How prone we are to think that God has shut up His tender mercies when the clouds gather and the storm beats upon our house. Your husband sits in the ashes of his former employment and feels his strength withered, his confidence broken. It is the way of the depressed heart to imagine that the Lord has become an enemy, that He has marked the door with a red cross and sealed you unto destruction. But this is one of Satan's most mischievous devices to prevent repentance and faith. He would have you believe that there is no hope, that the Lord will never receive unworthy ones into His favor. But let me tell you plainly: this is to belie the Most High, to make Him who is the dearest of friends into a tyrant whose ear is dull to your cry. His very name is love, and He delighteth in mercy. He is not slow to compassionate distress; on the contrary, He waiteth to be gracious. Drive these dark falsehoods away, for they are the nourishment of despair and the mother of deeper sin.
You pray that your husband might rebuild his confidence, make wise choices, and be healed from depression. Remember this: the day of small things is not to be despised. Perhaps the Lord is bringing him through a long period of spiritual infancy, where his faith seems little and his experience slender. A little glimmer of the Light of God is better than none at all, and where a glimmer can enter, the full noontide can and shall come in due season. Small discernment, little experience, these are common to the raw recruit in Christ's army. Let him not fake an experience he does not have, nor imagine he must feel everything some old saint has recorded in a biography. He is being ripened and mellowed by this trial. The best of God's servants are seldom ripened without affliction; the vine bears little fruit unless it makes the acquaintance of the pruning knife. This heaviness of heart, though sharper than bodily pain, is often the prophecy of a coming joy.
And you, who now apply for work and take up a heavier load, do not seek your strength in the creature, in a new job or a sufficient bank balance, as if those were your confidence. Why spend your mental force, scheme, and fret to find in the creature what is so readily found in the Creator? The carnal mind is enmity against God; it will lean on anything visible rather than trust the invisible Jehovah. But He alone is the living and true God, and He is fully able to assist the troubled heart in every difficulty. He brought you up out of the land of your own Egypt, your own bondage to sin and self-reliance. Therefore, here is His own encouragement to you: "Open your mouth wide." Let your prayers be great, bold, and full of expectation. Plead with Him for your husband’s healing, for provision, for wisdom. And see what argument He sets before you, "I will fill it." He does not say, "I will fill it if you deserve it," but simply, "I will fill it," for He delights to give. They who traffic with heaven in the way of prayer find their ships return richly laden, even if they seem long delayed.
Though your husband has, perhaps, spoken unadvisedly in his bitterness, let him draw near to the Lord, not flee from Him. Foolish as he may feel, let him not hide as Adam did. Instead, hearken to the voice that says, "Gird up now thy loins like a man," and come to plead. It is the voice of your Beloved that can wake him out of this sleep of sorrow. Acknowledge the lamentable state, "I sleep", but mark the hopeful sign: "My heart waketh." The inward life of grace stirs even now, making you cry out to God. This is a potent remedy indeed. Let neither of you barter eternal blessings for present ease, or seek peace where it cannot be found. In all this, the Lord is working all things for your good, and His design will be accomplished as it always is. Overrule the evil by trusting Him, and refuse to charge Him falsely. That is your part, and His Spirit will enable you in it. Amen.
