Louie Giglio - Finding Up When Anxiety Weighs You Down
If you have scripture today, I want us to look at a psalm that really reflects what we're talking about. And in Psalm 42, the psalmist here is writing about a struggle. Specifically, writing about someone who's known the goodness of God, but now feels like they're under the weight and the pressure of the world, you know what I'm talking about? So, they've had the high with God, but now, they're down in the low seemingly without God. And the struggle plays out really beautifully.
"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, 'Where is your God?' These things I remember as I pour out my soul, how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng".
I used to do that, but now, here is where I am. "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, from the heights of Hermon from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the LORD directs His love, at night His song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God my Rock, 'Why have you forsaken me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?' My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes stand against me, saying to me all day long, 'Where is your God?'"
And then, the Psalmist repeats again, "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God". The Psalmist is giving us a snapshot of a lot of our journey. I've been there, but now I'm here. I wanna get back there, but I don't know how to get back there, but I know enough to say to my soul, "Remember the old days, and remember where we've come from, and put your hope in God again". The whole story of this is, "Why be downcast O, soul"?
And as I was thinking about being downcast it just is a snapshot, I think of what anxiety does, what stress does, what depression does, it just pulls us downward until we're downcast. And when we're downcast we're looking, literally down at the situation, at the problem, at whatever's making us anxious and God is saying today, it's possible again to lift up your gaze. And that's what God is encouraging us in today. Someone on our team sent me an article last week that was fascinating about this downcast thing. It was an article about text neck. Have you heard about text neck? Text neck is a major thing that's sweeping through the world, and it really just talks about how the weight of our head and the pressure that it puts on our cervical spine increases with the angle of our downcast-ness.
And as we're looking down at our phones all the time, and just notice that when you're in the airport, or walking cross parking lot, or wherever you are, how many people, as they're walking are looking down, how many people as they're sitting are looking down, how many people on the plane are looking down. How many people in your den at home are looking down. We're all spending, all of our time looking down, and it's not just about looking at our phone. You might be reading a book, or looking over your notes for your talk, as I was on the way here today, in the car. And as we're looking down, the normal human head, which weighs 12 pounds begins to put more pressure on our cervical spine.
In fact, we have an image of it so you can, kinda, see what's going on. But this doctor who is an amazing doctor of spine surgery. He puts it this way, he says, "If the head tilts 15 degrees, the 12 pound head is putting 27 pounds of weight on your cervical spine. If your head is down 30 degrees, 40 pounds of weight is being put on your cervical spine. Forty-five degrees, forty-nine pounds, and sixty degrees," at the end, back here, "sixty pounds of weight".
So now, not your 12 pound head on your shoulders, but now it's as if you've got a 60 pound head on your neck. Text neck. The more you look down, the greater the weight is on you. And something that did weigh 12 pounds now is putting 60 pounds of pressure on your spine, and it's the same way with our soul. The more we look down, something that is a real issue, and maybe weigh 12 pounds, now feels like it weighs 60 pounds and has the result of 60 pounds of weight on our life. And God is saying, "Why be downcast"? You can put your hope in God. And this talk is a simple journey about lifting our gaze, and lifting our head. I found an article parallel to reading this other article, in Psychology Today, and the article is called, "Look Up, The Surprising Joy of Raising Your Gaze".
And Psychology Today unpacks how looking up into the sky, and looking up into the starry night reduces stress in our lives, and reframes our circumstance in a very helpful and positive way. But we're no longer looking up at anything. When we're walking through downtown, we don't even look up at the amazing architecture. We don't have any churches to come to anymore with the big giant domes, and these cathedral ceilings, and the spires that go into the sky to lift our gaze.
Now, we come into, you know, places like this and, you know, places that used to be a Home Depot expos, and refurbed movie studios, and grocery stores and all kinds of stuff, and our eye level view isn't that inspiring, necessarily. That's why, by the way, we really put a lot of energy into the design of our buildings because we know we're not gonna have anybody looking up when they get here. But if people just look at eye level, we want them to see things that inspire them. But God is saying when you're walking through downtown the next time, look up, when you're outside in the yard next time, look up.
Shelley is great at this, she's got, I don't know, 15,000 photographs on her phone of the sky. We got all the skies you need. All kinds, all types, all times of day, all colors, all locations. I mean, it's just like we walk outside, "Oh, my goodness". You know, wham, wham. We got every sunset that's ever happened in the history, we got all of those, a lot of them. And I think maybe that's one of the reasons Shelley isn't all stressed out, all the time. 'Cause she found the surprising joy raising your gaze.
And so, I just ask today when's the last time any of us went outside, walked around, look up at the tall trees, looked up into the sky, looked at the clouds, saw the expanse of the canopy that is above us, or went out in the night sky, and looked at the 2,500 stars that are visible to the naked eye, and just wondered at the expanse of it all? So, the world's got us in text neck, all down here, and all the wonder is up there. You're like, "No, I got a picture of the sky on my phone. And with my 29 pound neck... weight from my head, I'm enjoying it. I'll be having surgery in a few years".
So, what is the process that we need to lean into of maybe lifting our gaze? I just wanna list a few things out of this psalm, and offer them as a road map for us in the process. And the first one is this, I wanna encourage you that we lift our heads by remembering the narrative that we are in. What depression wants to do is it wants to define your whole existence by the paragraph that you're in, or maybe by the page that you're in right now, or on. Or maybe the chapter that you're in right now. And I'm telling you, we all have some really hard chapters, amen? And what the enemy wants to do is define your entire story by that chapter. And what God wants you to do is remember that you're in a big narrative.
The psalmist said, "These things I," say it with me. "I," what? "I remember as I pour out my soul". And then, look down a few verses, if you will to verse 6, "My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will," what? "I will remember you". And I wanna encourage you today that memory is one of the most powerful rehabilitative forces in you life. And God uses this all through scripture as He encourages you and me to remember. Remember what? Remember that you're in a big story of God, and yes, you may be in a chapter called, "Cancer," or a chapter called, "I'm going through a divorce," or a chapter called, "My kid is way off in never, never land, and I don't know if they're gonna make it back to good decisions, and back not the place that I'd been praying that they would be".
Or maybe it is a dark cloud over your life, or it is a season of a low, or maybe it is a journey of depression. I'm just telling you, that is in the story, but it is not the story. And you can take control of that. And the way you take control of it if that you just remind yourself of the story. And if this sounds simple, then just understand where it's coming from. I'm not just, you know, doling out advice today. I've been there, I know it's a hard place, but something as simple as, "I am a child of God, and that is my story," is a powerful tool toward lifting your gaze. Because if you don't have a bigger story, then you are stuck with all the weight down here in the paragraph that you're in right now.
You have to look up and go, "Yes, this paragraph is not great, but the story is great. I was created by God, and I'm gonna end up with God. I'm going to the house of God, and I'm gonna dwell there all the days of my life. That is my story. I am uniquely created by God, and I am on a journey through Jesus Christ being saved to God, and my future is with God. And even if this journey never completely ripens on earth, it will fully ripen in glory and I will have no suffering, no tears, no sorrow, no darkness. There is no depression, where I'm going. There is no anxiety where I'm going. There are no antidepressants where I'm going because the antidepressant is where I'm going and there is no sun because His glory lights eternity. That's where I'm going".
Now, right now, I'm in this little hole, but I wanna make sure that even in the hole, and even if I can't jump up, I wanna look up, and remember that I'm in a big story. Maybe it would be as simple as, Jesus is okay. We did a message here called, "I'm Not Okay, But Jesus Is". See, the enemy wants to stop us at, "I'm not okay". I'm not okay. I've been there, and God wants us to add on, it's okay to not be okay, amen. But you gotta remember that Jesus is okay. You gotta put the rest of the story in there. So, I'm not okay today, but Jesus is okay today. So, I'm gonna put hope in the fact my Jesus is okay, today.
And I'm connected to Him, so, even though I'm not okay, He is okay. I think I'm probably gonna be okay. Jesus is greater. It's not just a bumper sticker, or a little Instagram post. Oh, Jesus is greater. No, it's a real story. He really is greater. He got depressed into the depths and rose up by the power of almighty God, and He triumphs over everything coming against you today. He's greater. And just putting that as the narrative over your story, lifts your gaze to Him. God is not finished. That would be a great line just to put over your life today. I'm in a hole right now, but God's not finished. Is that helping anybody to remember that you're in a bigger story today?
The second thing that this psalmist tells us, which I believe is so powerful in terms of lifting our gaze, is to inject a song of praise into the darkest night. I know that sounds, you know, counterculture to dealing with depression, but that's what He says, "Why are you downcast," verse 5, "O, my soul. Why so disturbed within me"? And then, here comes His remedy, "Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my savior and my God. By day the LORD directs His love," verse 8, "at night," there's where the trouble is, by the way, if you're in a hole-like depression. "At night His song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life".
If you don't feel like you can sing, praise God, a lot of other amazing, anointed singers are singing, and they're on Spotify. And you gotta get 'em on. If you don't feel like you can dance around in worship, there are other people who are dancing around in worship, and you need to get them into your space on YouTube. And you need to inject into the darkness, worship of the living God. You're like, "I don't know about that. I don't really feel like it". Well, that's the deal. To move through depression, you have to do a lot things you don't feel like. And as we said last week, it's okay to have feelings, but the train wreck happens when you let you feelings lead you.
So, it's fair enough to say, "I feel sad today," but it's not good to say, "I'm gonna let the sadness take the pen and write the story of today". And one of the ways that we can fight this, And it took me a couple of months into my hole to really figure this out, is worship. Worship is a weapon. We say that a lot at Passion. And I saw it poke a hole, in this amazing shroud of darkness, and let just a little pinhole of light. But a pinhole of God's light is enough light is to start changing the circumstance. You don't really need like a whole beam of light, you just need a little, tiny ray of light, if it's God's light.
And have you noticed that when you're depressed, that you stay inside? Have you noticed that when you're depressed that you don't open the curtains? Have you noticed that when you're depressed that you keep the shades down? Have you noticed that when you're depressed you stay in bed, and in bed you put the covers over you head? Why? Because the enemy wants to block out the light. And one of the best way to get the light in is through worship. I just wanna encourage you today, you have the power to open Spotify and press play. And it might not change everything in 45 minutes because you've spent 45 weeks getting into where you are. It might take 45 weeks to get out of where you are, but you've gotta have a turning point somewhere.
And the turning point is when you press play on the song of heaven. And I'll tell you one thing about this too, and I'll just say this gently. When you look up and worship, it allows us to remember that God is central and He needs to be central in our affection, and our worship. And when we're in one of these holes and our heads are down, we have a tendency to worship the thing. And people say, "No, we're not worshipping the thing". No, you are, because every conversation you have is about the thing. And I found that I started listening to myself when I was in this hole, every conversation was the status update on my anxiety today. The status update on how I was managing today, how I was negotiating today, how I was feeling today. And all the conversation was about the anxiety.
Therefore the thing on the pedestal was the anxiety, and the thing that got all the attention was the anxiety, the thing that got all the praise. I don't mean praise like, "We praise you, anxiety. We worship you, anxiety". I just mean, I talked about anxiety all day long. And what you talk about is where your heart is, and where you eyes are, and where your worship is. And I had to make a decision, anxiety is in the story, but it's gonna need to get talked about less than the God who is writing the story. Depression is in the story, but depression is gonna need to have the volume turned down a little bit, and I'm gonna need to press play right now, and I want Jesus' name in the story.
And then, the third thing, just trying to give encouragement on the process and I know it sounds very simple, but it is really simple to take these small steps to lift our gaze up to God. It's to exercise your right, this is the last thing, to hope in God. As the son of God, even if you're not a believer yet in Jesus Christ, you're still created by God. You're not connected to vine of Jesus yet and that's an important step that you must take in life. But even just as a person who's listening to this message today, God cares about you and He loves you, He uniquely made you. He designed you, and brought you to life for Himself, for His glory.
And because you're made in the image of almighty God, you have a right to hope. But if you've been born again through faith in Jesus Christ, sins forgiven, past washed, wrongs made right because of the death of Jesus Christ, you now have Christ and you have the Spirit of God in you. You are now in a family where you call Him, Abba father. You have the right to hope in God. And you need to exercise that right, because at times, you know, we wanna look to God to say, "Okay, you do it". And then, He's looking back at us and saying, "Okay, you do it, hope in me. Why so downcast, O, soul? Hope in me. Why settle for a paragraph size story? Hope in me. I'm hope worthy, you hope".
And the psalmist knew this, and so, the psalmist started talking to himself, "Why are you downcast O, soul? Put your hope in God". "I'm gonna praise Him. I don't know when I'm gonna get back to the house of God, I used to go in there and I was like the loudest one of the whole posse rolling into the house of God. And I don't know when I'm gonna get back to the house of God, but I used to be like one of the real loud ones when we went to worship. I can remember those days, and I'm gonna put my hope in God, and I'm gonna praise Him, my savior and my God". And I just wanna encourage you today, that may sound like a simple step, but maybe your step today would just be to say:
God, I'm gonna hope in you. I'm grateful for my counselor, I'm grateful for the doctor, I'm grateful for my friends that are praying for me. I'm grateful for my church and my pastor, but I'm gonna hope in you. I'm gonna hope in God. I'm gonna exercise my right as a son of God to hope in God. I'm gonna exercise my right as a child of God to hope in my God. To say, "God, I really do believe in you. And, you know, things haven't really changed dramatically in the last three weeks, but I still have hope in you".
And I'll never forget the night that I was lying in bed after Shelley and I had been through hell and back for months with this thing, and I said to God, "I believe you're a healer. You didn't heal me yesterday, you didn't heal me today... Well, technically, it's 2 in the morning, so it's not really a lot of the whole day, but I'm not healed right now. And as far as I know, you're not gonna heal me tomorrow, but you are a healer".
And I started praising Him for being a healer. Isn't that powerful? How simple that was? That was the turning point for me. You're a healer, and I'm gonna praise you tonight because you're a healer. I start singing a little song of praise to Him about being a healer. Oh, no, He hadn't healed me, and didn't heal me. And if I'm really honest, I didn't really, totally get healed the next day either. But that doesn't negate the fact that He is a healer. And as soon as I started praising Him for being a healer, guess what? I was exercising my right to put hope in God.
And I'm here today to tell you, that He is a healer and He did heal me, and I'm in the process of being healed right now. And I'm just telling you, some of you have relinquished your rights as the children of God. You've just given up your rights, the good rights, not the I want my rights, rights. We don't have any of those as children of God. But all the good rights, the right to His word, the right to Him, the right to worship, the right to hope, the right to believe, the right to declare. And to speak into what isn't, what is. That's your right, is to speak into what isn't, who is. That's your right. And I believe if we'll just take hold of these things, they'll help us lift our gaze. And in lifting our gaze, we're gonna see something happen in our soul, amen?