Here are 7 of my favorite Bible verses to read when you feel sad about things. What ones would you suggest?
Psalm 34:17-20 “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.”
Have you ever been like me and broken down and cried out to God in times of great trouble? Just think about what God says; He is nearer to you then than at other times. Have you ever felt “crushed in spirit?” I certainly have and it makes me fall down on my face and cry out to God but what comfort there is in His Word that the Lord hears our cries and will deliver us out of all of our troubles. I notice that these verses don’t say God will keep us out of all our troubles or have us pass around them or go over them but will deliver us out of them and not only that, He will deliver us out of them all!
Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
It is frightening not knowing the future and it can be discouraging when things start to pile up on us. We can become so burdened down with the troubles of the world that we can grow into a deep depression and times of sadness can overwhelm us but Jesus tells us “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28). When we are feeling sad we are often not in the Word but when we are in the Word we are often not feeling as sad. Use God’s Word to lift you up and out from the waves of deep sadness or depression because God’s Word has real power to accomplish what even the best human counselors cannot.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
There is no way that you can be feeling sad when you are giving thanks to God. When we are rejoicing for all that God has done, we can’t be feeling sad because these two are polar opposites of one another. Many people that I counsel with that have severe depression, times of sadness, or have a lack of the assurance of their salvation are spending little or no time in the Bible and that’s too bad because it can bring us out of the darkness into the light because “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17).
Isaiah 26:3 “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
No one can have the peace of God until they are first at peace with God and those who are born again should have this peace (Rom 5:1) because they’re not under condemnation anymore (Rom 8:1). Whoever has their mind “stayed” on God, He promises to keep them “in perfect peace.” Why you might ask? It’s because they trust in Him. Trust or faith is the other end of the spectrum of doubt and fear. It’s so easy to have times of sadness when we take our minds off of the great and precious promises of God and “he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires” (2 Pet 1:4) and every one of those promises are found as sure in God (2 Cor 1:20).
Deuteronomy 31:8 “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
Imagine you are one of the children of Israel and you’re about to cross the River Jordan into the Promised Land and God speaks to you and says that the Lord is going before You, He will be with you, and He will never leave you or forsake you so you have no reason to fear or be dismayed. What applies to Israel surely applies to the children of God and more. Yes, this verse’s application is for Israel but would it not be applicable to us today?
Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
How true this is! God’s peace is not like the definition of peace that the world understands. This peace surpasses all human understanding because its source is not of human origin and this peace is a tangible peace; that is you can touch it, feel it, and almost taste it. It is a powerful peace that acts to guard our hearts and our minds in Jesus Christ.
John 14: 27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
This reminds me of Deuteronomy 31:8 where God tells Joshua that He will be with you, will not leave you and will not forsake you so we don’t have to be fearful or dismayed because God’s not only going with us, He’s going before us; that means that what’s ahead of us, God has already seen! Jesus Himself said “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me” (John 14:1). That is an imperative command. If we believe in Jesus Who is very God, then our hearts shouldn’t be troubled.
Final Thoughts
If you are in a state of sadness and remain there for a long period of time, I suggest you see your doctor. It could be signs of clinical depression. Waves of sadness hit all of us from time to time and it’s not unusual to go through what I call the “dark nights of the soul” but there is a problem if we remain there on a permanent basis. Clinical depression is treatable and it could be a simple brain chemical imbalance and don’t ever think it’s a lack of faith to go and see a doctor. May I also suggest that when you’re really sad, you get into the Psalms? Read Psalm 23, 37 or 103 for example and see just how faithful God is to those who have faith in Him. God doesn’t want you to remain in a state of sadness but to have joy for the “joy of the Lord is” your “strength” (Psalm 28:7). Don’t we have every reason to be joyful? We have God’s wrath removed from us because it was placed on Christ. We have been born again to new hope and are headed for a new home (Rev 22) and we have a glorious future that today we can’t even imagine (Rom 8:18). When we see things from God’s perspective, and that comes from abiding in God’s Word, we’ll feel less like being sad. A great way to get rid of your sadness is to make out a list of things you’ve been blessed with. Write out a list of every blessing you can think of and start praising and thanking God for all the many blessings He’s already given you and those He’s promised for eternity (John 3:16). It’s really hard to be sad when you are being thankful.
Here is something else that might interest you: Bible Verses for Hard Times
Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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