Understanding Depression

As the deer pants for the water brooks,

So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night,

While they continually say to me,

“Where is your God?” When I remember these things,

I pour out my soul within me.

For I used to go with the multitude;

I went with them to the house of God,

With the voice of joy and praise,

With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast. Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him

For the help of His countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down within me;

Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan,

And from the heights of Hermon,

From the Hill Mizar. Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls;

All Your waves and billows have gone over me. The LORD will command His lovingkindness in

the daytime,

And in the night His song shall be with me–

A prayer to the God of my life. I will say to God my Rock,

“Why have You forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a breaking of my bones,

My enemies reproach me,

While they say to me all day long,

“Where is your God?” Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God;

For I shall yet praise Him,

The help of my countenance and my God.

(Psalms 42:1-11 NKJV)

A short list of Christians who suffered depression:

John Henry Jowett, pastor of New York’s Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church and later Westminister Chapel in London. He said to a friend in 1920: “There are dangers beneath the castles of despair.”

Charles Spurgeon suffered debilitating bouts of depression all his life. “Lord. Jesus, receive my spirit and put an end to this miserable life.”

John Knox, the famous 18th century Scottish pastor was quoted as saying: “I had my temptations attending me…..Sometimes I would be assaulted with great discouragement wherein, fearing that I should not be able to speak the Word at all….at such times I should have such a strange faintness and strengthlessness seize upon my body that my legs have scarce been able to carry me.”

John Bunyan stated that he had seasons of deep depression regarding the results of his work in the pulpit or among his people.

Alexander Whyte, Scotland’s greatest preacher since John Knox also suffered from depression. He said: “God is to me the great unknown, I believe in Him, but I find Him not.”

Adonaram Judson, America’s first foreign missionary, suffered from deep depression following the death of his wife, Nancy.

Lottie Moon,the great southern Baptist missionary to China, lapsed into a period of deep depression. It started when she was at the end of her life-long saving. She quit eating and her mental and physical health declined. A doctor was sent for and only then was it discovered that she was starving to death. In hopes of saving her life, her colleagues made arrangements for her to return home in the company of a nurses, but it was too late. She died aboard ship while at port in Kobe, Japan,on Christmas Eve,1912.

Rick Warren suffered depression as a pastor of a growing young church when he was 26 years old.

They all had times of depression at one time or another. (For a simple reference, here is a list of famous people who suffered from depression.)

Even though we may not know many Christians who suffered from depression, there were even people in the Bible who suffered from depression. Here are some brief examples:

Naomi, the mother-in-law of Ruth, suffered depression following the death of her husband and two sons.

But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go–for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight and should also bear sons, would you wait for them till they were grown? Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters; for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me!”

(Ruth 1:11-13 NKJV)

Jonah, after being spit out by a whale and seeing Israel’s enemies repent and receive forgiveness, went through his own time of depression.

Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!”

(Jonah 4:3 NKJV)

Job, after losing just about everything he had, suffered from depression.

After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

(Job 3:1 NKJV)

Job’s depression increased because his friends didn’t know what to say to him. In many cases, his friends hurt Job more than they helped him.

Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet. He experienced depression at the sight of seeing his beloved town Jerusalem destroyed. He even wrote an entire book about the experience. In it, he shares his feelings of depression.

And I said, “My strength and my hope

Have perished from the LORD.” Remember my affliction and roaming,

The wormwood and the gall. My soul still remembers

And sinks within me.

(Lamentations 3:18-20 NKJV)

The first three kings of Israel all suffered from depression.

So, there can be no denying that God’s people can go through some sort of depression.

Here is a short list of hurtful and damaging things that we often say to one another. Before we start hurting ourselves, it would be helpful to recognize that we may simply be depressed. Since our bodies are in a depressed state, we can understand why we do not feel well. Understanding depression can prevent us from damaging ourselves and others.