Series: Healing For Damaged Emotions
#10 Dealing with Depression
May 17, 2009
As believers we live in the vortex of two worlds—this earthly planet and our heavenly home. We live between the physical and the spiritual, between the tangible and the intangible. This is what the Apostle Paul is talking about here in his 2nd letter to the Christians living in the ancient Greek city of Corinth. The image he uses is that of a treasure in earthen vessels, jars of clay.
The earthen vessels are our bodies and existence. We are made of clay, the dust of the ground, and we are fragile and easily broken. The treasure is the gospel of Christ, the truth of new life and the hope of eternal life. The treasure is the reality of something more than what this life offers. In some ways the fragility of this life, these jars of clay, keeps us humble and keeps us connected to God as the source of our strength and wholeness. It is our physical existence in this life that suffers from damaged emotions, that breaks down over time, and that is susceptible to the ravages of diseases.
Paul says, “We are sore pressed on every side, but not hemmed in.” He is referring to (A) life’s pressures and stresses that often seem to catapult us into times of depression. In our clay bodies, Paul describes, “We are perplexed by life’s complexities and confused by life’s twists and turns, but not crushed.” He continues, (B) “Persecuted by men, but not abandoned.” Simply because we claim the name of Jesus can lead to persecution, criticism, name-calling and the like. Being at odds with people certainly can lead to depression. Sometimes, as Paul describes, “We are struck down, but not destroyed.” Time and again we fall, Satan trips us up, people knock us down, life’s circumstances beat us up, but we are never completely destroyed. (C) We may lose the battle, but in Christ we have won the war. Life has a way of defeating us and sending us spiraling down into pits of depression.
I freely admit that I do not understand the duality of this treasure in our earthen bodies as Paul describes, and the complexities of these jars of clay with the interplay between the physical, the emotional and the spiritual. But what I do know is the hope that is ours through Christ, this treasure that we have that promises us survival and victory as we see in verse 7, “to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”
This is why we are dealing with the healing for damaged emotions. We recognize that these earthen bodies are susceptible to all kinds of diseases, but our healing is in Jesus, if not here and now, then ultimately for eternity.
II. We have seen during this study that our damaged emotions come more as a result of our reactions to life, not so much from life itself. Dr. David Seamands describes three main reactions that lead us into a depressed state of mind. They are indecision, anger, and injustice.
A. Indecision is often a precursor of depression. We read in James 1:8, “he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” Indecision is the uncertainty of making a decision that often includes fear. We are fearful of making a decision because it may be the wrong decision. A wrong decision will make people mad at us. They will then criticize us, gossip about us, and confront us reminding us of what we already know--that we are not as perfect as we think we should be. We feel powerless and trapped with no way out. The more powerless and trapped we feel, the less likely we are to make a decision, which leads to feeling more powerless and trapped. You end up being this double-minded person and as the downward spiral deepens, the result is depression.
B. The second reaction that leads to depression is anger. Some have defined depression as “frozen rage.” Ongoing depression is often caused by some underlying unresolved anger in your life. Who are you angry at? Who is it that hurt you or disappointed you? Who did you wrong? Maybe you have repressed it for so long that you really cannot name it, but it is poisoning your entire life and you are living in constant “anger mode.”
C. The third reaction causing depression is injustice, a sense of unfairness. As with anger, this sense of injustice is a good emotion that is valuable to our world. It is an emotion that exists in every reformer, every preacher and missionary, and to some degree in every Christian. The sense of injustice that is surrendered to Christ, cleansed by the Holy Spirit and controlled by God’s Word is very useful for spreading “Scriptural holiness” and reforming the nation, as John Wesley admonished.
But as a damaged emotion that is out of balance and coupled with unresolved anger, this sense of injustice easily becomes destructive leading to depression and misery.
III. Let me share with you some practical ways to help you overcome depression.
A. Don’t be alone. When you are depressed, the last thing you want to do is to be with people, but it is something you need to do. Almost always you need to buck up and put yourself around people. When you don’t feel like attending worship that is usually when you need it the most. That would include Adult Bible studies, small groups, crochet group, or whatever. Depression is so very self-centered and it feeds on itself making you become more self-focused. To break that spiral you need to be with people.
B. Seek help from others. When you are depressed everything is exaggerated. The anthill looks like a mountain. Vacuuming your home seems like vacuuming the Linc. This is why it is so important to have and develop Christian friends to whom you can turn when you are going through tough and difficult times. A friend who can meet you for coffee, or chat on the phone, or go for a walk. When you are depressed you don’t think straight and a trusted friend can help you gain proper perspective. Remember: you can no more pull yourself out of depression that you can get yourself out of quicksand.
C. A third help for depression is to praise and give thanks in everything. The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, “Remember and be thankful!” (2Tim 1) When he wrote to the Thessalonian Christians, Paul didn’t say, “Feel thankful.” He wrote, “In everything give thanks for this is the will of God concerning you.” Go for a walk and focus on all the variety of things that God created and verbally, out loud, give thanks to God for each one. Sit down with a cup of tea and write out all your blessings and thank God for each one. Again, it gets your focus off yourself.
D. Sing and make music. This helped King Saul tremendously. When he was brooding, he would call for the young David to play his lyre and sing to him, and that would encourage him. (1 Sam 16:14ff) Time and again David himself would sing a psalm in times of trouble. In fact as you read through the Psalms you discover that David would begin by praising God, then name the cause of his depression and end by praising God and affirming God’s presence, deliverance, healing, or some other promise of God.
E. Turn to God’s Word. The stories of God’s people can bring hope to us because many of them had gone through similar experiences. We can relate to their despair and see how God redeemed their situations. As I have mentioned, the book of Psalms is probably my favorite book because David describes the full range of negative emotions—anger, fear, loneliness, uncertainty, hatred, doubt, and depression to name a few. And David also describes the positive emotions of joy, happiness, peace, assurance, contentment, et al. Again a great help is to read them out loud which makes you focus on each word of God’s truth and healing.
F. Allow God’s Spirit to remind you that He is watching over you and comes along side of you to walk through life with you. In John Bunyan’s book, Pilgrim’s Progress, he writes, “I saw in my dream that Christian had now to enter another Valley—the darkest he had yet encountered. It was a very lonely place, where there was no waster, No one lived there, and its silence was the silence of the grave. Here Christian was to be more sternly tested than ever before.” Sometimes our depression feels like the deepest valley that we will never get out of. David reminds us of the deepest and darkest valley that any of us will face, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.”
Our God is always with you. Jesus said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” No matter the cause of your depression, no matter the state of your depression, no matter the length or depth of your depression, Jesus walks with you, side by side, and sometimes He even carries you.
These earthen vessels are weak and easily broken, but we have this treasure that overcomes this world, brings wholeness and takes us into God’s presence for time and eternity.