Spiritual Depression
By: Ben Zornes
What we commonly call depression is described in scripture a number of ways: downcast (Ps. 43:5, 2 Cor. 7:6), hopelessness (Ecc. 2:20), despair, disquieted (Ps. 42:5), troubled and weighed down (Ps. 38:6). Periods of gloom can arise due to tragedies, trials, or transgressions. If a loved one dies, it is natural to grieve and the darkness of that grief can last for a good while, even for a godly Christian. If your company has to lay you off due to cut-backs and no fault of your own, you may face strain and disquiet until circumstances return to normalcy. If you sin, you will feel guilt and shame and for the Christian especially, God’s hand will weigh heavily upon you (Ps. 32:3-4).
Martin Lloyd-Jones chose to use the more descriptive term “spiritual depression” in his great book on the subject. This is important because at the root, depression is a spiritual issue. Whether it is the deep sorrow of grief which is afflicting a soul, or whether it is the guilt of sin, or whether it is a seemingly inexplicable melancholy it is a spiritual issue.
Depression can take on many faces and dispositions externally. Sometimes severely depressed individuals are seemingly sunny and cheerful, but are battling a monster of gloom internally. Depression may look from the outside like lethargy, tears, sullen quiet. Internally, the best description of it and thus how it generally manifests itself is exactly how scripture tends to describe it: a heaviness of spirit. It “feels” as if there is a weight dragging you down. It can affect your desire to eat, sleep, or invest in close relationships.
How to respond to depression is of utmost importance. The question is not whether we will experience depression. Everyone at some point will face some degree of being downcast. The question is rather how we will face it when it comes. For a Christian, they should look to scripture (particularly the Psalms) and take comfort that whether their current situation was brought about by their own sinful folly, or the result of some hard providence, that God intends to work in and through their circumstances to bring about in them a greater joy and delight in Himself. As John Newton’s hymn says,
Since all that I meet will work for my good,
The bitter is sweet, The medicine food;
Though painful at present, will cease before long,
And then, O! how glorious, The conqueror’s song!
A believer must take comfort in the fact that God is working all things together for His glory and for our good (cf. Rom. 8:28). Thus, a Christian must be brought to look away from their circumstances, their feelings, and ultimately away from themself, and look in faith to a good Father who is conforming them into His own image, which will result in their exceeding joy.
For an unbeliever, they must be shown that no matter which way they go, until they repent of their sinful rebellion to God, they will be miserable. For, the way of transgressors is hard (Pro. 13:15). The unregenerate will be joyless until they turn to Christ and see in Him their salvation.
In both instances, the solution to spiritual depression is not a change of circumstances. Richard Wurmbrand, a Romanian pastor imprisoned for years by communists, was full of joy even though his conditions didn’t change; he said he wore his “chains with the gladness with which a bride wears a precious jewel received from her beloved.” The secret was that his faith was resting in God alone. That is the remedy for all melancholy: turn to Christ. As Lloyd-Jones puts it, you must “take yourself in hand” and preach to yourself the good news of the Gospel: God has saved you by His great mercy through the blood of Jesus.