Does depression depress God? — by Pastor Josh Moody

June 13, 2008

Does depression depress God?

by Pastor Josh Moody

The first thing to remember is that depression can be used by God. God is not surprised by depression. No, depression is part of God’s sovereign plan. God has a design to use depression for His glory.

Take some biblical examples. The prophet Elijah was depressed – I think we can use that word - after his confrontation with the false prophets on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18-19, especially 19:4). He was down. He actually wanted to die. He felt like a failure (“I am no better than my ancestors”). And he was overcome with exhaustion. Or look at Job. Job did not speak evil of God, but he suffered greatly, and he came as close to inappropriately questioning God without doing so as mortal man has ever done. At one point, he wished that he had never been born (Job 3:3). One can sympathize with both Elijah and Job’s situations.

Could we say that Jesus was depressed? He is certainly described as a “man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3). He “sighed deeply” at the grave of Lazarus; he wept over Jerusalem; on the cross, he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). Paul felt overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death (2 Corinthians 1:9) and even constructed out of his experience and the inspiration of God a specific theology of ministry where in our weakness God’s strength is all the more revealed (2 Corinthians 4, 12).

Or if you prefer examples of “great” Christian leaders from church history, think of the British preacher Charles Spurgeon. He knew dark days indeed. Or Martin Luther, of whom it is said that after a particularly bad bout of depression his wife needed to remove the door behind which he had locked himself and say to him “is God dead?!”

So, depression is not something that God can’t use! Now, let’s define, diagnose, and then look at some strategies to deal with depression. This is not a counselor’s handbook, nor a replacement for personal help, but some thoughts from one who, by God’s grace, is more than a little prone to melancholy himself, and who has thought long and hard about what God thinks about depression.

1. Defining “Depression”

This is notoriously difficult to do. We might distinguish between biological (neurobiological), circumstantial, and spiritual depression. But as soon as we begin to use these terms, we realize that they are more slippery than they seem. There is a sense in which all depression is biological. After all, all feelings are expressed somehow through neurobiological changes in our mind and body. We are psychosomatic (body-soul) units, and what I feel is certainly affected by what I ate last night. Nonetheless, these distinctions are still helpful, even if they are overlapping categories. The most dangerous form of depression, in my opinion, is at the epicenter of these sets: when depression has neurobiological, circumstantial, and spiritual elements. This is what I call “systemic” depression. It can be very tricky. Even when just two of those sets are involved – for example, someone with neurobiological tendencies towards depression experiences a severe bereavement – the consequential issues are profound. Clinical depression often frightens us most. But systemic depression may be the most dangerous form of depression.

2. Diagnosing Depression

Depression is sometimes related to mundane matters like eating, sleeping, exercising, and other basic bodily functions. When several of these normal bodily activities are negatively influenced, depression may become more serious. You are well advised to seek professional help if you are frequently finding it difficult to sleep (or sleeping too much), if you are eating too little (or too much), etc.

It is crucial to realize when something is getting beyond you — when you need help. It’s normal after a bereavement to experience loss for a substantial period of time, but approximately one year later you should begin to see some improvement. Obviously, some losses are never entirely healed this side of glory, but there is a sense of moving on which needs to come at some point.

People used to assume that the root of depression was suppressed anger – but that is not always the case. Nonetheless, many people feel that they have some not-dealt-with rage or bitterness, which has caused their depression.

3. Strategies for Dealing With Depression

1. You can be depressed and be a Christian. Just because you feel down doesn’t mean you’re not a Christian. You are saved by your faith in Christ, not by your feelings about yourself or your life.
2. You can be depressed and be godly. Not everyone who is depressed is “in sin”. The Bible does tell us to rejoice in every circumstance, but it does not tell us to rejoice because of every circumstance, and there are circumstances which require Christian empathy, commiseration, and compassion, and not simply flippant exuberance. “Mourn with those who mourn”; there is a time to feel sad, even though – objectively and truly – even then we have reason to have joy because of Christ and his eternal promise for us. In fact, God sometimes uses depression to give us new insight into something that otherwise we would not have perceived (many of the Psalms start “depressed” and end with a great declaration of God’s truth).
3. Sometimes the best thing to do is to ‘take the pills’! Obviously, any medication should be administered by an appropriately qualified professional, but Christians need not feel that spiritual maturity means learning to survive without taking the pills. Some of us are less grumpy when we don’t eat certain foods, and if taking the pills prevents me from sinning, or being a stumbling block to my brothers and sisters, or helps me be useful in the Lord’s service, then praise God for his provision of modern medicine. Unfortunately, not all medication works for all people in all situations but, again, a qualified professional can be helpful.
4. Martin Lloyd-Jones, a physician turned pastor, used to have a standard piece of advice for non-medical depression: “The trouble with many Christians is they listen too much to themselves when they should be talking to themselves.” In other words, talk back to the negative voices with the truth of God’s word about yourself, about the future, and about God. Don’t passively listen to your negative thoughts, but fight back with the sword of the Spirit. “What matters is not what I feel is true about myself at any moment, but what I KNOW is true about GOD at EVERY moment.” We need to focus on the objective (God and his promises) and apply that to the subjective (our personal experience). There is a negative spiral that can take place where one thought leads to another and we end up at the bottom again. We need to exercise discipline to turn our thoughts to a positive spiral towards God and his truth.
5. Those of us who do tend toward melancholy need to beware of selfishness. The pit can be a very selfish place to be. You think about how bad your life is, or that relationship that didn’t work, or that you didn’t get that job. But we are called to be centered on God and his way for our lives. Sometimes we simply need to repent of selfishness, and love God first and love our neighbor as ourselves.
6. It is important to maintain regular patterns of healthy practical life, however hard it may seem. The depressed person can begin not to eat so much, not to rest well, not to work, etc. Your body needs good rest, good food, and healthy activity to enable it to heal. Don’t skimp on sleep and food especially when you are feeling down. Don’t stop working, studying, or doing household chores.
7. Idols can be at the root of some spiritual depressions. People who are obsessed by their career, their children, or their looks, can become depressed when things don’t work out well. We need to have God as the only object of our worship, and if a ‘loss’ takes place of a relatively peripheral matter, we should take the opportunity to look forward to eternity with God. Jonathan Edwards wrote a very moving letter to one of his children urging her in her difficulty to realize that God was using this to teach her not to rely on this life for her happiness. Guard yourself against depression by not having idols, by investing your love and affections most of all in God and not in a passing shadow like fame, money, or a nice house.
8. The community and the church are important resources. Some depressed people are prone to being introverts anyway, so there is a tendency to withdraw. Fight that! You need to be around people who think differently, who are not depressed, who are focused on other matters other than what you are grieving over. Stay in community, use the brotherhood of the church as a resource for fellowship and support.
9. Ask for help. Don’t be shy to talk to an elder or one of the pastors about your situation and don’t be shocked if they refer you to a counselor or some other professional. There’s nothing immature about asking for help. It is the proud (=immature) person who does not ask for advice or help. The humble (= more likely to be on the road to maturity) person who asks godly people for help.
10. See the big picture. This life is short. Is it any coincidence that feelings of depression have become more prominent as the western world has become increasingly preoccupied with this world? Heaven on earth is a delusory hope. This life is disappointing. There are rays of light, but into every life a little rain must fall, and even the righteous may suffer. Focus on heaven, where there will be no more crying or tears, for the old order of things will have passed away.

And remember, winter in New Haven is enough to make anyone feel depressed! Spring is here!

Josh Moody is a friend of mine and an amazing Jonathan Edwards scholar. You’ll want to check out his book The God-Centered Life: Insights from Jonathan Edwards for Today, its one of the best books I read in 2007.

You may also want to check out this post I did on Josh back in February of 2008.

Josh Moody on the Intimate World of Jonathan Edwards

Posted in Doctrine, Jonathan Edwards, Josh Moody, Martyn Lloyd-Jones