Permit me to do something for you. I want to write something (2 or 3 articles) that may be of personal benefit to some of you. It’s been called the common cold of the soul—DEPRESSION. It is the most common illness seen in all of medicine. That’s right, I said, ‘medicine.’ It is a disease, one that affects normal and, otherwise, healthy people. People with no psychiatric problems, genuinely spiritual people, people with no circumstantial reason to be down, can suffer from depression.
I’m not talking about occasionally getting the blues. And certainly, situations can occur that grieve us. Depression is deeper, longer lasting. You may feel tired all the time; you may not be able to sleep, or you may want to sleep all the time; you can be very irritable; you may have a nagging headache that just seems to hang on; you may have other chronic pains; your sex drive may be diminished; you may lack enthusiasm for much of anything; you just don’t enjoy the things you used to; you often have digestive problems; you can’t seem to concentrate, follow through or finish anything you start; you often feel worthless, unwanted, misunderstood, even guilty; you may find yourself crying for no apparent reason; you may feel numb, empty, dead inside, unable to cry or even to feel; you feel at times, overwhelming sadness washing over you like a wave; you may want to die.
If you have never experienced depression, consider yourself very blessed. I can almost guarantee someone in your circle suffers.
Christians are not exempt.
One of the worst things you can say to someone suffering depression is, “Don’t be depressed,” as if they could do something about it. That’s like saying, “Don’t have cancer.” Even worse would be to say, “Snap out of it!” But the most insensitive is, “Well, you just need to get right with God!”
In fact, any well-meaning advice, solicited or not, that begins with, “Well, you just need to…” is usually worth about as much as the thought that went into it, not much at all. “Well, you just need to…learn to praise the Lord anyway…read your Bible more…take some Metamucil…get drunk!”
Some of these may actually be good advice, just not timely. (I’ve never known booze and depression to mix well.) Even otherwise appropriate Scriptures can become religious clichés or pious platitudes if offered flippantly, smugly or with little thought—not the Word of God itself, just our casual dispensing of it.
Now, prayer, praise, confession, reading the Bible aloud, singing or listening to worship music, walking, doing something for someone else, watching something that is a guaranteed laugh (Three Stooges, Ma and Pa Kettle, whatever your cultural level of humor,) all of these are sincerely recommended possibilities.
But remember, I’m not talking about a little, emotional slump. Clinical depression is a medical condition. There is no more guilt or shame in that than in having the flu or a toothache. The only medical advice I’ll presume to hand out is, “See a doctor.” It’s OK! This kind of depression does not mean you are a failure as a Christian. No condemnation!
My son wanted me to listen to a song on YouTube the other day. Four guys from Norway, known as “Guitarbuddies,” are singing “Hallelujah.” It’s not necessarily a Christian song; it was written by Leonard Cohen, who I believe is Jewish. It’s based on the story of David and Bathsheba. A haunting line arrested my attention:
It’s not a cry you can hear at night;
It’s not somebody who’s seen the light;
It’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah.
We are not yet around the throne, perfected, singing a new song to the Lamb. Sometimes our hallelujahs are cold; sometimes they are broken. It will not always be so.
But there is hope for now. To risk a cliché, Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal. He is not limited to human means, but sometimes the Great Physician uses your local M.D.
Next time: A Different Animal: Spiritual Depression
In the peace of Christ,
Dan Grindstaff
I would value your personal insight or experience on this subject.