Every day, depression silently creeps into people’s lives, steals their strength and warps their thinking. Sometimes it starts with an event or series of hap­penings, but other times depression just seems to overwhelm a person, robbing them of their energy and joy in life. And yes, sadly, Christians who love the Lord do suffer from depression. This is not an illness that they can “positively think” their way out of. Saying to them “take a “concrete pill and harden up” or “snap out of it” is not going to be of any help either.

Charles Spurgeon suffered his first (of many) episodes of severe depres­sion when,

Satan’s kingdom was being assailed and (Satan) struck back by means of the great disaster at the Music Hall in 1856. Evil men shouting 'Fire!' created panic in the auditorium and several people were killed when they were crushed to death as they ran madly down the stairs. For weeks afterwards Spurgeon was in such sorrow and distress that he was quite incapable of preach­ing and his whole ministry appeared to be finished.¹

Several months ago I suffered from depression and this is what it felt like to me:

Depression came like a thief in the night and settled on me like a heavy sodden blanket, sapping my strength, smothering me, rolling over me, drag­ging and pinning me down. Who knows what the trigger was this time? Tiredness, busyness, taking criticism to heart, who knows? No matter, it came, uninvited, unwanted and seeped its gloomy way into my whole being.

Where there was talking, there is now silence. Where there was joy there is abiding sadness. Where there was laugh­ter, now there are tears. Where there was movement there is now stillness. Where there were smiles there are now frowns and lines. Where there was creativity there is now mundane grayness. Where there was togetherness there is now aloneness. Where there was neat­ness and order there is now mess and chaos, both physically and emotionally.²

The scope of this article is to see how depression changes a person’s think­ing and perceptions and to offer some biblical counsel to help you through a dark time.

Why is it that some people who ex­perience these circumstances (such as death, misery in work, physical ill health, death of a loved one) spiral into depres­sion and others don’t? It is because these circumstances do not cause depression by themselves ... These circumstances must also connect with an internal system of beliefs or an interpretive lens that will then plunge you down into depression.³

As Charles Spurgeon once said, “Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of.” Trials and suffering bring to the surface our attitudes, emotions and often the lies we have come to believe. Some­times throughout our suffering we walk in the strength of the Lord knowing that as it says in Psalm 23, “though I walk through the valley of shadow and death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me and Thy rod and staff, they comfort me.” Other times God seems far away and we give into our doubts and become spiritually vulnerable to Satan’s attacks. Satan wants to take a Christian’s focus off God and he uses our own doubts and worries and magnifies them and turns them into lies that seem plausible and believable. Satan is the Father of Lies and he lies to us to lead us further and further from God. It is part of his battle against God, and you are a pawn he is using at this time. When you are spiritually vulnerable, your emotions are so powerful that they skew your inter­pretations, Satan attacks and you swear allegiance to your most pessimistic in­terpretation, no matter what others say.⁴ And yet, even though our thinking is warped and awry, and we believe lies, God’s promises and truth remain true. Even when we are at the bottom of the pit, when all is darkness and doom, God is still there. Nothing changes that fact that the Truth still stands and that His promises remain firm and solid and uphold us.

What can do you do when such black­ness threatens to drown you?

Do not let Depression Define you⤒🔗

Often we feel so overwhelmed, so down, so black that depression seems to us as if it is “the whole of us”. But it is not! Despite the lies and wrong thinking that Satan encourages, the Truth remains. God is still God. If you loved God before you became depressed, you are still a child of God after you suffered from depression. You are still loved by God so much that sent His only Son to die, for you, so that you could have eternal life; life with Christ. He has promised to never leave you nor forsake you, not even when you are down in the pit of despair. It may feel like He has gone, but He has not. Although our depres­sion changes the way we perceive things around us, it cannot alter the truth. It cannot change what is unchangeable. God loves you, O child of God, and in His wisdom allows you to suffer for this period of time so that He may be glori­fied and exalted.

We are to take up our cross, daily, and follow Christ. In the midst of de­pression, Christ is still there. His Spirit is still working in our lives. “The Lord graciously sustained (Charles Spurgeon), and though scarred by the memory of the tragedy for the rest of his life, he resumed preaching and indeed for several years the services at the Music Hall continued to be richly blessed by God in the salvation of many souls.”⁵ 

Read the Bible←⤒🔗

Our emotions play havoc with us, and we don’t “feel like” reading the Bible. Read anyway. Be in the habit of keeping the Word of God close to you. Read the Psalms, particularly. The psalmists express so well what it is like to be down in the pit, and to be rescued and restored by God. Even in Psalm 88, the blackest of the Psalms, the psalmist has hope. Spur­geon puts it this way, “the writer has salvation, he is sure of that, and God is the sole author of it. While a man sees God as his Saviour, it is not altogether midnight with him. While the living God can be spoken of as the life of our sal­vation, our hope will not expire.”⁶

Allan Harman writes, “While the af­flicted psalmist cannot understand his present experiences, he still knows that his only possible source of help is the Lord. He hangs on desperately to the truth that God alone can deal with his situation. Relief is not yet in sight, and he still feels rejected by his God.”⁷ As you read the Bible, look for the comfort of God’s salvation.

Pray←⤒🔗

Cry out of God. He hears you.⁸ He will set your feet upon a rock and make your steps secure. He has even promised to put a new song in your mouth! He is allowing this suffering at this time, but He is near you and will redeem you from the pit and renew your strength.⁹ In Psalm 88, all looks black and the author is way down in the pit, yet he prays and cries out to God day and night. “Distress had not blown out the sparks of prayer, but quickened them into a greater ardency, till they burned perpetually like a furnace at full blast.”¹⁰

Use Your Experiences←⤒🔗

Allow God to use your suffering to help others. Because you have been down in the very pit of depression, you are able to help others. “I would go into the deeps a hundred times to cheer a downcast spirit. It is good for me to have been afflicted, that I might know how to speak a word in season to one that is weary.” – Spurgeon gained from illness a wealth of knowledge and sym­pathy which he could not have gained elsewhere. In the realm of sorrow he was blessed.

Do not Despair←⤒🔗

Stand on the promises of God. Stand on the Rock that is steadfast and sure. Stand on the Truth that always remains. Stand on the fact that Christ has died to save sinners like you and me.

Be Thankful←⤒🔗

Begin by looking for the small things that you can be thankful to God for. A warm bed. A hot shower. The sound of the birds. A hot cup of coffee. The shining sun. Be thankful for the bigger blessings like family (both your own family and church family) and God’s daily provision, and be thankful of the biggest blessing a person can have, the gift of Christ, and his work on the cross for you.

Depression Lies to Me←⤒🔗

Depression lies to me that God has deserted me, when He is right there beside me.

Depression lies to me that life is not worth living, but I have life abundant through Christ.

Depression lies to me that I will never feel joy again and yet I will.

Depression lies to me that death would be welcome, yet my days are numbered by the Almighty God and today is not that day! And not by my hand.

Depression lies to me that I cannot do anything right, yet my children love me and my husband praises me.

Depression lies to me that I should hide from the world, yet my friends would surround me with care and love, if they knew that I was suffering.

Depression lies to me that my prayers, the feeble ones I do manage to get out, bounce off the ceiling, and yet my God hears my most desperate whispers in the darkest of the night.

Depression lies to me that I am worth­less, yet I am a child of the living God.

My identity is in Christ. No matter what lies depression tells me, I will not heed them. I will not listen to them, rather I will live as the heir of my heav­enly Father that I am. I will look for all the wonderful things that I can be thank­ful for. Small and large, and I WILL be thankful. For I am blessed. I have life.

Now and eternally. God alone has lifted me out of the pit and raised me up onto high ground. Praise be to God!¹¹