Defining Depression
Psalms 42:5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me?
A recent study showed that around 21 million people in the U.S. suffered from depression. An estimated 5.0 million adolescents aged 12 to 17 in the United States had at least one major depressive episode. This number represented 20.1% of the U.S. population aged 12 to 17.
It's tempting to look at this and say, "Those people need Jesus," but the reality is those numbers are just people who admit it. And Christians get depressed, too.
I hope that if you are depressed, you can see that there is hope. And if you aren't depressed, you can be equipped to be able to help those who are, or at least begin to think about it.
If those numbers are accurate, you know people who are depressed. As God's people, we can be a help to one another.
DEFINING DEPRESSION
What is it to be "cast down?"
Being "cast down" literally means bowing down. It's crouched down, like an animal. Stooping down and being brought low are a few ways the Hebrew word is translated.
But notice that it's not physically knocked down, but it's the soul. Inwardly, in his spirit, he's been brought low. He's "down in the dumps," we might say. He's depressed.
What is it to be Disquieted?
Literally, growling. Roaring. In the soul, it's to rummer, to cry out. To be in a place where it's hard to put words to your feelings.
Inwardly, there is a raging storm. Rather than laying down in green pastures and being refreshed by the still waters, David is in the barren wasteland, troubled and tormented.
What is depression?
Depression is a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest that affects how you feel and think. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems.
How does it manifest?
I've collected these from various sources.
Inward symptoms:
A passive, listless feeling.
Sadness.
Irritable and intolerant
Anger (especially men)
No motivation
Anxious or worried
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 understands.
A sense of rejection.
An emotion of "I would be better off dead."
A desire for death.
Physical symptoms:
moving or speaking more slowly than usual
changes in appetite or weight (usually decreased, but sometimes increased)
constipation
unexplained aches and pains
lack of energy
disturbed sleep
Social symptom:
avoiding contact with friends and taking part in fewer social activities
neglecting your hobbies and interests
having difficulties in your home, work, or family life
That's what we are talking about.
You might say, "Christians don't get depressed. Christians are joyful." The Bible is full of men and women who would beg to differ. Moses, Elijah, and Jonah all wished for and prayed for death. Jeremiah is known today as the "weeping prophet."Paul had a continual sorrow in his heart for Israel. David penned many Psalms dealing with this, including our Psalm and the one after it. So don't say, "Christians can't get depressed." Or, don't say that sin is always to blame.
Proverbs 25:20 As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather, and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart.
Spurgeon said, "It is all very well for those who are in robust health and full of spirits to blame those whose lives are sicklied o'er with the pale east of melancholy, but the evil is as real as a gaping wound and all the more hard to bear because it lies so much in the region of the soul that to the inexperienced it appears to be a mere matter of fancy and diseased imagination. Reader, never ridicule the nervous and hypochondriacal, their pain is real; though much of the evil lies in the imagination, it is not imaginary."
Why am I cast down?
There's an old proverb, "a knowledge of the disease is half its cure." You can't find a cure if we can't find the problem.
Human beings are complex creatures. We have body, mind, soul, spirit. We have the outward man and the inner man. We are also fallen creatures living in the body of this death. That means that these bodies aren't perfect, and they break or don't work right.
When we are sick, that impacts our feelings and thoughts, which impacts our spiritual life. Arthritis inflammation can sometimes mess up your body's chemistry and slow you down. You can't get outside or move around, which can mess up other facets of your mind, and missing out can make you sad. It's all a perfect storm.
Thinking about all the symptoms, any part of the body not working right can throw the mind off. Often, people think that the heart or knees can have a problem, but the brain can't have a problem. But that's not the case. Our brains are physical organs that are also affected by the fall.
Just because you can't run a test on someone doesn't mean there isn't an issue. The brain is the most complex organ in the human body, yet we think it can't have issues or laugh them off.
Why do people get cast down?
We should not assume the cause is all physical, all mental, or all spiritual.
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was a medical doctor who quit his practice to become a pastor. He said, "Christians don't understand how physical, psychological, and spiritual realms interrelate because Satan muddies the boundaries. Many of our troubles are caused because we think a problem is spiritual when it is physical or we think a problem is physical when it is emotional or spiritual."
You might be depressed because of sin. You might be depressed because of unconfessed sin in your life, and the guilt is waging heavy on you. So, the cure would be to repent and find cleansing in Christ. But, it could be a physical problem with a physical solution. It could be a mental problem with a thinking solution. It could be you need to exercise and go to bed early. It could be that you need help with how you think about yourself.
Or it could be all three.
David Murray, "The depressed believer cannot concentrate, so they cannot read the Scripture and pray. She doesn't want to be around people, so she avoids church and fellowship with other believers. There is the false-guilt associated with the false conclusion that REAL Christians don't get depressed. The oft mistaken tendency to locate the cause of our mental suffering in our spiritual life in our relationship with God, which also creates false-guilt and feelings of worthlessness."
And round and round it goes.
So what are we to do? I’ll address that next time. But for now, it’s enough to know that you are not the first to go through the dark valley, and the Lord Jesus will not forsake you. It was written of Jesus:
Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Further Reading: