I’m beginning a six-week series of messages that I am entitling “Dealing with Feelings.” I’m going to begin today with the most dominant destructive debilitating feeling of all. Have you ever awakened in the morning and somehow you just knew it was going to be a bad day? Somebody with a great sense of humor described a few clues to let us know that it’s “going to be a bad day” when:
You wake up face down on the pavement.
You call Suicide Prevention and they put you on hold.
Your birthday cake collapses from the weight of the candles.
You go out to your garage to crank your car and the motor flies through your kitchen.
You’re following a group of hell’s angels down the Interstate, when suddenly your car horn goes off and remains stuck.
You wake up to discover that your waterbed has broken—then you remember you don’t have a waterbed.
We all have those days when we are “down in the dumps” and we just feel like it’s going to be a bad day, and our mood is affected all day long. When those days turn into weeks, and those weeks turn into months, the problem then becomes one of depression. Depression has become an epidemic in this country. Doctors are telling us that we are now entering what is called “the age of melancholy.” Depression has become so pervasive in our society it is now nicknamed “the common cold of mental illness.” Just consider the following:
- Since 1915 the risk of depression has increased, nearly doubling for each successive generation.1
- The average 30-year-old American is 10 times more likely to be depressed than his father, and 20 times more likely to be depressed than his grandfather.2
- One out of seven individuals in this country will need professional help for depression sometime during his or her lifetime. Depression today occurs two to three times more often among women than men.
- Depression is on pace to become the world’s second most disabling disease, after heart disease, by the year 2020. The World Health Organization already ranks it first among women and fourth overall.
- Depression afflicts 18 million people at any given time; one in five over the course of a lifetime, including those who won’t seek treatment, and costs over $40 billion a year in lost work and healthcare.3
- Major depressive disorders account for about 20 to 35% of suicides.4
- In general, the age when depression hits has fallen from the late 20s in 1935, to between the ages of 15 and 20 after 1955. In our country one in four women, and one in ten men will develop depression in their lifetime.5
If these facts are true, then at least 20 percent of you listening to me this morning, are battling depression. Now there’s a difference between ordinary sadness, which we all experience from time to time, and what I’m calling depression.
There’s a difference between having the “blahs” and having the “blues.” Psychologists have described depression in this fashion: “A feeling of helplessness and hopelessness that leads to intense sadness.”
The problem with depression is that the initial feeling of depression often degenerates into deeper and darker phases of emptiness. Depression goes through phases, each more serious than the other. The following constitutes the way depression works:
- A passive or listless feeling.
- Sadness
- An attitude of “nothing seems to matter.”
- A feeling of helplessness.
- A feeling of hopelessness.
- An attitude of feeling nothing is ever going to get better.
- An idea that no one cares or under-stands.
- A sense of rejection.
- An emotion of “I would be better off dead.”
- A desire for death itself.
More than anything in the world I want this message to be a help for the hurting, and a hope for the hopeless. One of the greatest heroes of the Old Testament, King David, battled depression, and he wrote about it in the 42nd Psalm. In fact, he asked in Ps. 42:5 a question all depressed people ask at some time or another: “Why are you cast down, O my soul?” Depression was both a malady and a mystery to David.
Like some of you here today, David was in the valley of depression, but he did not stay there. I want to share with you how he climbed out of the pit of despair in his own life. Because he gives us in this Psalm two do’s and one don’t.
I. Do Face The Fact Of Depression
Three times in verse 5, verse 6, and verse 11, David asks the question: “Why are you cast down, O my soul?” Now that’s a good start. He did not deny he was depressed. He did not ignore it. He faced it head-on. He said, “I’m depressed. My soul is cast down.” Now if you are depressed, the first step on the road to recovery is to simply admit it. Now that’s hard for some people to do, but let me tell you this. If you’re depressed you’re not unusual. Some of the greatest men in history battled depression.
Listen to what this man wrote: “I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on earth. To remain as I am is impossible. I must die or get better.” The man who wrote those words was Abraham Lincoln.
One of the most courageous positive-thinking men in the history of this world was Winston Churchill; perhaps the greatest Prime Minister in the history of Great Britain; the man who was famous for saying, “Never give up, never, never, never, never give up.” He called depression a “black dog” that followed him all of his life. Regardless of your health, wealth, fame, or fortune, you are immune to the affliction of depression.
Let me also add that if you are depressed you are not ungodly. Sometimes it is especially difficult for a Christian to admit that he or she is depressed, because we feel like the depression is a sign that we are just not godly, or we are not close to the Lord like we ought to be. Some people even preach that depression is a sin, and that Christians should never be depressed. But nothing could be farther from the truth.
Some of the godliest people in the Bible battled with depression. Moses, the man who single-handedly delivered the people of Israel from the bondage of Egypt, once became so depressed that in Num. 11:15 he asked God to kill him.
Elijah, the first great preaching prophet in the Old Testament, right after his tremendous victory over those 400 pagan prophets on Mt. Carmel, fell so deeply into the pit of depression that he said in 1 Kings 19:4, “It is better for me therefore now O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than it is to live.”
A more recent example is what this man said: “I, of all men, am perhaps the subject of the deepest depression at times. I am the subject of depression so fearful that I hope none of you ever get to such extremes of wretchedness as I go to…although my joy is greater than most men, my depression is such as few can have an idea of.”6 The man who wrote those words was probably the greatest preacher since the Apostle Paul—Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
Before I leave this point, let me just give you some common symptoms of depression:
- Feelings of sadness, hopelessness
- Insomnia, early awakening, difficulty getting up
- Thoughts of suicide and death
- Restlessness, irritability
- Low self esteem or guilt
- Eating disturbance—usually loss of appetite and weight
- Fatigue, weakness, decreased energy
- Diminished ability to think or concentrate
- Loss of interest and pleasure in activities once enjoyed such as sex
- Chronic pains that fail to respond to typical treatment
Psychologists tell us if you have at least four of these symptoms you would be diagnosed as having major depression; if you have three you would be described as chronically depressed. But regardless of where you are in the spectrum of the depressed state, the first thing you must do is face the fact of depression.
II. Don’t Fear The Force Of Depression
My good buddy, Zig Ziglar, often says, “Failure is neither fatal nor final.” Well, neither is depression. Practically all psychologists and psychiatrists agree that depression is caused by a combination of factors; sometimes physical, sometimes emotional, sometimes mental, or a combination of all of them.
I have found there are basically four types of depression. There is what is called endogenous depression. This is caused by a chemical imbalance within the central nervous system.
There is reactive depression. This is a reaction to such things as a death of a loved one, a divorce, a breakup with a girlfriend or the loss of a job.
There is toxic depression, which is caused by an alien substance such as a viral illness, the wrong type of drugs, or a poor diet.
The last is psychotic depression. This is the type that is linked to a “nervous breakdown,” over exhaustion, a mental disorder, or even brain disease. Therapists tell us that the first two types of depression, endogenous and reactive, account for the majority of the cases of depression.7
Now as I study depression from a biblical standpoint, I find a great deal of commonality between what I’ve just shared with you. Because in the Bible depression primarily was caused by three things. First of all, it may be a physical problem. David said in v.3, “My tears have been my food day and night.” David was physically exhausted. He was getting absolutely worn out. He was not getting any rest, and all he could think about were his problems. Likewise, depression can afflict the modern day workaholic who works late at night, rises early in the morning, eats on the run, gets very little exercise, and stays physically run down.
It can happen to the housewife who has three children, unending household duties, crying babies, and more chores in her hands than hours in the day. It’s easy to get run down, to get irritable, to get frustrated and then to get depressed.
Oftentimes that can be the cause of a chemical imbalance when the various hormones in our body get out of sync, and it stimulates within us the emotional reaction of depression. You can mark this down. When your body is physically run down and worn out, when your diet and nutrition is bad and unhealthy, when you’re not getting enough rest, when your nerves are shot from pressure and anxiety, you are a prime target for the monster of depression.
But sometimes it is an emotional problem. David asked the question, “Why are you cast down, O my soul?” In the scriptures the soul is the seat of the emotions. It is an emotional problem. What the psychologists call today the psyche, the Bible calls the soul. Now emotional or psychological depression is the kind of depression that comes because of upsetting circumstances.
Maybe we hear about the sudden death of a loved one. Maybe we have just gotten news that the tumor was malignant. Your spouse of twenty years has just told you that they he, or she, doesn’t love you anymore. Just like that, your emotions can come crashing down like a plane that has lost all of his engines, and you can be in the throes of depression.
Incidentally, emotional depression can be just as contagious as a physical illness. Depression never affects just the person that is depressed. I read a story the other day about a New York police officer who saw a man standing on a bridge apparently contemplating suicide.
Well, the officer climbed up to the bridge trying to talk him out of it and he said, “Look, before you jump you give me ten minutes to tell you why I think life is worth living, and then I’ll give you ten minutes to tell me why you think life is not worth living. Then I’ll let you make your own decision. Is that fair?” The man said, “I guess so.” Well, the story goes that after twenty minutes of talking they join hands and they both jumped into the water. I don’t say that to make light of the subject, but just to say it is a serious problem that affects other people.
But I believe sometimes, and more often than we realize, and perhaps in some way indirectly all the time, it is a spiritual problem. The devil is a master strategist. He is a great tactician. He knows exactly when, where, and how to attack you, and to get you down into the dumps of depression.
There is an old fable that says the devil offered his tools for sale because he decided to go out of business. He displayed those various tools—malice, hatred, jealousy, deceit, bitterness, and had prices marked on them. But one of them was set apart marked with a higher price than the others.
When the devil was asked why this particular tool was marked so high he said, “Because this is my most useful tool; it is called depression. With depression I can do anything with people that I want.”
Finally, I must add this. I think we would all agree that depression is always a personal problem. But I mean more than that than what you may think. You see, sometimes we’re down in the dumps that we built with our own hands. I am convinced as I meet some people who are depressed, that the depression is of their own making. I heard about a man who went to see a psychiatrist one time and he said, “Doctor, I am terribly depressed.” The doctor said, “Well, how bad is it?” He said, “I’m so depressed I can’t get out of bed, and when I do I can’t function. I’m not eating, I’m not sleeping, I can’t even put two thoughts together.”
The doctor said, “Well, I know exactly what you need to do.” He said, “I want you to take a trip and go anywhere you want to go.” The man said, “Well, I just got back from Hawaii.” The doctor said, “Then let me suggest that you go out and buy a brand new car.” The man said, “I just bought a $150,000 Mercedes Benz.” The doctor said, “WeLl, maybe you ought to go out and build a brand new home.” The man said, “I just bought a million dollar house.”
The doctor said, “Let me get this straight. You just got back from Hawaii, you drive a Mercedes Benz, and you live in a million dollar home.” He said, “Why are you so depressed?” He said, “I make $100 a week.” Well, regardless of where your depression stems from, I want to tell you there is hope and there is help.
III. Do Fight The Feeling Of Depression
Now there is nothing wrong with getting depressed. There is nothing wrong with being depressed, but there’s something wrong with staying depressed. God has not called us to wallow in the valley of depression. He has called us to walk on the mountaintop of victory. I don’t believe there is anything that the devil likes better than to see a soldier of the Lord too depressed to fight a battle that has already been won.
I find right here in the Scripture, three simple, yet biblical, steps to take when you are depressed. First of all, lie down. You know, sometimes what we need for depression is just some old fashion R & R—some rest and refreshment. God knows more about health than anyone. God knows we need a proper diet. But God also knows that we need rest; God also knows that we need recreation; God also knows we need refreshment.
That’s why David said in v.6, “Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan, and from the heights of Hermon, from the Hill Mizar.” What David was saying, “I’m going to just stop, lay down all of my worries and concerns, take a break and just meditate, and just think, just chill out and rest.”
Not even Superman can always be running around wearing himself thin, breaking his health down, and never getting any rest. Even Superman slept. Martin Luther one time said, “I have so much to do today I simply must go back to bed.” Sometimes that is the best thing we can do; just rest, relax, release, and rejoice.
The second thing I would say is launch out. “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.” (v.4) David said “when I remembered about why I was depressed, and how I got depressed, I would get out with other people and be with other people and serve other people.”
One of the most dangerous things you can do if you are depressed is to pull down the shades of self-pity over your heart, crawl up in your own cocoon, get into a fetal position and just isolate yourself. Martin Luther also said, “Isolation is poison for the depressed person. For through this the devil attempts to keep him in his power.”
Someone once asked Karl Menninger, the famous psychiatrist: “What would you advise a person to do who is experiencing deep depression and unhappiness?” Well, they thought he would say, “Go see a psychiatrist.” But here’s what he said: “If you’re really severely depressed, do this: Lock the door behind you, go across the street, find somebody that’s in need, and do something to help them.” Great advice.
Finally, look up. You notice what David says in v.5. “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him.” Again he says in v.11, “Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.” In other words, David got his eyes off of himself. He took his eyes off of his circumstances. He shut down his little pity party. He got his chin up, his head up, his eyes up, and he focused on the Lord.
The Psalmist of old rightly said, “I will lift up mine eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” (Ps. 121:1-2) May I tell you I believe the greatest medicine of all for depression is the Word of God. Claim the promises of God. Believe in the providence of God. Rely on the provision of God.
Cloak yourself in the presence of God and in His word.
John MacArthur recently received a letter from a woman who listens to him on the radio. Here’s what she said:
Dear Dr. MacArthur:
I am a 27-year-old female. When I was 14 I began to experience depression frequently. I was not a Christian nor was I raised by Christian parents….my depression continued as I grew older, and as a result became worse as time passed. I became a chronic suicide case….
When I was 20 I went to a psychiatrist who diagnosed me as a manic depressive. He put me on lithium and told me I would be this way for the rest of my life. The drug therapy kept me from going into a severe suicidal depression. However, the deep feelings of depression and despair were still a reality.
I finally came so low that there was nowhere to turn but to the Lord. I heard the Christian life was supposed to be the only way to live, but God was not real to me. I decided I was going to seek God with my whole heart, then if I found this to be nothing but an empty endeavor, I would give up living.
I fed upon tapes of your Bible teaching. The Lord began His work in me. Through His word as you taught, the Holy Spirit showed me just exactly what my problem was, and what I needed to do about it.
My problem was sin—a heart that would not forgive, and it was making me bitter….I turned to the Lord and asked Him to help me forgive. I continued in the Word diligently, and the transformation process took place. The Lord delivered me from this depressive illness. The memorizing of Scripture is renewing my mind. This is the only key for anyone suffering emotional problems, because it is the living word of God, it is the supernatural power to transform anyone’s life and mind….no doctor, no drugs can do what the Bible has done for me in changing my life.
Then she added a P.S.
By the way, I have been off all medications for three years! Obedience is the key.8
Now I want you to understand. I’m not a doctor nor a professional therapist. I’m not advocating that any of you here on medication should get off of your medication. But I will tell you this. There is no medication and there are no drugs that can substitute for God, His love, His presence, and His Word in your life. You may be in the middle of the great depression, but just remember as long as there is God, there is hope for real victory.
1. “Depression is Growing with Each Generation,” USA Today, 1992.
2. Psychology Today, 10/88.
3. “Melancholy Nation,” U.S. News & World Report, March 8, 1999.
4. “Mental Misery Besieges Many,” USA Today, January 11, 2000.
5. “Depression is Growing with Each Generation,” USA Today, November, 1992.
6. Spurgeon at his Best, Compiled by Tom Carter, pp. 55-56.
7. “Depression,” Newsweek, May 4, 1987.
8. John MacArthur, Our Sufficiency in Christ, pp. 97-98.