Dealing with Depression Part 3

VIII. Continual problems and pressures can become a source of depression, and in some cases can bring functional, healthy living to a halt. A. However, continual problems and pressures do not universally cause debilitating depression. They are not inevitable cause-effect relationships. B. Some rely on coping mechanisms like avoidance, denial or escapism. But these mechanisms have limitations and may actually add guilt to the equation. JOB 9:25-28. C. The worst way to deal with continual problems and pressures is “sin them away” by hatred, turning from God, exploiting fleshly lusts or drowning them out with recreational intoxicants, etc. Sin is NEVER a proper method of coping with problems and pressures. 1. Avoid “...Let us do evil, that good may come...” (ROM 3:8). 2. Be not as Saul who concluded that the solution to the “blue funk” of his self-invited problems was getting help from a witch (1SAM 28), or as the dispersed Jews who grew weary of circumstances and of God and so reasoned themselves into idolatry. JER 44:15-19. D. Consider the plight of David as expressed in PSA 3. 1. He could sleep in the face of increasing trouble. 2. Fear of enemies did not control him. E. It seemed like everything had gone haywire for David but he “...encouraged himself in the LORD his God” (1SAM 30:6). He did not abandon hope. F. Remember that although Paul was troubled on every side and despaired even of life, he refreshed his soul by the proven comforts and deliverances of God. 2CO 4:8-9; 1:8-10.

IX. Recall that the gospel / glad tidings includes “...the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness...” (ISA 61:1-3). There is remedial help in it for depression, especially for those who are burdened about their sin. A. Preeminently, the good news is the satisfaction of God’s justice for us by Jesus Christ and the overcoming of Satan, death and hell by Christ’s bodily resurrection. 1. This gospel can save us if we keep it in memory (1CO 15:1-4), save us from Satan’s lies and their various effects, including an unsound mind and associated distresses. 2TI 1:7-8. 2. Forgetting the full message of the gospel, though, can contribute to distress of mind and spirit when, for example, we are chastened. HEB 12:3-6. B. The gospel does not only declare and promise salvation for us by Jesus Christ. It also tells us to expect tribulation, persecution, disappointments, family disruption, loss of acquaintances, delayed answer to prayer, denial of some requests, long patience for reward, patient enduring of suffering, pruning and burning off of things that interfere with character development, the need for self-denial, etc. C. Depression may be being caused or fed by outright sin which breaks our fellowship with God and robs us of inner peace. But depression may also be owing to a faulty perception of Christian reality as set forth in Scripture. Here are a few examples: 1. Suppose one deeply holds to a faulty doctrine of eternal salvation such as Arminianism which places the entire burden of another man’s eternal destiny on one’s own shoulder. The magnitude of such responsibility is crushing, especially in view of one’s own limitations and weakness in witness. By contrast, Paul’s great heaviness and continual sorrow in heart for his Jewish kinsmen was not that he couldn’t get them all into heaven by his witness, but that they had an ignorant zeal of God which they clung to in spite of the obvious truth of Jesus Christ (ROM 9:1-3; 10:1-4), and this for him was a bearable burden. a. He knew that God’s covenant of grace would cover even His elect among the Jews who did not convert to the truth. ROM 11:27-29. b. Paul only ever expected to save some to the truth. 1CO 9:20-22. 2. Suppose one thinks that conversion eliminates troubles but then burly reality comes along and knocks him flat. ct/w JOH 16:33; LUK 12:51-52. 3. Suppose one thinks that all of his family will unfailingly be elect and convert to Christ, forgetting that it is sin that runs in the blood, not grace, and that the gospel can split families. ROM 9:7-13; LUK 12:53. 4. Suppose one expects that godly instruction of children guarantees that they will turn out to be God-honoring, law-abiding adolescents or adults in spite of texts like DEU 21:18. 5. Suppose one thought that PSA 91:7 could only apply to the wicked alien, and then suffers from “Christian survivor guilt” when God marks him for deliverance in a time of common judgment that takes away others nearby. EZE 9:4. 6. Suppose one is inordinately concerned about what “they” get away with, forgetting that for “them” it’s the closest thing to heaven they will ever have and there will be a judgment. PSA 73:12-24. 7. Suppose a believer forgets that, though redeemed and regenerated, he will still sin from time to time: his perfection is in Christ His propitiation, not his own flawlessness. 1JO 2:1-2. 8. Suppose a believer assumes that his nature’s needs are all evil, including the need for wholesome pleasures like laughter, mirth, etc. But such things are helpful balances to the depressing things of this life. a. Allow yourself some enjoyment. ECC 3:4, 13; 1TI 6:17. b. Sorrow breaks the spirit. PRO 15:13. c. A merry heart is medicinal. PRO 17:22. D. NOTE: it behooves us all to pray and take measures and advantage of opportunities that God makes available when sorrow of heart is weighing us down. NEH 2:1-6. 1. “Prayer without obedient steps is often just sanctified procrastination.” (Dr. Lee Warren) 2. Embracing biblical perspectives to get a better perception is a good start. X. Lack or loss of purpose can contribute to depression. A. purpose: That which one sets before oneself as a thing to be done or attained; the object which one has in view. B. For a working man whose purpose for many years was to meet obligations and prepare for the “golden years” (years which use up your gold?), debilitation or retirement can be a difficult change of course. What purpose now? C. Consider Job’s bleak outlook when age and debilitation broke off his purposes. JOB 17:11-16. D. To help cope with such loss of purpose, remember that our ultimate purpose always has been, and remains, to fear God and keep His commandments. ECC 12:13. E. In old age we can still have a purpose that is worthwhile by remaining faithful to God. PSA 71:9, 18; 92:13-14. XI. Be thankful unto God, bless His name, and forget not all His benefits. PSA 100:4; 103:2. A. Remember, praise is the antidote to heaviness. ISA 61:3. B. Praise is associated with joy. PSA 42:4. C. Praise that accords with understanding and relief from the condemnation of Law is cause for spiritual and natural rejoicing. NEH 8:8-12. XII. Remember the principle of seasons of heaviness. 1PE 1:6. A. For Job, there was a lesson in his difficult trial of heaviness but that season did end. JAM 5:11. B. Prayer and patience has always served the godly well during down seasons. PSA 40:1-3.