This week I am wrapping up my series on my journey through depression with the final portion of my conference talk. In this part, I focus on truths and practices anyone can make part of their lives in order to lessen and/or relieve emotional distress. Of course, I am not a doctor or health professional, and my counsel here is not to be taken as healthcare advice. I simply aim to encourage anyone struggling with similar things as I did by sharing my story and the steps that have helped me personally.
So, what can I tell you that will be practically helpful to someone walking through depression, anxiety, or some other deeply distressing experience? First, let’s look at some more scripture that addresses the problem of our pain. Of course, David is probably the Biblical writer who addressed the topic the most.
Take Psalm 13 (ESV) for example:
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?How long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.
We see in this brief psalm a full picture of someone in deep despair. David expresses feeling forgotten, perhaps even abandoned, by God (v. 1). He feels alone and oppressed (v. 2). He even alludes to feeling on the brink of death.
BUT, does he stay there in thoughts of desperation? No. Instead, David chooses to speak truth over his own situation. He reminds himself that he has trusted in God’s steadfast love. He decides to choose to rejoice in the Lord’s salvation. He purposes to sing praises to the Lord and to remember all His blessings. This is the path to healing and a return to abundant life out of a place of depression. Acknowledge the pain. But don’t sit in it. Choose truth. Choose to praise God in the midst of your circumstances. Not because He has made you feel good about everything right now…but because HE IS GOOD, no matter what.
Job, of course, is another example of suffering of Biblical proportions. We look at all the Lord allowed Satan to do to him and can’t help but feel Job was somewhat justified for his desire for God to give him an explanation as to WHY He had allowed all this pain in his life in spite of Job having done nothing wrong. Let’s look at Job 38:1-21 (ESV) for a sampling of God’s response:
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb,when I made clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling band,and prescribed limits for it
and set bars and doors,and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
and caused the dawn to know its place,that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
and the wicked be shaken out of it?It is changed like clay under the seal,
and its features stand out like a garment.From the wicked their light is withheld,
and their uplifted arm is broken.Have you entered into the springs of the sea,
or walked in the recesses of the deep?Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
Declare, if you know all this.”
In the end, God doesn’t give Job an answer that seems satisfactory from a human standpoint. Instead, He simply displays His awesome power and absolute authority. For 3 chapters God goes on giving examples of his sovereignty and might and showing Job, by contrast, his own small place in the vast, inscrutable purposes of God’s master plan. And at the end of all this, Job’s response is humble:
Then Job answered the Lord and said:
“I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.’I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”
We are often tempted in our pain and suffering to question God, even to be angry with Him. But in the end, we must submit ourselves to His plan and trust that He knows what is best for us. Does this feel good in the moment? No. But we can’t let our feelings determine our faith. Faith is belief in what is true, not in what we feel. Our feelings can change. The truth does not.
In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul also talks about his suffering, especially as he was nearing the end of his ministry and had been through many periods of intense persecution. In his second letter to the Corinthian church, which faced the challenges of living in a particularly wicked and depraved city culture, he encouraged the believers with these words:
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:7-17 (ESV)
This passage brings me to a phrase that is popularly used in regards to suffering, which is this: “If it isn’t good, it isn’t the end.” While I think this sentiment contains truth, I also believe it can also be misleading. Yes, according to Romans 8:28, God is working all things together for good to those who believe and are called according to His purpose. This is very encouraging! And sometimes we will see the fulfillment of this in our earthly lives. We are to pray for God’s will to be done and for His goodness and healing to be made manifest, yes! But sometimes, sometimes, it is not His plan to make everything good in the here and now. Some things will not be made right by our reckoning during our time on earth. Some things will not be made right until Jesus comes again to reign in glory. That can be hard for us to hear when we are in the midst of our pain. And I’m sorry about that. But when we see God for who he truly is in all his immortal, infinite, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent glory and holiness, what are our momentary, temporary, mortal troubles in comparison with all eternity? Praise God that He is beyond our comprehension. Praise Him that He is in control! Because if it were up to us, we would be such a mess!
Finally, I want to offer a few very practical, daily things that you can do if you find yourself in a period of depression or even just a time of feeling a little down. These are not earth-shattering or new ideas. But sometimes we just need a reminder of the little, habitual practices that can make life more bearable.
- Exercise
- Time in nature
- Sunshine
- Nutrition
- Drink water
- Talk to someone
- Serve others
- Singing/Humming (vagus nerve)
- Gratitude
- Read a book/enjoy a hobby
And that about wraps it up! Thank you so much for spending these last several weeks with me and for reading my story. I hope it has been a help and an encouragement to you. Also, free to share this series with a friend or family member who could use this message of hope in the midst of a dark time. As always, remember, YOU ARE LOVED! Until next time…
Kiel
