The Bible speaks of the body, soul and spirit of man.  Some say “soul” and “spirit” are interchangeable, simply two different ways of saying the same thing.  Others believe the spirit is that aspect of human nature that relates to God (and is actually dead before regeneration) and the soul is made up of mind, will and emotions.  Other Bible words, such as “heart” are said to equate the soul or one of its components or else, the spirit.  The confusion is obvious; the solution, not so obvious.  But few, if any, Christians actually believe that we are made up of two or three separate and unrelated compartments.  When you are out of sorts spiritually, your emotions and your physical health can be adversely affected.  When your body is ill, it can make you sad.  And it can damage your spiritual health. Maybe it shouldn’t, but it can, and if you are honest, you’ll admit it often does.

For those of you who experience depression, what aspect of your nature is affected?  Or maybe I should say what part of you is not touched?  Are not your emotions in the toilet?  Is your thinking sometimes upside down?  Do you sometimes have an inability to act, to make decisions?  An inability that could be described as a paralysis of the will?  Isn’t your body also depressed?  A human being is a marvelous and unusual creature, fearfully and wonderfully made.  The aspects of our nature are integrated, interrelated. Sadness can make you sick.  Pain can make you depressed.  Either can affect your spiritual health.

Apparently, this subject has touched a nerve, a nerve that is very close to the surface of a large percentage of professing believers in Jesus Christ.  Perhaps I should say, genuine believers.  I’ve received significant response from the first article.  And, as I told one person, I haven’t even gotten into the heavy stuff yet.  I’ve just grazed the surface of “plain-vanilla depression.”  The kind you go to a doctor for.  Before we move on to deeper, darker waters, let me add a note to the last article.  Recent research has indicated that a placebo—sugar pill can be as effective as an antidepressant.  And it seems the more expensive the placebo, the better it works!  The human mind is a strange thing, is it not?  Take that for what it’s worth.  I still encourage you to talk to your doctor.

From the Womb to the Tomb
Decades ago, there was a TV commercial promoting medicine for a summer cold.  It was kind of dumb.  A family was picnicking (how DO you spell that?) under a tree, the sky blue, the weather perfect.  Then a strange looking creature comes down the hill, crashing the party.  She was a germ. (If I want to remember her as female, it’s my article!)  The equally dumb little song said, “ A summer cold is a different animal.”  Terri will say, “How can you remember that when you can’t remember the grandkids’ birthdays?”  That is the subject for a different article.

Spiritual Depression is a different animal.  It is a cousin to the critter we have been describing.  The two can overlap, can sleep under the same person’s bed at the same time and can promote one another.  But make no mistake, Spiritual Depression is a monster, a different, more hideous animal.

Jonah was depressed because he didn’t get his way, Jeremiah because he felt deceived by God, Elijah because of fear and exhaustion, Peter because he denied Christ, Spurgeon because of gout, William Cowper, poet of the The Great Awakening (There is a Fountain Filled With Blood, God Moves in a Mysterious Way) because of mental illness, Job because of excruciating loss.  All of these experienced ‘simple’ depression, long before a pill was invented for it.  Some also experienced Spiritual Depression.  Job wished that he had been carried directly from the womb to the grave.  “It would have been better…”  You may not want to die, you just don’t care any longer if you live.  Or you may feel that you already have.  Died, that is.

The Dark Night of the Soul
What do I mean by Spiritual Depression?  It is sometimes referred to as ‘Desertion.’  God has abandoned you.  Perhaps you have given up all hope of life ever being different.  Remember, although it was a prophecy of the darkest moment of eternity, the inexplicable cry, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  was first uttered by a mere human.  It was the real experience of King David.  Please take a moment and read Psalm 88, an expression of the heart of one called Heman.  But he was no He Man, no super hero.  He was real, and honest.  This is the only Psalm with no resolution, no happy ending, no hope. 

You’re all I want; You’re all I’ve ever needed.
You’re all I want; Help me know You are near.

 But sometimes God is silent.  We ask, whine, beg, plead, self-examine, look for unconfessed sin, confess the same sins over and over.  And God says nothing.  It MAY not be your fault.  It may be God’s ‘fault.’  The Father seems to contradict His Word, His promises, Himself.  “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  And yet, He has abandoned you.  At least it feels like it.  Doesn’t it?

NEXT TIME:   WHY?

In the love of Christ, the question of which was settled once and for all, at the Cross,

Dan