Depression, Its Cause, Cure, And Prevention

(Psalms 42 NASB) "As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for Thee, O God. {2} My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God? (The first thing we notice is that this person is a believer, a Christian.) {3} My tears have been my food day and night, While they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" (This depressed Christian appears, to those who look on, to be God-less. The spectators conclude that if this man really knew God or if there was a God, such as he claims to know, he would have no reason to be depressed. David now recalls a time when he was not depressed and when God felt near.) {4} These things I remember, and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, With the voice of JOY and THANKSGIVING, a multitude keeping festival. (The days of joy and peace seem far away now and he asks . . {5} Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why hav!

e you become disturbed within me? (The word despair means to be bowed down, laid out prostrate, humbled, it describes a person who has collapsed emotionally and spiritually. David has been asking himself questions and now he offers himself counsel.) Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence. (Now David prays.) {6} O my God, my soul is in despair (has collapsed, is bowed low) within me; Therefore I remember Thee from the land of the Jordan, And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. {7} Deep calls to deep at the sound of THY WATERFALLS; ALL THY BREAKERS and THY WAVES have rolled over me. {8} The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, A prayer to the God of my life. {9} I will say to God my rock, "WHY HAST THOU FORGOTTEN ME? WHY DO I GO MOURNING because of the oppression of the enemy?" {10} As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, While they say to me all day long, "WHERE IS YOU!

R GOD?" {11} WHY are you in despair, O my soul? And WHY have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance, and my God."

In this passage we hear, not just the voice of King David, but the voice of Joe Christian as well. For here is the experience of every believer in every age. At one time or another you have been or will be depressed. You will have to face, deal with, and fight depression on some level, all your life. Lord willing the lesson for this hour will help you fight wisely.

Depression is sometimes brought on by physical problems. I am not qualified to speak to those issues. So, my first advice to someone having serious problems with melancholy is to get a physical. See your medical doctor, tell him what is going on. Make certain that you are not trying to fight a spiritual enemy that is, in reality, a physical one. Once you have determined there is no physical cause for your depressed state then you can get to work on the spiritual issues that are behind your depression. It is with spiritual depression that I am concerned today.

There are three things that must be true of you if you hope to avoid serious problems with depression.

1. First you must BE RIGHT WITH GOD.

2. Second, you must DO WHAT IS RIGHT in the eyes of God.

3. Third, you must KNOW AND APPLY THE TRUTH ABOUT GOD.

My fist contention is this. In order to deal with depression, or come out of depression, or guard against depression, YOU MUST BE RIGHT WITH GOD! You must be saved by faith in Jesus Christ if you ever hope to deal with the hardships and trials of life without being crippled by depression. Friend, the problem is this. If you are not a Christian you are without God and, therefore, you have no hope in this world or in the next. Hear the word of God on this.

(Ephesians 2:12-19 NASB) ". . . remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having NO HOPE AND WITHOUT GOD IN THE WORLD. (Unregenerate man is in a hopeless situation. He has no strength of his own and no God to help him. He is without hope. There is no awareness of the love of God for him.. There is no awareness of son-ship shed abroad in his heart by God the Holy Spirit. The non-Christian is a being without God and without hope in this life or the next. Therefore, he is prone to fear, anxiety, panic, depression. But things are different for the believer.) {13} But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (As an unbeliever I was separate from God because of my sin. But now, by faith in Jesus, my sins have been done away with, forgiven. I have been reconciled to God. In Christ I have entered into God's presence. No!