!

The Word is to me like aloe to a burn.  It’s like a relaxing vacation from the oppression of problems.  There is so much there to encourage, discipline, and give hope.  God’s Word is truly a treasure that never ends.  It’s amazing that even the story of David and Goliath can continue to teach us something new after all the times we’ve heard it or read it ourselves.  And there are so many more amazing adventures, instructions, and biographies to be had in this one book.  Don’t give in to devotionettes as your daily spiritual diet.  That’s like living on whipped cream!  Dig deep this gold mine, to the spiritual richness of spiritual vigor! 

A pastor tells the story of a woman so grieved by her husband’s death that she brought  fresh flowers to his grave weekly.  She was bent, devoid of strength and could barely walk.   A man, who worked at the cemetery, had observed her for many months doing this.  One day he kindly suggested that she take the flowers to a nursing home or hospital instead of a place where no one was benefited.  She drove off in a huff.  However, months later, she returned to the man.  She got out of the car and was a picture of health and energy.  She thanked the man for his advice and once she got over the shock of this suggestion, she took the advice.  Service to others is health to the bones and gives benefit to both the server and the served.

Asa, the good king of Judah, led his people rightly before God.  He served God with all his heart.  However, in his older years, he began to stray.  He ceased putting God first.  Even when his feet became diseased, severely diseased, he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians.  He died within two years.  (2 Chronicles 16:12 & 13)  Right before this he was even warned by a prophet of God and in part of that warning he said this to Asa, “For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth, that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.”