Job's Depression Series

3. Help from good comforters, which is NOT what Job gets!!!

God gives us fellow soldiers in this battle to help us and to give us comfort in the things that we struggle with. I believe this includes depression. The temptation for the one with depression is to completely cut themselves off from those who really can help them and to turn to people who cannot help them at all. Some go to others who are suffering depression or struggling with it for help because they think that only those people truly can understand what they are going through. But what the person truly needs who is suffering from depression are good comforters and counselors who will lift them up and help them with the word of God.

“[God] comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

God’s word does equip us to comfort each other and to give wise counsel to those who are being overcome by depression and led into sinful thinking and actions. Lord willing, we will talk about how we can help our brothers and sisters who are struggling with depression next time, examining the responses of Job’s friends to show what not to do, and then we will (Lord willing) look at some biblical responses to depression.

CONCLUSION

I don’t know if you have agreed or disagreed with the things that I have talked about in this lesson. You may have strong opinions against what I have said, but I would encourage you please to consider these things. Please consider what the word of God has to say. We need to trust first in our God and His word, which is what should control our thinking and our actions. Jesus must be Lord. Not our emotions. Not depression. Not what psychiatrists and society tells us.

Also, if this is something that you do struggle with, I want you to know that there is hope for you in Christ to overcome depression. We as your brothers and sisters want to help you (and are called by God to help you) in any way we can to overcome and to receive the peace and comfort that only God can give.

Endnotes:

There are many resources I used in preparing this lesson:

• Looking Up from the Stubborn Darkness, by Edward T. Welch

• Counseling the Hard Cases, Edited by Stuart Scott and Heath Lambert

• The Biblical Counseling Manual, by Adam Pulaski

• Dealing with Depression, 2 Sermons by Casey Head

• Helping Those Suffering From Depression. Training Class. Taught by Dan Wickert. The Biblical Counseling Training Conference.

The medical community does not agree on the causes of depression. The common theory over the past 20 years has been that clinical depression is caused by a “chemical imbalance” in the brain. Although this is a common theory, it has not been proven as of yet, and honestly, cannot be proven. First, there is not even a test which exists that can find such a chemical imbalance. Secondly, even if a chemical imbalance could be found in the brain of a depressed person, there would be no way of proving whether this chemical imbalance was THE CAUSE of the depression or was A RESULT of the depression. The evidence does NOT show that depression is a “disease” or “illness”. A resources that shows this is: