- One thing that we can say for sure about problems; everyone has at least one.

- I have them, you have them, and everyone in this room is dealing with some type of problem right now.

- Our problems fall into different categories: family problems, work problems, physical problems, spiritual problems, financial problems, emotional problems, and probably a few more categories that you might be thinking of.

- Some of these problems are somewhat minor; others demand your attention almost every moment of your life; most are somewhere in between.

- I know that some of you seated here today have some problems that you’re dealing with where there doesn’t seem to be any way out, no light at the end of the tunnel, and you know that right now you’re running on empty.

- I will confess to you that I don’t have the answers to everyone’s problems, but I do believe God’s Word can help us to better deal with the problems that we do have.

- Nehemiah was a man with a huge problem who dealt with it in a godly way, and I believe his story will help us to see the way clearly to dealing with our own problems.

- Nehemiah was a Jewish man who served as cupbearer for the King of Persia – most likely this was some type of advisory position, or he possibly was the person who tasted the food before the king to make sure it wasn’t poisoned.

- For our purposes we need to know that Nehemiah was a Jew who was living away from his homeland.

- And one day his brother came to bring him some very bad news.

- These are the memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. In late autumn of the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes reign, I was at the fortress of Susa . Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah . I asked them about the Jews who had survived the captivity and about how things were going in Jerusalem . They said to me, “Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah . They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been burned.” – Nehemiah 1:1-3

- It would be hard to imagine much worse news coming to Nehemiah that day.

- His own people were in deep trouble; the walls that enclosed their city had been torn down, leaving them unprotected from the forces that wished for their demise.

- And here is Nehemiah, employed by a pagan king, miles away from home, with a burning desire to solve the problem of his own people.

- Let’s look at what he did about it, keeping in mind that his example is one that we can use to deal with our own problems today.

- Do you know what Abraham Lincoln, Charles Spurgeon, Winston Churchill, and Ruth Bell Graham, the wife of Billy Graham, all have in common? 

- They have all experienced deep periods of depression in their lives.

- If you have gone through times of depression, you’re not alone.

- And even today’s subject of our Righteous Role Models series, the Prophet Elijah, dealt with this important issue of depression.

- It is one of those problems that is commonly experienced, and until recently, was something most people were afraid to admit.

- But it is not uncommon at all for even Christian people to be depressed.

- Now, how do you know if you are really depressed?

- Dr. Wayne Oates, a clinical psychiatrist out of Louisville, Kentucky, asks ten questions.

- He says if your answer is “yes” to seven of these ten questions, chances are that you are someone who is depressed.

1. Have you suddenly or slowly lost all initiative in relating to other people?

2. Do you experience repeated crying spells that have no apparent cause?

3. Have you persistently over a period of weeks awakened suddenly and been unable to return to sleep for over an hour?

4. Do you awaken in the morning feeling tired and face the day with dread?

5. Do you feel pain of an unspecific, scattered kind and aching all over?

6. Do you find yourself thinking about your own death? Wishing life were over?

7. Do you breath irregularly, sigh repeatedly, and feel heavy in the chest?

8. Do you distrust your own wisdom, have trouble making decisions, or feel generally helpless?

9. Do you find yourself irritable, cross without any reason?

10. Do you have trouble being enthusiastic about anything?

- Dr. Wayne Oates says if you answered, “yes” to seven or more of those questions, chances are you are clinically depressed.

- But I want to say again if you are depressed or if you go through periods of depression, don’t worry because even some of the greatest saints of God in the Bible went through periods of depression.

- That’s where we find Elijah.

- Right after his great victory on Mt. Carmel we see him going through a time of depression.