Introduction.

1. For Christians who are suffering from a broken-life (depression) due to sinful responses to things that the Lord has permitted to take place in their lives, there is real and wonderful hope. In Psalm 42-43 David, on three occasions ask ‘Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you so disquieted within me,' indicating that his heart, mind and soul were miserable, sad, perplexed and confused. In Psalm 42:3 David revealed that his emotional life was in a mess and as his feelings tossed him about and his tears flowed day and night. Even though David was in the depths of despair he knew the answer to his terrible plight, he needed fellowship with the Lord as the deer pants for the water brooks. Fellowship with the Lord needed to be restored as his first and highest priority in life. David needed to be still and refocus his heart, mind and soul upon the God of all grace. David in Psalms 42-43 tells us how to change the focus from ourselves and our problems and refocus them on the Lord.
   
   
2. The Puritan Richard Sibbes who died in 1635, wrote a whole book (175 pages) on Psalm 42:5. He called his book ‘The Soul's Conflict with Itself,' because in Psalm 42:5, that is exactly what you have, the soul arguing with itself, preaching to itself on how to recover from the depths of despair. Notice what he says in Psalm 42:5b, 11b and Psalm 43:5b, ‘Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him.' This is not an answer to why he feels, thinks and acts the way he does, but the way out of being over-whelmed by his broken life. David is telling himself that the way to recovery is through hope in God; the goal of recovery is praising God. The brokenness of life is to be replaced with praising the Lord. David is seeking a change so great that praising God will flow from his heart, mind and soul which are full of the joy of the Lord. Listen to the opening four verses of Psalm 30, ‘I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up, and have not let my foes rejoice over me. O Lord my God, I cried out to You, and You healed me. O Lord, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.' David testifies to God's great grace in lifting him up from the pit of despair to the place of great joy and delight in the Lord. God's grace towards David ought to encourage every believer suffering from a broken life (depression) to hope in the Lord.

1. The importance of hope in the believer's life.

1. In the Scriptures our loving LORD often speaks of the importance of hope. The three great pillars of the Christian life are faith, hope, and love are set out in Romans 5:1-2, 1 Corinthians 13:13, Colossians 1:4-5, 1 Thessalonians 1:3, and 5:8. On the importance of hope Jay Adams says, Love is the greatest, for when faith turns to sight and hope blends with realisation, love will continue. Yet, for now, hope is not only necessary, but in some instances must be ranked even above love. In 1 Thessalonians 1:3, for example, Paul speaks of the same trio of qualities; yet in this situation (where the great need of the Thessalonian church was for hope), love comes second: "the work of faith, the labour of love and the perseverance (or endurance) of hope." While faith is the source of works and labour issues from love, endurance (especially under trial) comes only from hope. It is very significant that in the Scripture hope and perseverance are joined together. Hope plays a greater part in perseverance than does faith or love. A person with a broken life needs hope to keep him persevering in order for him to reach the place where he praises the Lord with all his heart and mind. Hope is a vital key in overcoming a broken life.
   
   
2. What is Christian hope? Our English term hope does not really do justice to the concept behind the biblical concept of hope. When we say, ‘I hope so' we communicate a great deal of uncertainty. There is no place for uncertainty in Christian hope. Christian hope is a confident expectation in Almighty God and the action he will take. Christian hope is in the person of God, who is filled with majesty, power, wisdom, truth and love. The world's sense of hope is based upon a chance happening of favourable circumstances; it's a kind of fate or luck. Christian hope is full of confidence because of the God who is the object of that hope. The God of the Bible is absolutely and totally trustworthy and dependable. If your Christian hope is to shine brightly then your relationship with God is of paramount importance. If your relationship with God is in poor shape, your hope will loose its lustre. When you fellowship with God you think of him in exalted and adoring ways which increases your confidence in him.
   
   
3. The point that Richard Sibbes makes about David speaking or preaching to himself is very important. David takes control and tells his heart, mind and soul to hope in God. In taking control David stops himself from being tyrannised by his feelings. Anyone with a small amount of understanding of how remaining sin works in the lives of believers would know that it will do all it can to stop you from taking control and directing your thoughts towards the Lord. The sin that remains in believers will manipulate their feelings to keep them self focussed and obsessed with their problems and sad condition. David preaches to himself urging and encouraging himself to exercise Biblical hope in God. You cannot preach hope to yourself unless you explore the greatness of God. Those with broken lives need to consider the following three attributes of God:
   
   
1. God is omnipotent: God's power has no rival. Nothing in all creation has the power to frustrate or restrain God from doing what chooses to do. Because of the perfect character of God he will not sin or deny himself. God will never lie to deceive his people.
   
   
2. God is omniscient: The Lord knows all things comprehensively. There is absolutely nothing that he does not know. Every thought that will ever pass through your mind the Lord knows. Every feeling that will ever touch your heart the Lord knows. Every word you will ever speak God knows. God knows your feelings and thoughts about your broken life.
   
   
3. God is omnipresent: God is present with you every moment. He dwells within in your heart among all your fears and emotions. He is with you to be involved in your life, to change you, so that you are more like Christ Jesus.
   Preach to yourself saying; ‘The God I hope in is all-powerful, all-knowing and always present with me. I am not in this mess on my own the Lord is with me. I will hope in him.'
   
   
4. In preaching to yourself to hope in God, you need to remind yourself of your relationship with the God who is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. Simply telling yourself that God loves you is not sufficient as the words "God loves you' in our day has become a meaningless cliché. You need to preach to yourself concerning how God has revealed his love for you. God has shown his love to me by sending his only begotten Son to suffer a most gruesome and grim death on the cross at Calvary to deal with my sin. Jesus loved me so much that he died for me. The Father loves me and adopted me into his royal family; he has given me the inalienable right to call him Abba Father. God the Father and the Son love me and sent God the Holy Spirit to dwell in me. Tell yourself that the actions of God's love in Christ makes it very clear that you are precious in his sight. Your hope is in God who has shown you more love than anyone on the face of the earth. No one has loved you as much as God. Your hope in God is not simply in a loving God, but in God who actively loves you and counts you very precious.
   
   
5. In preaching to yourself to hope in God you also need to remind yourself of the promises God has made to you. I want to look very briefly at three promises that are of paramount importance.
   
   
1. Romans 8:28, ‘And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.' Notice Paul does not say, ‘We hope God works all things..', but we know. We are certain, sure, convinced, positive that God is at work in all things for our good. Nothing, absolutely nothing touches my life without God working for my good. God because he is omniscient knows what is good for me; personally I get confused between my good and my happiness. The person with a broken life needs to tell himself, ‘I am absolutely sure that the God I hope in is at work for my good in all things.' This promise of God's commitment ought to give me great confidence in God.
   
   
2. 1 Corinthians 10:13, ‘No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.'  There are three points that need to be emphasised in this promise. (a) The temptations you face are not unique; others suffer under the same temptations. (b) God is the one who controls the limits of the temptation. (c) You will not be tempted above what you are able to bear, and there is always a way of escape that does not involve sin. Our God who is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent assures us that we will never face a temptation which we cannot overcome. This promise says, you can face any and every temptation that comes into your life knowing that you can conquer it.
   
   
3. 2 Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." The grace God promises will enable you to serve God and glorify him no matter what burden you carry. The grace God promises you is greater and stronger than the affect of any problem, difficulty, handicap, illness or loss you may suffer. The grace promised here means that a Christian cannot use the words I cannot when referring to anything the Lord requires him to do. God's grace does not simply enable you to cope, but to glorify God.
   The God in whom we hope has committed himself to us and given us promises which promote our confidence in him.
   
   
6. What is Christian hope? Christian hope is a confident expectation in Almighty God and the action he will take. What can a Christian with a broken life confidently expect from the Lord? His actions will be done in his omnipotence and omniscience they will most certainly happen and be most wise. His action will be the action of one who is committed to my good. His actions will be actions of great love. His actions will regulate and limit the temptations I face. His actions will supply me with grace to glorify and honour him no matter what my condition or circumstances. His actions by his omnipresence assures me that I am not on my own he will give me the strength, wisdom and help I need. My hope in God is ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.' To hope in God means that while you have absolutely no confidence in yourself, you continue to have absolute confidence in God, in his power, wisdom, presence and commitment to you. Hope is being bold and courageous in God when you recognise that you are weak and pathetic. You are expressing your hope in the Lord when you say, ‘If God is for us who can be against us.'  Hope is confidence in the Lord that he will take action to help you overcome your broken life. Hope enables you to look to God with confidence knowing that he will not leave you in the pit of despair.

2. The operation of hope in the believer's life.

1. Hope is the product of God's work in us when he calls us to trust Christ for salvation. Paul in Ephesians 1:15-18 says, ‘Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling.' Notice that according to Paul you need wisdom, revelation, knowledge, understanding and enlightenment in order to have hope. Without the internal ministry of the Holy Spirit you would lack every quality that Paul lists as useful for the establishment of hope. The person with a broken life needs to go back to reading and meditating on the Scriptures to rekindle their hope. Hope is present, but sinful responses have grieved the Spirit and eroded hope. Hope is to be restored to a confident expectation that the Lord will give you the strength you need.
   
   
How does hope operate in a believer? Listen to John Piper, ‘In my life-and I think is the intended Biblical pattern-hope is like a reservoir of emotional strength. If I am put down, I look to the emotional reservoir of hope for the strength to return good for evil. Without hope I have no power to absorb the wrong and walk in love, and I sink into self-pity or self-justification. If I experience a setback in my planning-I get sick, or things don't go the way I'd planned in the board meeting, for example-I look to the emotional reservoir of hope for the strength to keep going and not give up. If I face a temptation to be dishonest, to steal, to lie or to lust, I look to the emotional reservoir of hope for the strength to hold fast to the way of righteousness, and deny myself some brief unsatisfying pleasure. That is the way it works for me. That is the way I fight for holiness in the Christian life. And I believe this is the Biblical way to make our calling and election sure.' The believer who is full of biblical hope is full of confidence because his will is God-centred. A believer with a broken life has a self-centred will, which is dictated to by his feelings. The believer who is full of hope has a will that is God-centred and acts according to the word of God encouraged by the power of the Holy Spirit. As John Piper points out hope interacts with our emotions and stops them being hi-jacked by the sin that remains at work in us. Our feelings are kept in check by our hope in God. If you want to bring your renegade feelings under control, then give yourself to the work of building up your hope.


2. It ought to be obvious that working on building up hope in God is a spiritual exercise that fights reactive depression in the spiritual realm. When you work at building hope in God you do not aim at feeling better, which is the most natural thing to crave. When you work at building hope in God the issue is not about you, but about God. Building hope breaks self-centredness and the tyranny of feelings. In saying this I need to make two vital points:
   
   
   1. Building hope is not simply an exercise in piety; spending more time in prayer and the Scriptures. While prayer and time in the Scriptures are essential they do not make up the total solution. Piety is attractive as it can easily be used as an excuse to withdraw from life.
      
      
   2. Building hope requires picking up God given responsibilities and duties. Our lives are structured to do our duties as husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, employers and employees. A broken life almost always leads to the neglect or even the discontinuation of these responsibilities and duties. These duties are shed due to the dictates of feelings. Research shows that women who are homemakers, ministers and others whose week-day work must be self-structured more frequently become depressed than men and women whose tasks are spelled out for them on a 9.00-5.00 daily basis. This is because the cycle resulting in responsibilities and duties being neglected begins when there is no one else to insist that they be done. Feelings take over; things are put off to another time. Building hope requires you to trust God and act against your feelings certain that he will give you the strength to do it.
      
      
3. Three times In Psalm 42-43 David asks the question ‘Why are you cast down O my soul? Why so disquieted within me?' Is David asking how can I be in this state if God who is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent loves me and has promised me good in all things? How can I be in this state if God has promised me grace which is sufficient for every situation and circumstance I will ever be in? How can I be in this state if God is for me? How can I be in this state if the Lord is my Shepherd? It ought to be obvious that this is not a state in which God wants you to be, as it stops you from glorifying and serving him. There can be no doubt that it is God's will that you recover from the state you are in. Do you doubt that your heavenly Father will help you? If it is God's will that you recover why does he not simply heal you in a moment? What would do you more good; an instant recovery or a process whereby you learn to depend and trust God to help you deal with all the problems? If you learn to lean more upon the Lord as you walk up the spiral your hope, trust, faith and love for God will be much greater than if you were instantly delivered.

Conclusion.

Your spiritual needs to be maintained so that your relationship with the Lord enhances you fellowship with him. Work at growing your hope in God for it is hope that brings stability to you life. May God give us wisdom to preach his word to ourselves.