These sermons on a passage from Psalms are just what we need when we are feeling downcast. This is the real deal, highly recommended!!!īasically this is a wonderful, searching work on depression and discouragement.
#A lifting up for the downcast how to#
We need the Spirit’s help in each case to navigate us through how to speak the truth in love. This book gives pastoral caregivers a comprehensive toolbox which then has to be applied in due care and sensitivity for the good of those whom we seek to help. Our psychology is complex and we have more ways to justify ourselves and inaction. I fear that with the heightened awareness of mental health, more are comfortable to hide behind a “label” or “diagnosis” which then does not call for spiritual lessons to be learnt. Reading on the subject on social media, it is not hard to see how people can be offended if you say their condition can be improved. Will we take it as hope and encouragement or discouragement and condemnation on those who are depressed? All that he says are true, but I have heard a comment that the doctrines are beautiful but they sound judgemental on the sufferers who need help. There may be many “buts”, and to be fair, Bridge deals with many many “buts” in this book. I do not know how it will fall onto the modern ears. The overriding conclusion is that Christians have no reason to feel discouraged or downcast. It is about the skills with the Bible, the character of God that has been manifested and the attitude of a godly servant’s heart. I would like to suggest that what we can learn from the book is not just the arguments presented but the relationship with Christ that goes behind the arguments. How many hours they spent in reading AND meditating on God’s Word cannot be overestimated! We will never see what they saw if we are not prepared to invest the time and effort to learn and study God’s Word with affection and diligence. The fine points they could see and connections they can make across different passages in the Bible are like gems of brilliance that sparkle. The second thing that is impressive about puritans always is how finely they read the Bible! They know the Bible so well that put us to shame. The comprehensiveness of the book’s coverage shows the heart of the author in speaking relevance to his audience. He first tries to explain our reasoning and our psyche, followed by the rebuttal from the Bible. Bridge works with painstaking attention to every possible scenario and argument he can think of and dispel them with biblical teaching. Apart from the content, the puritans never fail to impress me with their pastoral hearts for their flocks.
It attempts to bring us to the truths and doctrines, giving us new light and perspective to see our situations. We would like to be ready when we are struck or walk alongside someone who is. There is an urgency for us to be equipped in dealing with these issues, because we are bound to come across it – if not in ourselves, it will be in someone else we know.
The church community is not immune from depression or feeling downcast. There seems so much pressure in life from all sides and it seems to hit us at an ever younger age. The impact of social media on children and teenagers is beginning to emerge but systematic and comprehensive study perhaps is still lacking. For example, in the past month, the young Royals launched Shout – the 24 hour text helpline for mental health. There have been campaigns to raise awareness of mental health. People are hard pressed within and without the church. I can’t say if this is more so than the past generations. Downcast Christians of the twenty-first century can find help here as surely as did past generations.We are losing our bearing in life. He gives directions for applying the remedy.įor example in dealing with “great sins” he says, “If you would be truly humbled and not be discouraged be discouraged and yet be humbled then beat and drive up all your sin to your unbelief, and lay the stress and weight of all your sorrow upon that sin.” The general causes of spiritual depression are the same in every age. A correct diagnosis is more than half the cure but Bridge does not leave his readers there. In dealing with believers suffering from spiritual depression, Bridge manifests great insight into the causes of the saints’ discouragements such as great sins, weak grace, failure in duties, want of assurance, temptation, desertion and affliction. Lifting Up for the Downcast by William Bridge These thirteen sermons on Psalm 42:11, preached at Stepney, London, in the year 1648 are the work of a true physician of souls.
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