Session 2 : Where do you turn

Recap

Last night we talked about highs and lows and how we operate in a way that will experience both. We talked about Jeremiah and how he experienced both at the same time. and how rough that was.

And we spent time identifying where we are at.

Today we are going to talk about where we turn when we are in the midst of a low moment.

So let’s start be looking at that a bit.

What are some vices or some coping mechanisms people use when they are in a low point?

We all have coping mechanisms right?

if you look at what is labeled here is clear that every one of those mechanisms is something that makes us feel good even if for the briefest of moments.

I had a friend in church going up, his name was Kevin. Kevin had a rough life, but it was different than everyone else was dealing with. For most kids life sucked because of poverty and gangs and drugs. For Kevin, life sucked because of the opposite problem. His mom passed away when he was 1 and his dad remarried. His step mom was super sweet and he loved her and his dad made a lot of money so they loved a comfortable life. But Kevin never fit in anywhere he went. He was too ghetto for the rich kids and too rich for the ghetto kids. So Kevin found ways to keep his head up and fit in with different crowds. At the private school he went to, he had honors, was class president, was the captain of the fencing team. At church was the kid who knew all the right answers, he served in 10 different areas, led worship. With friends outside of both areas he would rep gang colors, smoked weed, shoplifted. He was a chameleon, And he did this well.

One day his coping mechanism started to fail him. His school friends found out who was hanging out with the “ghetto kids” and the ghetto kids found out he was going to church and they all basically dropped him. He found himself alone.

While he battled with depression, there was always one thing he remembered that he felt with each group at least once. The feeling of being high and letting the world around you just slip away for a bit.

So he started by smoking weed once a month, which became once a week, which became once a day, which eventually wasn’t enough. So he started mixing in Vicodin every once in a while just to feel a little something more. The weed eventually because cocaine which eventually wasn’t enough until one day he started using Heroine to feel the since of high that was once fulfilled by weed once a month.

And when the heroine failed, he just thought “I will take more and I will feel the high again.” And his body couldn’t take it. He was found 2 days later in his apartment having died of an overdose at 19 years old.

Sometimes the pursuit of feeling the highs in contrast to the lows leads us down paths that make us feel something for a moment until it is not enough.

We seek for help in the pursuit of the mountain top that trick us into believing that this is what we need. We fill voids with vices instead of seeking after Jesus.

And this is isn’t something new.

The life of David is one that is littered with examples of this.

David was a king. He had everything he could want and more. So much so that even in the midst of finding favor with God, he sought to feel more power. He gave into his own pleasures and desires.

Most of this you read in Psalms. David would write when he felt depressed or when he felt happy. There iis a collection of those psalms called the “song of ascents” where David explains what it means to live life from a heavenly persepctive. The first of those is Psalm 121 and it reads

Psalm 121 NIV

A song of ascents. 1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord watches over you— the Lord is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; 8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

David looked for help in all the wrong places, just like we have the tendency to do now. He gave into his vices, just like we do now, but still he was called a man after God’s own heart because he eventually understood that the help comes from the Lord.

The question now is what do you turn to when you hit your lows?

GO OVER WHAT THEY SAID

Identify it. Name it. Put a name on your vices and start the process of healing and understanding that the only way to fill that void or to start climbing the mountain is to lean on God who is our helper.

For the next 20 minutes I want you guys to focus on identifying what are your vices and I want you to write them down. This is a time to journal and reflect and be honest with yourself cause no one else is going to read these.