If you are feeling blue, that means you are feeling sad, gloomy, depressed, dour, sullen, downhearted, unhappy, weary, moody, just in the dumps.
The use of the color blue to mean sadness goes all the way back to the 1300s. Some sources points to Geoffrey Chaucer as the first author to write the word blue to mean sadness. In his poem, Complaint of Mars from around the year 1385, he writes: "Wyth teres blewe and with a wounded herte" which translates to, "With tears blue and with a wounded heart."
In Greek Mythology, Zeus was the sky and thunder god. He ruled as king of the gods of Mount Olympus. It was said that when he was angry, he would create a strong storm so that it would threaten life on earth. But when he was sad, he would make it rain while the sky was still blue.
As surprising as it is, blue is associated to tears and sadness. The feeling of desperation cause by sadness adds up to the phrase of "feeling blue." People when feeling blue will usually say: "I am feeling so blue today." Or "The weather is so gloomy that it is making me feel blue." Or "That music is making me so sad, so blue."
Blues Music is a type of music which was originated by African American in the Deep South, in work songs and spirituals. Blues songs incorporates spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants and rhymed narrative ballads. The Blues, as a musical style, come out of the hardship of everyday living. They express the hones feelings of those who experience lives of struggle and difficulty. In the midst of Covid-19 with its many variances, then you add the outbreak of Monkeypox, and many of us are "Singing the Blues."
Singing the Blues is nothing new to the children of God. Many of our Biblical heroes have song the blues. Take Elijah for example. When Elijah fled from Queen Jezebel, he went to Beersheba and left his servant there, then he went a day's journey into the wilderness, he sat down under a juniper tree, and prayed that he might die. He then journeyed for 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Mount Horeb, and there he went into a cave and spent the night. God asked Elijah, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He replied, "I have worked very hard for the Lord God of the heavens; but the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you and torn down your altars and killed your prophets, and only I am left; and now they are trying to kill me, too" (1 Kings 19:9-10).
In Psalm 77, Asaph was truly "Singing the Blues." He writes, "I cry to the Lord; I call and call to him. Oh, that he would listen. I am in deep trouble and I need his help so much. All night long I pray, lifting my hands to heaven, pleading. There can be no joy for me until he acts. I think of God and moan, overwhelmed with longing for his help. I cannot sleep until you act. I am too distressed even to pray! I keep thinking of the good old days of the past, long since ended. Then my nights were filled with joyous songs. I search my soul and mediate upon the difference now. Has the Lord rejected me forever? Will he never again be favorable? Is his lovingkindness gone forever? Has his promised failed? Has he forgotten to be kind to one so undeserving? Has he slammed the door in anger on his love?" (Psalm 77:1-9).
Some people maybe feeling like Elijah and Asaph, singing the blues, and questioning whether God has left you without any help in your time of need. God revealed Himself to Elijah, not in a great wind or earthquake or fire, but in a still small voice. God revealed that Elijah was never alone. He wanted Elijah to know that He had been there all along and He had 7,000 in Israel who hadn't bowed nor kissed Baal.
Asaph cried out to God for courage during a time of deep distress. His plea was, "I need help." The source of Asaph's distress was his doubt. Only after he put aside his doubts about God's holiness and care for him did he eliminate his distress. I am sure that Asaph didn't reach this particular emotional place overnight. There is always a progression from our emotional experiences. Despair usually begins with disappointments. Disappointments usually leads to doubt. Doubts usually will lead to depression. Then from depression, despair is birth. Disappointment is the Mother to despair.
We will have circumstances that will disappoint us. Disappointments will bring you to a point of despair. Jesus promised us that He will never leave us nor forsake us. God has never broken a promise, so what makes you think He will in your case.
Many times God is at work in our lives and we just can't see his footprints, but He is working for us and for our good. There will be numerous circumstances over which you will have no control and from which you cannot remove. But you must remember that your circumstance is never what they appear on the surface to be. We do not know what miraculous events God is orchestrating through our situation. We are supposed to just trust Jesus. Scripture tells us, "And we know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into his plans" (Romans 8:28).
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