Dear friend, so glad to be back with you today. I’ve prayed for you today and I hope you are sensing God’s presence drawing you near to Him. That’s what I’m praying for you.
We are continuing on in our study of this passage:
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, (2) to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, (3) and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.
Isaiah 61:1-3 NIV
Before we begin studying the next section of the Isaiah 61 passage, I want to share with you something personal. Growing up I was taught God’s Law (the Ten Commandments as found in Exodus 20: 1-17) with a special emphasis on the fourth commandment, keeping the Sabbath. The Law was our constant study, the main subject of discussion, our rule of life and guide for behavior. It’s where we found life and fulfillment. It is what separated us from others who always spoke of “grace” but, from our perspective, were disobedient to God’s holy Law.
However, the Law requires our perfection, it demands our obedience in every area, it does not allow us to fail in thought or action. And so it places on us a heavy burden we are unable to carry (see Matthew 23:4 and Romans 8:1-3).
The Law of God also stirs up sin (Romans 7:5) as it continually tells us what not to do, how not to live, what to avoid, etc. which gets us thinking about doing all those things. And so the bottom line is that the Law, rather than bringing life, actually brings spiritual death (see 2 Corinthians 3:7) because of how it stirs up sin in us, thereby putting us in bondage:
I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. (11) For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.
Romans 7:10-11 NIV
So, I grew up as a young boy under the Law of God. And I was sinning in many ways: lusting and lying, hiding and deceiving; and consequently I accumulated a mountain of spiritual debt (Matthew 18:24-25). My sin and ever increasing sin debt made me a slave. Jesus said, “Anyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34).
This mountain of spiritual debt hanging over my head, and the slavery to it brought a dark cloud of depression in a hurry.
Now, I’ve mentioned this before but will say it again: not all depression is a result of personal sin. It can be caused by a variety of factors, but sin is certainly one of them because sin always and inevitably leads to depression. We would be remiss to try to resolve our issues with depression without checking to see if it stems from habitual sin in our lives.
Question 1. Can you identify with having spiritual debt and slavery in your own life? If so, in what way did this happen for you?
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Rachel writes, "Yes I felt like a slave to my depression, that it defined me and that there was no way out of my sorrow and serious look on life. I also felt like a slave to my stomach, being dictated by my hunger for food from which I found temporary comfort and pleasure."
Harris writes, "Yes, this spiritual dept came to my life as a result of me sinning against God through lust and through my disability to keep Gods commandments."
Tori writes, "Yes, I know with my habitual gluttonous eating habits and lack of self-control that it really is a huge contributing factor to the dark cloud that runs over my head. For time I was always hoping to get rid of it for selfish reasons- my weight, confidence, just feeling better in my body, but now I am learning that Jesus died for me to have victory. That this sin also pulls me away from my best that God wants. I am starting now to want to exercise and eat well increasingly for the glory of God, because my mind should not be focused on discouragement from habitual sin, but focused on the truth, God, the Spirit and what he hopes to do through me for His kingdom. Sin bringing depression is a very real thing and I have experienced. God is cleaning everything in me, not just my depression through this course, but the poor eating habits that try to come back and discourage me at times. The poor coping that only brings me further down."