Dave Quak is deeply committed to igniting a love for Jesus in people’s hearts and inspiring them to lead purposeful lives shaped by the gospel. He loves to find happiness in simple things every day, and laughter is a big part of his life.
Despite grappling with bipolar disorder, Dave recently launched a podcast called Sunburnt Souls, designed to help those living in the complicated intersection between faith and mental health.
Dave and his wife Jess are also the lead pastors of Temple Christian Church on the Gold Coast in Queensland. Together they share a passion to help more people come to know the life saving message of Jesus.
Dave recently shared a special five minute sermon with us on Sunday Morning Together, highlighting the importance of rest and receiving God’s peace in the midst of challenging circumstances.
Read Dave’s full message below:
‘As a person with bipolar, I do experience times of mania, which is where I’m overstimulated for extended periods at times. And during these times I don’t sleep well. My thoughts run, and I’m a little overbearing and can be bit much for some people.
There can be some really good times within the mania, but after a while it becomes too much for me and too much for my loved ones. And usually what happens is that after this, I kind of slump and fall into feeling low and really depressed, and it’s like a cloud of darkness descends upon me.
Now, this may sound a little weird, but I kind of look forward to this time because I’m really tired, worn out and peopled out, and I’m a little bit sick of ministry. I’m going well in my faith and I love Jesus, but I just want to withdraw and have a sleep and hide.
I don’t know if you’ve ever felt like that. I feel like that right now. We go well for so long, but sometimes it doesn’t last. And then we withdraw into a place where we are a bit more vulnerable, a bit more fatigued, a bit more tender.
If that’s you, you’re in good company with some of our biblical prophets and heroes. Do you remember in 1 Kings when Elijah had just finished his showdown with the prophets of Baal? God delivered Elijah in spectacular fashion. It was this showdown on top of a mountain.
There were 450 prophets and they had this showdown. It was like, you call fire and I’ll call fire, and whoever’s God brings fire is the real God. And the prophets of Baal tried all day, even to the point where Elijah was almost teasing them, saying, I think you’re God’s preoccupied. He’s not here.
Then God shows up for Elijah when Elijah cries out, and sends fire to burn the altar and once again establishes Himself as the King of Kings over all other gods. And so we see Elijah right in the midst of this amazing move of God. He sees God’s deliverance. He sees God on the move. And not only did he get to see it, he got to participate in it.
Elijah was literally in a mountaintop experience. But then in 1 Kings 19:2 in just the next chapter, Jezebel sends him a letter saying, Elijah, I’m going to kill you. And it’s like he cracks and he runs away. He runs into Judea, and he goes to the wilderness and he leaves his servant behind.
Then he goes another day into the wilderness, sits under a tree in the shade and prays to God that he may die. He literally went from the mountaintop to the wilderness. And what I find fascinating in that is that God doesn’t rebuke him or chastise him, or make him feel weak for running away.
He ministers to him, and He does so in a way that is so very gentle but also very practical. Elijah falls asleep in the shade of a tree. And when he wakes up because an angel wakes him up, and there’s a meal cooked over coals and a nice drink.
He eats the food and drinks the drink, then goes back to sleep again. And God wakes him up again with another meal and some more drink. And then he’s strengthened and he goes on his journey.
He was feeling anxious and even suicidal. I mean, he prayed for his life to be taken from him and in the overwhelm of his circumstance. Sleep was his medicine. Sleep is an amazing blessing when we feel overwhelmed by the world.
I know for me, as a person with bipolar, I’m looking forward to almost crashing off this mania because I’m tired. I need some sleep. In Psalm 4, there’s a psalm of lament, and the psalmist declares all the struggles and burdens that he’s carrying.
The psalms of lament are usually a lot of complaining. And in Psalm 4, for seven verses, the psalmist complains. And then in verse four Psalm 4:8 it says, in peace I will both lie down and sleep. For you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.
After all our burdens are laid down before the Lord, sometimes His answer to us is that we need to rest. There’s some people that need to hear that it’s okay to rest. And not only is it okay to rest, but sleep is a blessing from God.
He gives sleep to those He loves, and He loves you. God’s rhythm is built into the creation story. He works and then He rests. We’ve come to a scary place in our culture where it’s seen as a badge of honour to be busy all the time, to be connected all the time.
That is not good for us. In verse eight, we see that the psalmist says, I will both lie down and sleep, which is his declaration. But the second half of the verse gives us the reason why peaceful sleep is an option, and it’s because the Lord alone makes him dwell in safety.
I don’t know where you are in your relationship with God. But God is not a taskmaster looking to flog every ounce of work out of you, until you drop into despair and destruction. He is a God who gives sleep to those He loves. He is a God of provision.
Some of the people who have the best sleep are little kids, who know that they are in the home of a protective and loving father, who know that dad’s got it under control, he’s got the responsibilities. He’s going to take care of any bandits. He’s going to take care of any robbers or monsters under the bed.
When we approach God as children, as Jesus instructs us to do, we can trust that we can bring our burdens and worries to Him. And He can give us rest, even in our despair. If it’s good enough for Elijah, it’s good enough for us. Let’s pray.
Lord, we want to pray. Lord God, for those of us who have been running on adrenaline and need some rest, Lord God, that we will enter your rest, that we will enter your sleep, that we will come to a place where we can receive from you an easy yoke and a light burden.
That we will cast our sorrows upon you and trust you to bear our burdens. We thank you, Lord God, that you give sleep to those you love, and you do love us. You’ve demonstrated that daily for us. And so we receive that love and we receive that peace in Jesus name. Amen.’
Listen to Dave’s full message below:
