Life without a relationship with God can’t hold a candle to life with God. But let’s face it. There are times when things can get you down, even though you’ve found a relationship with God through your faith in Christ. Even some of God’s choicest servants in the Bible were shown to have serious bouts of depression. In the fourth chapter of the book of Jonah, we see the prophet Jonah depressed because he wanted God to punish the enemies of the Jews, the Ninevites, instead of showing them mercy by giving them a warning and a chance to change. (That may strike you as being a little strange. From an article called “Did Jonah overreact?” on the arliewhitlow.com website, I discovered that Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians had a reputation for torturing their prisoners of war in “gory and bloodcurdling” ways and using revolting ways to celebrate it.)

In I Kings 19 we find that the prophet Elijah was depressed because he had fled from the death threat of Queen Jezebel. In the 18th chapter he had challenged all the prophets of Baal and called down God’s fire on the altar. He had courageously led the people to capture and slaughter Baal’s prophets, which angered the evil Queen Jezebel. (Though slaughtering the prophets of Baal might sound harsh, the gotquestions.org website states that Baal was worshipped by ritualistic prostitution and sometimes by the sacrificing of humans, usually the firstborn children.) The 18th chapter of I Kings holds quite a story. If you haven’t read it recently, you should.

There were other depressed prophets, but how about King David? He was anointed to be a king of Israel, and “a man after God’s own heart,” according to Acts 13:22 and I Samuel 13:14. His emotions wavered between trusting in God’s help and His love and mercy and hitting bottom. In Psalm 42:9 & 10 we see these words of David: “I say to God my Rock, ‘Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?’ My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’ ” Yet in the very next verse, verse 11, we find these words: “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” Though he was once an innocent shepherd boy who sang to God with his harp and he refused to take the throne of Israel until God Himself had taken Saul off the throne, he later had to suffer the guilt of an adulterous affair and having arranged for his lover’s husband to conveniently die in battle.

Then there is the story of Job. God allowed him to be tested to prove to Satan that his loyalty to God was not dependent on his blessings. Who can blame a man for being severely depressed after losing his livestock, his servants, and his children in a single day due to invaders and natural disasters and then being covered with painful sores from one end of his body to the other? Job 3:11 records that after all this happened he asked, “ ‘Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?’ ” After engaging in long conversations with three human friends and the Lord Himself, Job finally resigns himself to acknowledging God’s infinite wisdom and repents for his doubts. In the end God rewards him with having twice as much as he had at the beginning of his troubles.

Moving on to where you and I live today, what are some of the things that can get us down in our modern world? Sometimes we make mistakes. Those of us who are Christians are still human. In I John 1:8 the apostle John wrote, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” Thankfully, in I John 2:1& 2 he wrote these words of encouragement: “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins . . .” We all have certain weaknesses to which we are predisposed. Each personality type has an “up side” and a “down side.” The Holy Spirit encourages our up sides, but Satan is aware of our individual weaknesses and tries to encourage our down sides.

There are lots of other things that can discourage modern-day Christians in America. Some of us have one or more people in our lives who make life difficult. Some of us are accused of things we didn’t do, or our motives are completely misunderstood. If you’re a Christian, it’s quite likely that some who aren’t Christians are watching for you to do something wrong. I recall that one time years ago I put a dime on an office pool for a baseball game, probably a world series game. We were to pick a square where two scores intersected and bet a dime on that score. I don’t remember ever discussing the subject of gambling at that job. I hadn’t even thought of that little baseball pool as gambling, but someone in the office looked at me and exclaimed, “You’re gambling?”
I thought “Really? A dime?” Some of us have had something very traumatic happen in our lives, and we don’t understand why. The struggles of life, big or small, might cause us to be tempted to say, like Jonah or Elijah essentially said, “I give up!”

You’re probably asking yourself, “What on earth does this have to do with Easter?

I will have to give credit for this connection to a TV broadcast on which I heard a speaker named Erwin McManus. I don’t believe I had ever heard him speak before, but the point he made that night stopped me in my tracks. He asked the question, “What if Jesus had given up?” Jesus knew the reason He came to the earth. In Matthew 20:28, He proclaimed that He had come “to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Satan had tried to put all kinds of roadblocks Jesus’ way. We find an account in Luke 4:1-13 of Jesus being tested by Satan in the desert at the very beginning of His ministry. No doubt Satan helped inspire the Pharisees who were always asking Jesus trick questions to try to trip Him up. Jesus’ disciples often just didn’t “get it.” When Jesus began to try to explain to His disciples His death and resurrection that was soon to come, we find in reading Matthew 16:22 that Peter argued with Jesus: “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus response is recorded in the 23rd verse. He said, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Jesus knew Satan was trying to use Peter to discourage Him from completing His mission of providing salvation for all believers.

On the night of Jesus’ arrest that led to His death on the cross, He was in anguish as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Luke 22:42 records His prayer: “ ‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.’ ” He knew the nature of the terrible suffering he would soon endure. I have heard some say that one of the reasons for His anguish was the knowledge that He would suffer temporary separation from His Father in the moment He took on the sins of the world on the cross. He must taste of separation from the Father in our place, so that we could be reconciled to God.

Luke records that Jesus’ stress was so great as He prayed in the Garden that His sweat was like drops of blood. According to the gotquestions.org website, this is an unusual but genuine medical condition called “hematidrosis.” Under conditions of “extreme anguish,” a person’s blood vessels can constrict so drastically that they rupture, causing blood to cross into the sweat glands.

Though Jesus Knew what a horrible death He would soon suffer, He yielded to the Father’s plan. He knew that, through His death, whoever would come to God in genuine repentance would be redeemed by His own precious blood. John 19:30 records Jesus’ final words before He exhaled His last breath on the cross: “Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that He bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” The task the Father had given Him to do was completed. He had won victory over sin and death for all who would believe.

God has a plan for each of His children. We all have unique abilities and our own spheres of influence where we can do whatever God is calling us to do. Galatians 6:9 challenges us: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” May we be able to say with the apostle Paul, as found in II Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” May we live our lives in such a way that we will someday hear our Master say, as in Matthew 25:23, “ ‘ Well done, good and faithful servant!’ ”

Let’s remember Jesus’ example in finishing the task the Father gave Him to do. As you listen to the song below entitled “It Is Finished,” be inspired by the victory Jesus won for us because of His determination to accomplish His purpose. It was written by Bill and Gloria Gaither, sung by the Gaither Vocal Band, and vividly envisioned by the one who posted the accompanying illustrations.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®, Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.TM Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc. TM

Songs suggested at the end of this video are not necessarily endorsed by this website