Singing New Songs
/Do you want to be depressed? Two of my favorite books - “The Bible” and “The Secret of Self-Control” - shed light on depression. Nobody wants to live distressed; yet, many people make choices in difficult seasons that send them to a place Dr. Suess stressed to stay clear of: Depressed-ville!
How can pit stops - even a lifetime - being stuck in depression happen to people longing to live a good life in peace and prosperity? Choices and ways of living send us to Happy Town or Depressed-Ville. Many people spend a majority of their time watching movies, videos, and FB filled with violence. Focusing our minds on bad memories, experiences, and failures in our lives can suck us into sadness that devours like quicksand. We play old songs of life that are filled with sadness, sorrow, degradation, and corruption. Those old sinful songs share life threatening tunes of despair and defeat. Hiding or holding onto a deep buried past can haunt minds and hamper happiness. Feeling insecure, unappreciated, even inadequate can be the onset of fearful living that thrives in depressed hearts. So, do we really want to be depressed? King David wrote songs throughout his lifetime that told stories of depression and deliverance.
Encouragement can break chains of bondage when depression sets in like a monsoon with old, painful songs playing over and over in our minds. Changing radio stations, CD’s, playlists, and songs that penetrate deep within our souls can send waves of healing when we change what and who we listen to in life. You can focus on a loved one’s painful death or on what a great person he or she was and the wonderful time you spent together. One focus causes more pain; the other focus will eventually create JOY in the middle of grief-ville! Phillippians 3:1 confirms relying on His Word and rejoicing can change our negative perspectives.
Instead of living in a town of regrets with dead end streets where tragedies and pain of life pound like a sledgehammer, we can choose to rejoice in the Lord and rely on His Word for relief. Surely, you’re thinking…’right, Becky - but it’s not that easy to shake off heartache and live in happiness when you have no desire to sing a new song’!
How can we do this? In Genesis 4:7 God gives a glimpse of learning to sing a new song when we change our ways live by His Word. God told Cain to “do what is right” and receive His acceptance. Reading the Psalms gives us a great place to start doing what’s right, to start drawing closer to God, and to apply His Word to our lives!
When we spend time talking with the Lord, reading and ‘eating His Word’, and concentrating on new songs of joy, happiness chokes out heartache ingrained in our hearts as well as negative mindsets stuck in our heads.
The Word of God will lift us to a new place and set our feet “on a rock and give us a firm place to stand.” Psalm 40:2
When we slip and slide in despair, feeling like we are falling into a miry pit with water rushing over us...we can call out to God. He really will put us on a solid rock and replace depression with joy, joy, joy, joy down in our hearts to stay.
Yes, we are living in troublesome times when standing up for what is right and good in God’s sight is challenged in a society when ‘what is wrong seems right and what is right seems wrong’! The Psalms remind us that even in the darkest times, God will see us through and help us take charge of our lives. He loves deeply and is with us no matter what circumstances we face. Let us live by the Psalms in His Word and sing a new song of joy and love... knowing He will make sure it is heard!
