Taking the Initiative Against Depression

Arise and eat—1 Kings 19:5

The angel in this passage did not give Elijah a vision, or explain the Scriptures to him, or do anything remarkable. He simply told Elijah to do a very ordinary thing, that is, to get up and eat. If we were never depressed, we would not be alive—only material things don’t suffer depression. If human beings were not capable of depression, we would have no capacity for happiness and exaltation. There are things in life that are designed to depress us; for example, things that are associated with death. Whenever you examine yourself, always take into account your capacity for depression.

When the Spirit of God comes to us, He does not give us glorious visions, but He tells us to do the most ordinary things imaginable. Depression tends to turn us away from the everyday things of God’s creation. But whenever God steps in, His inspiration is to do the most natural, simple things-things we would never have imagined God was in, but as we do them we find Him there. The inspiration that comes to us in this way is an initiative against depression. But we must take the first step and do it in the inspiration of God. If, however, we do something simply to overcome our depression, we will only deepen it. But when the Spirit of God leads us instinctively to do something, the moment we do it the depression is gone. As soon as we arise and obey, we enter a higher plane of life.

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衝破苦悶的動力

起來吃罷。 （王上十九5）

天使沒有給以利亞異象，沒有向他解釋聖經，也沒有做什麼特殊的事；他只吩咐以利亞做一件最簡單的事——起來吃罷。我們若從不曾沮喪，就不是真正生活過的人；只有水晶體才從不會沮喪。人，是會苦悶低沉的，就是會死亡的東西；你對自己的估評裡，總要把沮喪的可能性計算在內。

神來臨，並不是給我們異象，只是吩咐我們做最尋常的事。沮喪往往令我們轉離神創造的尋常事物，但神來到，卻感動人做最簡單的事。我們以為神絕不會在那些事物裡面，誰知稍有行動，就發現他在那裡。這樣的感動臨到我們，就是對抗苦悶低沉的一種動力；要跟著做該做的，依神的感動去做。反之，若我們故意做什麼，企圖去勝過沮喪，就只會變本加厲；我們若照神的吩咐去做，沮喪就會消失。隨即可以起來，遵神的旨意去行。這時，已進入生命的另一更高境界了。

祈禱◆噢，主啊，令我感到驚訝的是，在我外在的生活中，我幾乎是完全無力去彰顯你和你的美善。願主我的神的美善，在今天臨到我身上。