NOTE: If there is immediate danger of self-harm, urgent help should be sought at once. Preserving life is not unbelief.
Mental health treatment has never been more available, more visible, or more openly discussed than it is today. Conversations that once stayed behind closed doors now happen in workplaces, churches, schools, social media communities, and family living rooms. People are talking about mental health conditions and emotional exhaustion with a level of honesty that would have felt unusual even twenty years ago. Yet while awareness has grown, one challenge remains surprisingly common. Are we turning to worldly solutions at the expense of what God’s Word has to say?
Consider Psalm 19:7-11.
In it, six synonyms for the Bible are used: the law of Yahweh, the testimony of Yahweh, the precepts of Yahweh, the commandment of Yahweh, the fear of Yahweh, and the judgments of Yahweh.
This is what the Holy Spirit tells us about God’s Word, through this Psalm:
- It is perfect, restoring the soul
- It is sure, making wise the simple
- It is right, rejoicing the heart
- It is pure, enlightening the eyes
- It is clean, enduring forever
- It is true, and more desirable than money
In keeping God’s Word, we are told, there is great reward.
2 Timothy 3:16 says: “All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness…”
Ephesians 6 calls the Bible “the sword of the Spirit”, and Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the word of God is “living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword.”
Psalm 119 is practically a love letter to God’s Word, as written by an anonymous author who was in great distress. “This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your word has revived me. (Ps 119:50)
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Help and healing are possible through our Christian rehab programs.
If you are ready to take the next step and learn more about how a Christian rehab center can aid in your recovery, feel free to reach out to us at any time.
Do Christians Really Deal with Depression?
On the pages of this blog, you will occasionally see us mention one of many luxury mental health facilities in California. But do Christians really deal with depression?
If you doubt that some do, read this article on Spurgeon and his battle with depression. Fairly early in his career, he was preaching in an overcrowded church and someone maliciously shouted out that there was a fire. You’ve no doubt heard the expression about crying fire in a crowded theater. Well, this was like that.
In the stampede that followed, a few people died. It is said that Spurgeon suffered from great depression for the rest of his life because of this. He is said to have commented, “I pity a dog who has to suffer what I have.”
For further reason, try this article: “Strategies for Fighting Depression Well.”
The point is not that sorrow is strange to the Christian. Scripture never speaks that way. The saints of God have walked through deep waters from the beginning. Job sat in ashes. David watered his couch with tears. Elijah sat under the broom tree and asked that he might die. Jeremiah was called the weeping prophet, and our Lord Jesus Himself was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”
So no, depression does not automatically prove that a man is faithless, false, or forsaken by God. The bruised reed is still precious to Christ. The smoking flax is not snuffed out by His hand.
But this must also be said with equal force: sorrow does not give the Christian permission to abandon the Word of God as though it were too thin, too old, or too simple for the trouble of the soul. The Scriptures are not a decorative verse painted on the wall while the real work is done elsewhere. The Word of God is the ordained instrument by which the Spirit exposes sin, strengthens faith, gives wisdom, restores hope, and fixes the heart upon Christ.
The Christian must not treat depression as though it were beyond the reach of doctrine. What we believe about God matters greatly when darkness comes. Is God sovereign, or is my suffering loose in the universe? Is Christ sympathetic, or is He distant from my tears? Are His promises true, or do they only comfort other people? Has my sin been nailed to the cross, or must I carry it forever?
These are not small questions.
This is why the depressed Christian needs more than vague encouragement. He needs Truth. “Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.” (John 17:17)
He needs the church. “…not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25)
He needs prayer. “… apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
He needs the Psalms. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105)
He needs brothers and sisters who will not flatter despair, but will also not crush him with careless words. “… speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father…” (Eph 6:19-20)
He needs to be reminded, patiently and repeatedly, that:
- Christ is a faithful High Priest (Heb 2:17),
- the Father disciplines those He loves (Heb 4:4-13),
- the Spirit helps us in weakness (Rom 8:26), and
- the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to be revealed (Rom 8:18).
This does not mean every sorrow is solved by one sermon, one verse, or one stern rebuke. The soul is not a machine. The Lord often heals slowly. We must meditate on God’s Word.
The world may offer a labels, theories, and treatments, but the Christian has something better than a map drawn by men in the fog (Prov. 3:5). He has the living Word of the living God. And when the heart is cast down, that Word still speaks: “Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him.”
(For further reading, see 10 Bible Verses to Help with Depression.)
Get Help Today
Help and healing are possible through our Christian rehab programs.
If you are ready to take the next step and learn more about how a Christian rehab center can aid in your recovery, feel free to reach out to us at any time.