DEPRESSION
A depressed
Christian is a contradiction in terms, and he is a very poor recommendation for
the gospel… Nothing is more important, therefore, than that we should be
delivered from a condition which gives other people, looking at us, the
impression that to be a Christian means to be unhappy, to be sad, to be morbid,
and that the Christian is one who “scorns delights and lives laborious days.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Spiritual
Depression – Its Causes and its Cures, 1965, p. 11,
Used by Permission from Elizabeth Catherwood (daughter).
The ultimate
cause of all spiritual depression is unbelief. For if it were not for unbelief
even the devil could do nothing. It is because we listen to the devil instead
of listening to God that we go down before him and fall before his attacks.
That is why this psalmist keeps on saying to himself: “Hope thou in God for I
shall yet praise Him…” He reminds himself of God. Why? Because
he was depressed and had forgotten God, so that his faith and his unbelief in
God and in God’s power, and in his relationship to God, were not what they
ought to be. We can indeed sum it all up by saying that the final and
ultimate cause is just sheer unbelief.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Spiritual
Depression – Its Causes and its Cures, 1965, p. 20,
Used by Permission from Elizabeth Catherwood (daughter).
Would you
like to be rid of this spiritual depression? The first thing you have to do is
to say farewell now once and for ever to your past. Realize that it has been
covered and blotted out in Christ. Never look back at your sins again. Say: “It
is finished; it is covered by the Blood of Christ.” That is your first step.
Take that and finish with yourself and all this talk about goodness, and look
to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only then that true happiness and joy are
possible for you. What you need is not to make resolutions to live a better
life, to start fasting and sweating and praying. No! You just begin to say: “I
rest my faith on Him alone who died for my transgressions to atone.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Spiritual
Depression – Its Causes and its Cures, 1965, p. 35,
Used by Permission from Elizabeth Catherwood (daughter).
The
Scriptures…do grant clearly by their teaching that it is possible for a
Christian to be depressed. Not that they justify this, but they do recognize
the fact.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Spiritual
Depression – Its Causes and its Cures, 1965, p. 107,
Used by Permission from Elizabeth Catherwood (daughter).
I am now a
man of despair, rejected, abandoned, shut up in this iron cage from which there
is no escape.
John
Bunyan
Pilgrim’s Progress.
The iron
bolt…mysteriously fastens the door of hope and holds our spirits in a gloomy
prison.
C.H.
Spurgeon
Lectures to My
Students.
I find myself
frequently depressed – perhaps more so than any other person here. And I find
no better cure for that depression than to trust in the Lord with all my heart,
and seek to realize afresh the power of the peace-speaking blood of Jesus, and
His infinite love in dying upon the cross to put away all my transgressions.
Before any
great achievement, some measure of depression is very usual.
C.H. Spurgeon
I know,
perhaps as well as anyone, what depression means, and what it is to feel myself
sinking lower and lower. Yet at the worst, when I reach the lowest depths, I
have an inward peace which no pain or depression can in the least disturb.
Trusting in Jesus Christ my Savior, there is still a blessed quietness in the
deep caverns of my soul, though upon the surface, a rough tempest may be
raging, and there may be little apparent calm.
C.H. Spurgeon
Sermons, 47.483.
Poor human nature cannot bear such strains as
heavenly triumphs bring to it; there must come a reaction. Excess of joy or
excitement must be paid for by subsequent depressions. While the trial lasts,
the strength is equal to the emergency; but when it is over, natural weakness
claims the right to show itself.
C.H. Spurgeon
The
Minister’s Fainting Fits, Lectures to My Students, Lecture XI, 1856.
This depression comes over me whenever the Lord
is preparing a larger blessing for my ministry; the cloud is black before it
breaks, and overshadows before it yields its deluge of mercy. Depression has
now become to me as a prophet in rough clothing, a John the Baptist, heralding
the nearer coming of my Lord's richer benison. So have far better men found it.
The scouring of the vessel has fitted it for the Master's use. Immersion in
suffering has preceded the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Fasting gives an appetite
for the banquet. The Lord is revealed in the backside of the desert, while his
servant keepeth the sheep and waits in solitary awe.
The wilderness is the way to Canaan. The low valley leads to the towering
mountain. Defeat prepares for victory.
C.H. Spurgeon
The
Minister’s Fainting Fits, Lectures to My Students, Lecture XI, 1856.
Fits of
depression come over the most of us. Usually cheerful as we may be, we must at intervals be cast down. The
strong are not always vigorous, the wise not always ready, the brave not always
courageous, and the joyous not always happy.
C.H. Spurgeon
I note that
some whom I greatly love and esteem, who are, in my judgment, among the very
choicest of God's people, nevertheless, travel most of the way to heaven by
night.
C.H. Spurgeon
No sin is
necessarily connected with sorrow of heart, for Jesus Christ our Lord once
said, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.” There was no sin in
Him, and consequently none in His deep depression.
C.H.
Spurgeon
Sword and Trowel, 2000:1, p. 11.
Depression is
not a disease. While there are some organic malfunctions that may trigger
feelings of depression, many symptoms and maladies defined as depression
(whether short-lived or chronic) are the consequences of unbiblical habits
and/or sinful reactions to circumstances and other people. Depression that
stems from unbiblical living can be overcome as you deal biblically with your
sins and purposefully live in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord.
Biblical Counseling Foundation
Self-Confrontation Manuel, Lesson 18, Page 1, Used by Permission of the Biblical Counseling Foundation.
My experience
with depressed people is that when they have suffered from long periods of
depression and begin to talk about suicide, we had better pay attention.
Curtis C. Thomas
Practical Wisdom for Pastors, Crossway Books, 2001, p. 155. Used by Permission.
When you feel
depressed, it helps to actively change your environment. Go and do something different. Martin Luther conquered his depression by
going outside to work in his garden.
Surprisingly enough, one of the best ways to handle depression is to go
to work immediately on the task you least enjoy. (The chances are your depression is caused by
guilt feelings arising out of neglect of those tasks.)
R.C. Sproul
The Intimate Marriage, P&R Publishing, 1975, p. 76-
77.
The basic
steps of a biblical approach to helping them… First, you understand the
experience of depression. Second, you make tentative distinctions between
physical and spiritual symptoms. Third, this distinction will allow you to
focus on heart issues. In doing this, you will point the person to Christ as
her hope in suffering, you will encourage her in her faith, and you will guide
her in her battle with sin. This focus on heart issues may actually relieve the
depression. Fourth, if the pain of depression is excessive, consider using
medical treatments to possibly ease the pain.
Edward T. Welch
Blame
in on the Brain? P&R Publishing, 1998, p. 115-116.
Don’t assume
that you understand what someone means by “depression.” Don’t fill in the
meaning from your own experience, which may or may not be similar. Instead,
listen. Allow the depressed person to fill the word depression with the meaning it has for him or her. When you do
listen, you will hear pain, fear, hopelessness, dread
of the future, terror, silent screams, and emptiness that threatens to destroy.
Edward T. Welch
Blame
in on the Brain? P&R Publishing, 1998, p. 117.
Possible
physical and spiritual symptoms in depression: Physical – insomnia or hypersomnia, significant weight changes, feeling or being
restless or slowed down, fatigue, loss of energy, problems concentrating, sense
of alienation from things once deemed beautiful and pleasant, feeling sad,
blue, down in the dumps. Spiritual – shame, guilt, fear thanklessness,
unforgiving spirit, hopelessness, unbelief, anger.
Edward T. Welch
Blame
in on the Brain? P&R Publishing, 1998, p. 120.
The church
must move toward the depressed person and mourn with those who mourn (Rom.
12:15), pray for God’s deliverance (2 Cor. 1:9-11), and search for encouraging
words that can bless and give hope.
Edward T. Welch
Blame
in on the Brain? P&R Publishing, 1998, p. 121.
With
depression, assume [a lie from the devil] is present. Consider it a permanent
attachment.
Edward Welch
Depression:
A Stubborn Darkness, Punch Press, 2004, p. 69.
Living day in
and day out with guilt over sin that has not been properly confessed and
forsaken expends a certain amount of emotional energy; it saps your emotional strength
and causes you to become emotionally exhausted (i.e., depressed).
Lou
Priolo
Divorce: Before You Say “I Don’t,” 2007,
P&R, p. 8. Used by Permission.
Every
Christian who struggles with depression struggles to keep their hope clear.
There is nothing wrong with the object of their hope – Jesus Christ is not
defective in any way whatsoever. But the view from the struggling Christian's
heart of their objective hope could be obscured by disease and pain, the
pressures of life, and by Satanic fiery darts shot against them… All
discouragement and depression is related to the obscuring of our hope, and we
need to get those clouds out of the way and fight like crazy to see clearly how
precious Christ is.
John
Piper
Can Christian be Depressed?
Ask Pastor John, December 19, 2007, www.DesiringGod.org. Used by Permission.
The counter-intuitive
truth that the depressed person needs to hear isn’t “you’re really a wonderful
person,” but rather, “you’re more sinful and flawed than you ever dared
believe.” When he bemoans that he’s “such a failure,” we should agree with him,
at least on one level. We should all agree that we’re all failures to the point
that the perfect Son of God had to die before we would be able to have
fellowship with Him… In a nutshell, we have to intentionally consider Jesus,
especially during those dark hours we’re tempted to think only of ourselves.
And although every one of us needs a daily dose of Gospel-recapitulation, those
of us who feels the blows of Giant Despair need it even more.
Elyse M. Fitzpatrick
In some ways,
depression is a slow, painful death of desire, the heart-sickness that comes
from repeatedly having hope deferred (Prov. 13:12). Hope that
sustains the heart when pursuing a treasured desire has faded (or disappeared)
in the depressed. What, then, do you treasure? What do you think would
bring you happiness? Who or what are you worshiping? What would give your life
meaning? Whose life do you covet? The joyous truth is that perhaps this painful
depression is the Lord’s way of revealing false gods to you… Bathing our soul
in the Gospel message will powerfully transform the locus of our treasure.
Rather than cherishing success or self-approval, we can learn to cherish the
Lord because He’s lavished such love upon the undeserving (1 John 4:7-10).
All-satisfying treasure is found in this Gospel message.
Elyse M. Fitzpatrick
The Gospel Cure, Tabletalk, March 2008, Used by
Permission.
The depressed
don’t simply need to feel better. They need a Redeemer who says, “Take heart, my
son, my daughter; what you really need has been supplied. Life no longer need
be about your goodness, success, righteousness, or failure. I’ve given you
something infinitely more valuable than good feelings: your sins are forgiven.”
Elyse M. Fitzpatrick
The Gospel Cure, Tabletalk, March 2008, Used by
Permission.
This is the freeing
truth you can learn through your depression: You weren’t created to love and
worship anything more than you love and worship God; and when you do, you’ll
feel bad. God has made you to feel pain when you’ve got other treasures that
you’ve placed above Him. He wants you to treasure Him.
Elyse M. Fitzpatrick
Will
Medicine Stop the Pain? Moody, 2006, p. 102.
There are
various kinds of depression, to be sure, and some are the result of complex
physical and psychological disorders. But there are times when we are
spiritually depressed for no good reason. There are times when the best thing
to do with our feelings is to challenge them: “Why are you cast down, O my
soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again
praise Him, my salvation and my God” (Ps. 42:11).
Derek W.H. Thomas
In Dark Places, Tabletalk, March 2008, Used by
Permission.
The
root of both psychological and spiritual sickness is preoccupation with self.
Ironically, the believer who is consumed with his own problems – even his own
spiritual problems – to the exclusion of concern for other believers,
suffers from a destructive self-centeredness that not only is the cause of, but
is the supreme barrier to the solution of, his own problems. Usually such
selfishness isolates him from the other believers, who if they were intimately
involved in fellowship with him, would be regularly praying for his spiritual
welfare.
John MacArthur
Ephesians, Moody, 1986, p.
382.
Waiting
for the Lord in a season of darkness should not be a time of inactivity. We
should do what we can do. And doing is often God’s appointed remedy for
despair.
John Piper
Fold Not the Arms of Action taken
from When the Darkness Will Not Lift by John Piper, 2006, Crossway Books, a
division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org. p. 45.
I am now the
most miserable man living. If what I feel equally distributed to the whole
human family, there would not be one cheerful face on the earth. Whether I shall
ever be better, I cannot tell; I awfully forebode I shall not. To remain as I
am is impossible. I must die or be better, it appears to me.
Abraham Lincoln
Quoted
in: Blame in on the Brain? Edward T. Welch, P&R Publishing, 1998, p.
116-117.
I am suicidal
again. I have no energy or reason to fight. I am numb and tried all the things
I know how to try. I know that I won’t be able to function like this much
longer. There is no one to talk to. I’m suffocating. I can think the best
thoughts all day and still feel like this. No one knows how badly I want to
die. My thoughts are obsessive and won’t stop. They keep saying, “I want to
die.”
Author Unknown
Quoted
in: Blame in on the Brain? Edward T. Welch, P&R Publishing, 1998, p. 117.