Living in a Fog

Here is a summary of a message I preached that many have shown interest in:

Life in a Fog--An emotional state that is neither raging anger nor mild indifference. It's more like when you feel someone took your brilliantly colored life, and clicked a button that turned it all to grayscale.

1. What are some causes of a fog?

physical/health issues-- improper diet, lack of excercise

mental/emotional issues-- chemical imbalance, need for help in dealing with difficult issues in past

activities/time wasters/mind numbers-- tv, music,gossip magazines, computer, internet, etc. GIGO= garbage in, garbage out-- what you put in will indeed have an affect on your
emotionsdrugs/alcohol abuse-- causing mind burnout and even brain deterioration

deliberate sin against Goddisobedience to God-- many want to follow God on their own terms.

grief/sorrow/sudden tragedy/traumatic event in your lifesatan

2. What are some characterstics of living in a fog?

it dulls normal beauty-- that around us which is bursting with energy, throbbing with life, brilliant with color is hidden under a blanket of dull, drab grayness in our hearts.

it distorts reality-- what is there is invisible, and what is not really there, often in the shadows we think we see.

it limits vision-- something can be right in front of us, and we can't see it in a fog.

it slows ordinary activity-- can't drive the speed limit in a fog. Living in a fog causes us to become lethargic, withdrawn, hardly able to get out of bed, self-focused, unproductiveit increases chances for death or injury-- "highest rate of fatal accidents per car on the road is during a fog..." (Michigan Insurance Report). Staying in your fog increases the pain, suffering, and struggles in your life. The longer you stay in it, the more intense the pain becomes and the more difficult it is to get out of it.

3. What are some helpful considerations when I'm in a fog?

look at the life of the woman with a blood disorder-- she sought help from doctors. Luke 8:43. Many are skeptical or think it unspiritual to go to a doctor, take medicine, seek counselling, etc. This woman did. I think that's wise. God uses doctors and medicine for our good. There are legitimate physical and emotional needs that medicines can help. Don't miss this possibility.

look at the woman caught in adultery-- she was forgiven of her shame and humiliation. John 8:4Guilt, shame, embarrasment over repeated failures sometimes immobilize us. We feel so shamed, worthless, dirty, condemned... But God says in Rom 8:1, that as His child, there is now no condemnation....

look at the prophet Elijah-- in his depression, he heard the still small voice of God and returned to service IKings 19:12

look at the life of Jonah-- he got his obedience up to date. Jonah 3:1-3, he went back to the point where he had digressed from God's will for his life, and redid it. He obeyed where he had disobeyed before. Some are in a fog because they've disobeyed, and never gotten it right. Back up and do it again.

look at the life of Job-- in his sudden and extremely difficult trials, he clung to his faith. "will I accept good and not evil from the Lord..."; "God gives and God takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord..."; "I know my Redeemer lives..."; Job 1:21, 2:10; 19:25We need, while in the fog, to feed our faith, voice our faith, and act on our faith.

C.S. Lewis, the great writer, Christian, and former atheist, said in Mere Christianity:"... Faith... is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes. ... That is why Faith is such a necessary virtue: unless you teach your moods 'where they get off,' you can never be a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dithering to and fro... "He continues to describe how to train the "habit of faith"-- " make sure that some of the main doctrines (of Christianity) shall be deliberatley held before your mind for some time every day. That is why daily prayers and religious reading and church-going are necessary parts of the Christian life. We have to be continually reminded of what we beleiver. Neither this belief or any other will automatically remian alie in the mind. It must be fed." (Mere Christianity, p. 123- 124)2 things generally take care of a fog-- a breeze, and the sunThe Holy Spirit, the breath and wind of God, will blow across our hearts and clear away the fog.The Son of Righteousness will rise in our hearts and burn away the fog and clear our hearts.Fog doesn't stay-- it eventually moves on.

Sometimes it stays longer than other times, but it always moves on, like the fog of Carl Sandburg's poem:

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.(italics added)

May God bless you and may this be a help to you if you find yourself in a fog.