Was David Bipolar?

Have you ever read the Psalms of David and thought to yourself, “This guy sounds bipolar?”  For example, in Psalm 13, David starts out complaining and questioning God.

“How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?”   Then a few verses later he says, “But I have trusted in Your mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.”

David was real and unquestionably raw in his conversations with God. He wasn’t afraid to say, “God, this stinks. I think this is unfair.” But the interesting thing is that the majority of his Psalms that begin with words of despair, frustration, or even anger, do not end with that same state of mind.   Instead, in the end, David is rejoicing in his God! The stark contrast of moods represented in some of David’s psalms have led some people to wonder if the shepherd king was bipolar. I say, “Definitely not.”

DAVID WAS A SONGWRITER

I can’t play an instrument and my singing leaves much to be desired, but I have written a few songs in my day. I didn’t say they were good songs, but they are songs none the less, usually written to my wife, sometimes to the Lord. My experience with writing songs is that they rarely come together in one sitting. I have some friends who are successful musicians and songwriters and I have heard them share the same experience. They labor over a song for days, sometimes even weeks or months. I believe David wrote his Psalms in the same way.

A SONG FOR EVERY HUMAN EMOTION

Those who have discovered the “secret of perpetual emotion” ought to get acquainted with the book of Psalms. For instance, if you are fearful, read Psalm 56, Psalm 91, or Psalm 23. If you are discouraged, read Psalm 42; one example among many. If you happen to be feeling lonely, then I suggest Psalm 71 or Psalm 62. If you are oppressed, with a sense of sinfulness, there are two marvelous psalms for you; Psalm 51, written after David’s double sin of adultery and murder, and Psalm 32, which is a great expression of confession and forgiveness. And then, if you are worried or anxious, I would recommend Psalm 37 and Psalm 73. If you are angry, try Psalm 58 or Psalm 13. If you are resentful, read Psalm 94 or Psalm 77. If you are happy and want some words to express your happiness, try Psalm 92 or Psalm 66. If you feel forsaken, meditate on Psalm 88. If you aregrateful and you would like to express it, read Psalm 40. If you are doubtful, and your faith is beginning to fail, read Psalm 119.

If you do a careful study of the Psalms of David in conjunction with a study in 1&2 Samuel, using a chronological Bible, you will gain insight into what David was experiencing at the time of his writings.  David was frustrated when King Saul was chasing him all over the countryside and lying about him.  He experienced a broken heart over the betrayal of his son, Absalom, and his good friend, Ahithophel.  He even aligned himself with the philistines during a time when his faith faltered.

DAVID’S SONGS WERE DIVINELY INSPIRED

Although real and raw, David’s Psalms, like all scripture, were inspired by God. What I find amazing is that God uses human instruments, with personalities and experiences, to convey His heart and message.  That is why the Bible doesn’t all sound the same.  The point that God is wanting to communicate in the Psalms is that He expects us to be real with Him. He knows that life is hard, but He also wants us to remember that He is infinitely good! God is not distant or detached.  He is a personal God. Just because we are His beloved children doesn’t mean that our lives are going to be free from hardship, pain, and difficulty. In this fallen world, we are going to encounter tragedy, injustice, greed, and hatred.

God doesn’t expect us to put on a happy face and pretend that nothing bothers us or affects us. No, God expects us to see those situations in light of who He is, despite the fallen state of man because of sin.  He is gracious and loving, but also just and sovereign. He is our Redeemer and the One who longs to be our fortress and strength in time of trouble. But God knows that we are not always going to see Him in the midst of our pain right away. Sometimes, all we can see is the pain, the problem, or the person who is causing us such despair.

David had many times where all he could see in the moment was the difficulty, the injustice, the pain and despair of life that was afflicting him. David poured out his heart to the Lord in ways that sometimes leave us thinking, “I can’t believe he just said that to God.” Are you allowed to talk to God like that?

DAVID WAS UNIQUELY CALLED “A MAN AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART”

No one else in Scripture is given that title. In 1 Samuel chapter 13, God told the prophet Samuel that it was time to select a new king for Israel and that God had found a man who was after His own heart, who will do His will.

God looked at this young shepherd boy while he was taking care of sheep and said, “That guy takes care of sheep the way I want My king to take care of My people.”  But God also saw in David a young man who was after his heart, who would write, “As the deer pants after the water, so my soul pants for you, oh God!” Psalm 42:1  

I suggest to you that being a pursuer of God’s heart is what ultimately makes us become more like God in heart. David, as a young shepherd boy, longed to know God and be close to God. The result was that in heart, he was becoming more like God. In fact, a careful study of David’s life would show that in his later years, when he finally became King and had all of the responsibility of running a kingdom, that David’s heart and passion for pursuing God diminished. Distracted by the wealth, power, and responsibility around him brought David to a place where he started acting like a natural man, rather than a man who is after God’s own heart!

CONFORMED INTO THE IMAGE OF HIS OWN DEAR SON

According to Romans 8:29, the ultimate goal that God is seeking to accomplish in all of our lives is to “conform us into the image of His own dear Son!” The trials, difficulties, and the pressures of life are all a part of that conforming process. In those times of pain and pressure, God wants us to come to Him and not be afraid to be real! It is okay to tell God that you are afraid, that you are frustrated, or that you are confused.  But keep coming to Him and looking to Him and resting in who He is.

Pastor Chuck Smith often said: “When you do not understand something, or you cannot understand what is going on, CLING TO WHAT YOU DO KNOW!” David kept coming back to God, he kept pursuing God.  The result was that David eventually saw all the situations going on in his life in light of God, who is bigger and greater than anything that this life and anyone in or anything outside of it could throw at him.

I think the lyrics to Chris Tomlin’s song Our God sums it up well.

“Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God, You are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome in power
Our God, Our God
And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?
And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?
What can stand against?”

Generational Churches

I had lunch recently with a friend of mine who is in his twenties. Yes, I do have friends who are in their twenties and I value their opinion, insight and creativity. We were discussing how many of the churches that are on the rise and gaining notoriety today cater their services to people under the age of thirty.

My friend had attended one such church for about three years in the area he used to live. The church was large, popular, with great people and pastors. But he definitely noticed a lack of maturity, depth, and life experience because most of the leaders were young. After moving to the San Diego area, my friend visited several churches that were of the same style, flavor, and age group, before deciding to make Calvary Vista his home church. He told me one of the things that he likes about Calvary Vista is the generational nature of the church. There are saints here in their teens, twenties, thirties, and all the way up into their eighties. He was attracted to the wisdom, maturity and life experience he saw in the older people in our church body.

I was so blessed to hear his perspective on this matter. I truly believe in my heart, that a healthy church is going to be a well-rounded church as it relates to age, flavor and style.

GENERATIONAL CHURCH IS BIBLICAL

I find it interesting that the Apostle John writes these words in his first Epistle.

“I write to you, little children, Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.” – 1 John 2:12-14

John wrote to a pretty broad spectrum of saints in this address. He acknowledges little children, young men and fathers. Teens, twenties, and beyond are being addressed.

Paul also mentions the diversity of the ages in his letter to Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:1-2

“Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity.”

Again, in Titus 2:1-8, “But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: 2 that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; 3 the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—4 that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.

“Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.”

Here, Paul paints a picture of the older men and women pouring into the younger men and women. It is safe to say that the early church was made up of multiple generations of people. My point is that I believe the church today should look the same way.

BLESSED BY SEASONED SAINTS

I turned fifty last year and it is strange to think that my life is more than half way over! At the same time, I am blown away at the thought that I have been walking with Jesus for over thirty-nine years and have been teaching God’s word for over twenty-eight years. Life with Jesus has been good. When I consider the seasoned saints, who call Calvary Vista their home, I am blessed and humbled to be a part of such a rich family of believers; ardent students of God’s word who have years of life experience, walking and serving Jesus.

ENCOURAGED BY THE NEXT GENERATION

At the same time, my heart is blessed and encouraged by the young people I see coming up in the ranks. Young couples, who like my wife and I when we were young, are struggling to make it financially and are trying to figure out marriage and parenting, but who have a passion to honor and serve God with their lives. I am enriched by the twenty- something crowd who are critical thinkers, with questions and who think through their faith. I see a zeal in them that inspires me. Many have a desire to do something big for God.

INSIGHT FROM STUDENTS AT CCBC

I teach yearly at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Murrietta, California. Last semester I taught on the life of David. I came to the portion of scripture in David’s life where he was passing the baton of leadership to his son, Solomon. I used that scene to have a discussion with the students about passing the responsibility of church leadership to the next generation. I shared with them how, should the Lord tarry, my generation would be passing the baton of leadership to them in the next ten years. I asked them what they thought that should look like.  Honestly, I was expecting some of them to say, “Just give us the keys to the car and get out of the way.” That was not the response I received at all.

Instead, they were looking for relationship with older believers. “We need you guys to walk with us in ministry.  Don’t just do it for us, but do it with us.”  They went on to share how they need the older generation of leadership to let them try things and make mistakes, and then for us to be there to talk about why, perhaps, it didn’t work out.  These future leaders were like sponges, looking for relationship, insight, accountability, guidance, as well as opportunity.

 

My prayer for the church that I am honored to pastor, as well as the church as a whole, is this: As we move forward in the future, I pray that each generation of believers would value and respect each other.

To the seasoned saints, can I encourage you to appreciate and encourage the next generation? Their hearts are zealous for the Lord, with a passion for Jesus that is contagious! They are innovative and creative. Yes, they might question the system and ask why things are being done the way they are, but that is okay, especially when they want to understand the reason why. The younger generation has a tendency to think “outside the box”, which again, is good because we see in the Word that God often worked “outside the box”. Listen, seasoned saints, we can learn a ton from our younger brothers and sisters. And if, perhaps, they challenge you to break out of your comfort zone, is that really a bad thing? I, for one, am willing to welcome the challenge.

To my younger brothers and sisters, can I exhort you to respect and relish the seasoned saints who have logged some significant years, walking with Jesus? Invite them to coffee and ask questions about life, family, parenting, and ministry. Realize there is a potential wealth of wisdom sitting right next to you or right in front of you at church. You can learn from these wonderful brothers and sisters who have pursued Jesus and served Him longer than you have been alive! Hear their stories and glean from their victories, as well as their defeats. You will find that the world they grew up in and the time frame they were saved in, in many ways, is not that different from the one you are in now.

“One generation shall praise Your works to another,and shall declare Your mighty acts.” – Psalm 145:4

DRIVING HEAD ON INTO A SEMI-TRUCK

CHRISTIANS, DEMONS AND CHOCOLATE CAKE 

I am not one who believes there’s a demon around every corner or that the devil is to blame for all the bad things that happen in life. It’s nonsense to be preoccupied with the devil and give him credit for demons of flat tires and chocolate cake.  On the other hand, I think some of us can ignore his legitimate attacks and be found ignorant of his tactics in our lives. There was a time in my life that I did just that.

 A DARK TIME IN MY PAST

Three years into my first church plant in the beautiful state of Oregon, a random thought came into my mind that I was not called to be a lead pastor. Even though I had been serving in that role for three years and the Lord was blessing our church, I started to feed that thought. The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter six that we are to put on the whole armor of God so that we can stand against the fiery darts, or the flaming missiles, of the evil one. The devil doesn’t throw real fiery darts at us, or flaming missiles for that matter, but what he does is bombard our mind with thoughts of doubt, evil, sensuality, temptation and anything else that will distract us from keeping our eyes on Jesus and running the race that the Lord has set before us.

 CRAZY THOUGHTS

For weeks I pondered the thought that I wasn’t called to be a lead pastor. I began to doubt what I was doing. I started to compare myself to friends who were pastors, thinking about how much more gifted and articulate they were.  After a few weeks of these despairing thoughts, a new thought penetrated my mind. Not only was I not called to be a lead pastor, but I was not called to be in the ministry at all! In hind sight, I should have recognized this thought to be a lie because God’s calling on my life was pretty radical (a story for another time), but I had become so sucked into this thought progression of doubt and despair that I just went with it. Prior to pastoring this church, I had been a youth pastor at Calvary Chapel of Vista for seven years.  It was one of the most fulfilling and impactful times of my life, teaching and ministering to hundreds of kids in the area. But in one moment, with the seed of one demonic thought planted in my head, I doubted seven years of fruitful ministry. As you can imagine, my depression deepened.

 MARRIED THE WRONG WOMAN?

Another crazy thought came flooding into my mind. This time it was that I married the wrong woman! I should have recognized this as demonic because, aside from receiving Jesus as my Lord and Savior, my wife has been the greatest thing that has happened in my life.  There was nothing going on between us that warranted any kind of doubt. But suddenly, I am doubting and wrestling with all of it.

 DRIVE HEAD ON INTO THE SEMI-TRUCK

The thoughts grew darker. One day I was cruising down the highway and a semi-truck was coming in the opposite direction. “Just veer head-on into the truck and end it all!” came crashing into my mind. “You have nothing to live for anyway, right?” The voice in my head was so real and the urge so incredibly strong, I literally had to grab the steering wheel with both hands and hold it straight with all of my strength.

 “I SHOULD HAVE HAD A V-8” PHONE CALL

A few days later I received a call from a friend who pastored a church in Southern California that I had not heard from for about a year.  He asked me how I was doing. I lied, like a lot of us do when asked that question, and told him I was doing fine. He pressed me. He said, “No Rob, really, how are you doing?” I responded by telling him that I was not called to be a pastor or in ministry, I married the wrong woman, and that I actually considered driving my car head on into a semi-truck and ending it all. I expected my friend to either rebuke me, call me crazy, agree with the thoughts, or tell me to quit.  Instead he said, “Rob, I have been having those same kind of thoughts recently, and you need to realize it is the devil. You are under attack.”  Do you remember the V-8 commercial where the guy hits his forehead with his hand and says, “Oh, I could have had a V-8.”? Well, I hit my forehead with my hand and said, “Oh yeah, I am in a battle with a spiritual being who hates me and wants to destroy my life and everyone attached to it.”

 HOW COULD A PASTOR BE SO DUMB?

At that moment I felt so stupid and ashamed, wondering how I, a pastor, could be so completely ignorant of the spiritual battle I was in. After I hung up the phone, I took a walk to pray and talk to the Lord. I asked Him to forgive me and to teach me how to fight! In that moment, I felt all the oppression lift from me. Like a broken damn in a river, I felt the water of God’s grace and love sweep over me in a powerful way. I have never battled like that again in my thought life. Now, I recognize the fiery darts of the wicked one much quicker and am fully aware that we are in is very real and power war.

 DISARMED PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS 

The Apostle John wrote in 1 John 4:4, “Greater is He (Jesus) who is in you than he (Satan) that is in the world. I love what the Apostle Paul declared in the book of Colossians 2:15 about the victory that Jesus won for us on the cross at Calvary. Not only did Jesus pay the price for our sins, but “He disarmed principalities and powers, making a public spectacle of them and triumphing over them.” This is a picture that every first century reader would have understood right away. When the Romans conquered a city, they would take the leader and disarm him of his weapons. Then they would strip him naked, tie his hands behind his back, a rope around his neck, and made a public spectacle of him by parading him in front of the people he used to govern. That is what Jesus did to Satan and the demons on the cross for believers in Christ. They have been disarmed, made a public spectacle of, and stripped of any power or control.

 A LION THAT HAS BEEN DECLAWED!

1 Peter 5:7 describes Satan as a “raging, roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” But in the life of the believer, Satan has been declawed and defanged. The best he can is roar! He makes a lot of noise and tries to intimidate us and control our thought life but, “We are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.” Romans 8:37. As believers in Jesus, we fight not “for” victory, but “from” a position of victory.  Jesus has already won the victory so that we can win the every day battles!

 Ephesians 6:10-13

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”