The Maker and Mental HealthExemplo

Day 2 — Where is your God?

“My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’” (Psalm 42:3)

There is something about this verse that explains grief and mental health so well. Battling with bipolar, anxiety, depression, or another mental illness can make the days feel so long. It’s as if each passing moment is full of more and more exhaustion. And then, the tears fall endlessly again and again.

Or perhaps, you feel so numb to it all that the tears don’t even fall at all. So instead, you are just walking around looking fine on the outside while caving in on the inside.

Again, as we step into today’s devotional, we ask that you take a moment to breathe in and know that we are not suggesting that scripture will immediately fix what you are going through. Sometimes therapy & medication are necessary. God created those things and they are good gifts! But, we want to focus on how scripture and the presence of the Lord can be your companion along this journey - never leaving your side once.

As we dive into Psalm 42 - the truth is we don’t know exactly who wrote this Psalm or what they may have been going through. However, we can see that they were suffering in a very personal way. Their sorrow ran deep and they could not control it.

What’s interesting about Psalm 42:3 is the phrase “Where is your God?” - and the implication. It’s not super often that we face hardship today and there are enemies surrounding us asking about “our God”. However, the Enemy does plant a seed of doubt in our minds. And then suddenly, we are asking ourselves those questions.

You’re in the middle of a panic attack with the lies whispering, “God doesn’t care. He won’t save you.”

You’re deeply walking in grief and you feel this little voice saying, “God could have fixed it, but He didn’t care enough.”

Your OCD is flaring up and every thought in your mind is, “I am going crazy and God won’t make it stop”.

“Where is your God?”, we hear the Enemy say.

But - in the middle of this mental battle, the author of Psalm 42 shifts their focus to another thought. They say, “My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.” (‭‭Psalm‬ ‭42‬:‭6‬)

Remembrance.

Your soul is downcast. You feel heavy. Life just feels unfair. Your tears keep falling. Anxiety keeps flaring. Nothing feels right.

The author is honest. They admit that their soul is still downcast. They aren’t invalidating the hurt or pain that they have gone through & feel - but they are shifting their focus.

Have you heard of the word “Ebenezer” before? It’s considered a “stone of help” and comes from 1 Samuel. Samuel sets up in commemoration of God's help to the Israelites in their victory over the Philistines at Mizpah. It’s a picture of God’s faithfulness for the Israelites to look back on whenever they lose hope.

What is your Ebenezer? What is one event that God has shown up in so faithfully that you knew He was real? What has God rescued you from before?

We want to challenge you at this moment to write that down. Even if it’s just on a notes app in your phone. Write it down and read it back to yourself.

No - your Ebenezer cannot solve the current sorrow and pain that you feel. But - it can remind you that there is a God who cares about you. It can remind you that there is a God who is working despite the invisibility of it. And it can remind you that if God was faithful before, He will be faithful again.

“My soul is downcast within me, therefore I will remember…”

You can be honest with Him about how you feel & still remember His goodness.

Take heart, Child. He loves you, despite how it feels. He loves you.