Sermons on self-pity?

[clawrence9008]

A rather sensitive question, but one that I think will be profitable for me to ask. I am prone to very bad spells of anxiety and depression, which can often result in my mind spiraling down a hole of very negative thoughts (won’t go into a whole lot of detail, but often either a “woe-is-me” outlook on things or very extreme self-loathing). I find even when I am not in one of these depressive episodes (which, unfortunately, have been happening like every three days for the past couple weeks), my mind will frequently have a disposition of self-pity and self-loathing — “oh, no wonder such-and-such happened, I deserved it anyways,” “no one really wants me around,” “why can’t I do anything right / I’m not good enough,” etc, etc. While I likely do struggle with some form of clinical anxiety and/or depression, the way these things are manifesting themselves in my thought life (and sometimes in my actions, as they make me prone to fall into temptation) is straight-up sin, and I will not let myself deceive myself about that fact.

I find that listening to sermons has been my favorite and most convenient way to learn about topics and doctrines lately (outside of being in the Scriptures), as I don’t have a lot of time to add another book or larger resource to my schedule. Are there any sermons from a Reformed perspective that discuss self-pity or related things? I have listened to most of MLJ’s “Spiritual Depression” series and was helped by it, but am asking if there are any other good sermons on the topic out there. Hopefully the raw vulnerability of some of this post is not off-putting; I do not intend for it to be, but I am in a bad headspace right now and so that is probably coming through in the way I’m writing. I’m going to pray now but looking forward to any suggestions.

 

[arapahoepark]

Totally get it.
Listen to sermons and enact self forgetfulness. Certain of us are prone to think, think, think and keep thinking. So focus on something outside yourself, namely other people.

 

[py3ak]

Thirteen sermons come up on Sermonaudio under a search for self-pity:

Search Results for "self-pity" | SermonAudio

Discover sermons, speakers, broadcasters, and series matching "self-pity"

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No doubt some of them would be better than others.

However, I think Trent makes a very good point. It's good to identify self-pity for what it is, and reject it. But a sustained attack on self-pity can, ironically enough, nourish it further (because it becomes self-referential). So having more sermons about the greatness of God will help you to profit more from the sermons against self-pity.

Here are 1,376 sermons about Psalm 145:

Psalm 145 Sermons | SermonAudio

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