A Song of Persistent Praise

William Cowper (pronounced Cooper), a friend of John Newton in the early 1800’s, wrote several well-known hymns we still sing today. “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood” and “God Moves in Mysterious Ways” are two of the songs that most are familiar, and yet, this writer struggled with deep depression and suicidal thoughts. The same writer who wrote:

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

And

There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains:

Also wrote a poem called “The Castaway”

Cowper often felt left alone by God.  He later died afraid that he was cut off completely from God’s grace with no hope of heaven. God’s promises were not reliant on Cowper’s emotions or anyone else’s, however. It was the blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins that assured him of God’s grace. _{(Eswine, Zack, Spurgeon’s Sorrows (Fearn: Christian Focus Publications, 2014), pg. 467 Ebook)}

Cowper is not the only one who suffers from confusion that undoubtedly is one of Satan’s most honed tools. Where outright sin or blasphemy would never tempt the believer, discouragement and depression can certainly draw a sufferer into its net.

I was reminded of this confusion amid suffering while reading through Job. Job suffered tremendous loss, and yet faced it with praise to God at the outset.

A few chapters and a few callous friends’ “encouragements” later, however, Job finds himself in confusion. The friends that came to help him, instead question Job’s integrity, and tell him that he surely deserves this punishment from God. In their limited understanding and in their hope that nothing like this should ever happen to them, they console themselves with the idea that Job must have done something terrible to deserve all that came upon him.

It wasn’t just the loss of his children, everything he owned, his health, and his status that left Job reeling. The assault on his mind pelted him with doubt that God cared, God knew, and God had not left him alone. The crashing and crushing billows that relentlessly pound the suffering soul are often not outward circumstances, but the inward thoughts of his heart. Like Job’s friends and David’s tears, our emotions can cast doubtful thoughts into our minds that will not go away without specific and targeted resistance.

Susannah Spurgeon, whose husband Charles Spurgeon also suffered from intense depression, struggled herself with relentless pain that left her bedridden for much of her life. She wrote in one of her books of how she rode through the storms.

“Fixing my heart in the blessed fact that what the Lord does is right and blessed, simply because He does it, I feel the anchor hold in the depths of His love–and no tempest is powerful enough to drive faith’s barque from these moorings. It can outride any storm with anchorage in such a haven.” She chose to anchor her heart on the One who loved her enough to die for her.

In this life, sin causes suffering. Even those who set their heart and mind to follow God’s ways will face trials. In Job’s case, it was not his sin, but his uprightness that brought about his tribulation. God allowed the trials to prove that Job’s righteousness was not just because he received only good things from God.

His life also reflected the Redeemer he wrote about in Job 19:25-27. For I know that my redeemer liveth,
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
And though after my skin worms destroy this body,
yet in my flesh shall I see God:
Whom I shall see for myself,
and mine eyes shall behold,
and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

Jesus, Job’s Redeemer, would also suffer, though He lived a perfectly just life, with no sin. He would truly be forsaken by His Father because God could not look on sin that Jesus carried for us. But His suffering secured victory for every person who believes on Him. His suffering will wipe every tear from every eye, every sorrow from every heart, every grief and every pain will be remembered no more. His life gives us life beyond the vapor that this planet offers.

Though friends may not be able to understand and walk with us through the vale, Jesus never leaves our side. Fixing our eyes on Him will be our stability.

 Since the beginning of time, Satan has been calling into question God’s Word. “Hath God said?” was his question to Eve, leading her to believe that God might be holding good things from her hand. Lashing ourselves to the promises of God’s Word is the only defense we hold against Satan’s lies.

Here are just a few that I have found to cling to tightly. I would love to hear those the Lord has given to you.

His promises are our stability and anchor in the storms of doubt and depression. When they threaten, praise and thank Him for His promises. Do not give them even a toe-hold of room to thrive. Post His promises every place you need a reminder. Beat back the darkness with the Light of His Truth.

His victory has already overcome the darkness of doubt, fear, depression, and despair. Fight the battle with persistent praise and cling tightly to His promises.

Please let me know how I can pray for you today! Blessings, my friends!