A friend of mine spent four years working in psychiatric wards in hospitals while he was in college and graduate school. He said the approach to the patients seemed to be the same: it would begin with medication, individual counseling and group therapy and often lead to EST (electric shock therapy). Although the psychiatrist seemed about as imbalanced as the patients, the counseling often did some good because the patients would learn from him a more orderly plan for their life (the psychiatrist’s) than their own; however, it seldom resulted in health. The medications provided an artificial balance, but not a real one. Eventually the EST would result in a “forgetting” of the problems and provide relief for a while. But a return to the environment from whence the patients came would remind the patients of why they were depress; this often resulted in a return to the psychiatric ward. Of course, eventually the EST treatments would begin to scramble the patients’ brain and distort their ability to think. Why did these approaches not work? In spite of the fact psychiatric medicine has some helpful diagnostic tools, there just weren't any definitive answers.
Everyone is susceptible to depression. We might call it a “mood swing” or say we are having a “bad day,” but depression is depression. It might last for a short time or might reach what is called “clinical depression,” that is a severe level.
Perhaps the thought of personal depression is discouraging (depressing?). Let me assure you that some of the giants of our faith had devastating bouts of depression. At one time Moses was so depressed with leading Israel that he asked God to take his life (Numbers 11:10-15). Also, Elijah, one of the two humans who never tasted death, experienced a similar death wish. We are in good company when we are depressed, although this fact offers little solace.
“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” (Romans 15:4) Ah, there are answers, real answers, effective answers. God has recorded them in His Word.
Textual Background: I have found the most concentrated amount of Biblical answers in a couple of the events from the life of Elijah. Elijah was a prophet to Israel [at the time God’s nation was divided into the Northern Kingdom (Israel) and the Southern Kingdom, Judah]. At the time King Ahab and his wife Jezebel had saturated the country with the idol Baal. In order to prove Baal was nothing, Elijah set up a contest on Mount Carmel (supposedly Baal’s holy mountain). This contest is recorded in I Kings 18:20-40. The 450 Baal prophets were to build an altar, lay a sacrifice on it, and pray that their God would send fire from heaven to light the sacrifice and prove his lordship (vv. 23-25). The Baal prophets built their altar and laid their bull on it. Then they began to pray and pray and pray (vs. 26). They even cut themselves with knives in an effort to get their god’s attention (vs. 28), but there was no response. Of course, Elijah offered some interesting commentary to them as they were failing (vs. 27). Then it was Elijah’s turn. He built an altar, dug a trench around it, filled it with water, and laid the sacrifice on the altar (vv. 30-35). At the time of evening sacrifice, Elijah prayed and the Lord sent such an intense fire from heaven that it consumed the bull, the wood, the stones of the altar, the dust around it, and all the water in the trench (vv. 36-38). Suddenly the people cried out, “The Lord, He is God!” (vs. 39) If the Baal prophets hadn’t had a bad enough day, Elijah had them seized and killed all four hundred fifty of them.
What does all this have to do with understanding depression? Everything! Certainly in Elijah’s mind the Mt. Carmel victory should have been complete; now Yahweh would assume His rightful place as the Lord of Israel. Wrong! When Jezebel heard of the fate of her prophets, she vowed to kill Elijah (I Kings 19:1-2). Upon discovering this, Elijah ran for his life, went to Beersheba, and prayed that he might die (vv. 3-5). As we read this account from Elijah’s life, we are going to see the classic symptoms of depression being revealed and God’s solution to depression. Let’s begin with the definition of depression and the symptoms Elijah experienced.
1 Kings 19:1-5
Perhaps the best definition for depression is “a loss of hope.” When we find ourselves in what we perceive to be a hopeless situation, we will grow depressed. A person who is in a dead-end job, with no “hope” of getting a different one, will grow depressed. When a person is in a relationship that has no perceivable hope of improvement, the result is depression. In fact, a depression might be experienced in such a simple circumstance as owning a car that is such a “lemon” there seems to be no hope of it ever running properly. Elijah had great hope that all of Israel would respond to God’s igniting the sacrifice by turning to the living God. Instead, he found himself running for his life. He lost hope; he became severely depressed. Many of the symptoms of clinical depression manifested themselves at this time.
Fear (“…he arose and ran for his life…” vs. 3a): Now one might think this fear was justified, and he should have run for his life. God had just sent fire from heaven; God was certainly capable of protecting him. While there are times in Scriptures when God commands his prophets to flee; in fact twice Elijah we commanded to change locations for the sake of his safety. However, this was not one of those times.
Isolation (“…and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and sat down under a broom tree.” vs. 3b-4a): Elijah left his servant behind and separated himself from everyone else.
Death wish (And he prayed that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life…” (vs. 4b): Elijah was not suicidal, but rather had lost hope that circumstances could improve and didn’t want to live with the misery anymore. He prayed to die. This is a death wish. Have you ever experienced this?
Inferiority complex (“…for I am no better than my fathers.” vs. 4): Ah yes, the hopelessness of realizing ones sinfulness.
Lethargy (…The as he lay and slept…” vs. 5): Why would a person muster up the energy to go on with hopelessness staring him in the face? Depression had robbed him of both the desire and energy to continue.
Dietary issues (“…suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, ‘Arise and eat.’ Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water.” (vv. 5b-6): Obviously, Elijah’s hopelessness and depression robbed him of his appetite. It’s not uncommon for the dietary issue of gluttony to accompany depression.
The dietary and lethargy issues continued as can be seen in the fact he laid down once more (vs. 6b) and had to be awakened by the angel to eat again. However, the angel was some cook; Elijah went in the strength of that food forty days until he reached Mt. Horeb (Mt. Sinai). Upon arriving at Horeb, he once again isolated himself by going into a cave. Here we see the next symptom of depression.
Superiority complex (In response to God’s asking why Elijah was in the cave, Elijah said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek my life.” (vs. 10): According to his warped interpretation of events, he now conceived of himself as being better than everyone else in all of Israel; all of the rest had abandoned God and were definitely inferior to his superior faith.
While there is more to be extracted from these events, it is sufficient to make the case. The question is, “How do we deal with such hopelessness in our lives or the lives of others?” The only successful way it to handle depression is the way God handled Elijah’s.
Step 1: Meet Physical Needs
As we have already seen, God sent an angel to meet Elijah’s physical needs. The angel gave Elijah food and water, then allowed him to rest some more. The second time Elijah was fed he was directed to go to Horeb. There, once again, he isolated himself by going into a cave. As long as a person is distracted with his physical needs, these needs will be a stumbling block for his recognition of his spiritual needs. Also, note that God didn’t just “tell” him what was wrong, but rather led him through questioning (as He did with Adam and Eve in the garden – Genesis 3) force Elijah to verbally state (and commit to) his errant logic prior to shattering the logic that depressed him.
Step 2: Restoration of divine fellowship
It was necessary for God to “get Elijah’s attention” in order to restore fellowship with him. This is not to say that Elijah had renounced his faith, but rather that his intimacy with God was interrupted with a changed focal point. God “got Elijah’s attention” in a way that only God could do. Having Elijah stand on the mountain, “…the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.” I would say after the wind, earthquake, and fire God had refocused Elijah. He was then able to talk to him in a still small voice. As long as a person refuses, either ignorantly or willfully, to focus on God, hopelessness will reign. Sometimes people blame God for their problems. Sometimes they just ignore Him as the solution. Whatever the reason, the problem is the same: trusting God is not happening and must be restored.
Step 3: Proper interpretation
“Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (vs. 18) An interpretation apart from God is irrational and faithless. Prior to healing the depression, the correct interpretation must be accepted. How does one miss the presence of seven thousand people? Easy, just lose hope and be depressed; it will blind you to reality.
Step 4: Obedience
“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as King over Syria. Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place.” (vv. 15-16) Once trust is restored, it is time to deny ones self and respond to redemption with obedience. With lethargy demolished, self denied, love and trust restored, life becomes eternally fruitful. Elijah joyfully obeyed God and eventually was taken to heaven in a fiery chariot. This same victory and fruitfulness is ours in Christ.
Simple, huh? It would be nice if we could just review these events from the life of Elijah and have an instantaneous victory over our depressions. Sometimes it does require just a review of these passages when we understand depression from a Biblical perspective. Sometimes we are so depressed it requires experiencing the whole process. Whatever the case may be, may God grant us the wisdom to live in a blessed state because we are hearing the Word of God and keeping it. (Luke 11:28)
Now we can look to the New Testament and see that the hope is confirmed and is raised to a new level. After revealing his plans to go to Spain, the Apostle Paul said, “For I hope to see you on my journey…” (Romans 15:24) Imbedded in this hope is a measure of uncertainty; he wasn’t sure he could stop by Rome on the way to Spain. However, the meaning of the term hope in Romans 15:13 is much different. “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” The hope found in this verse could be defined as an unrealized certainty. It is a divine hope; rooted in God’s character and empowered by the Holy Spirit that crushes depression and replaces it with joy and peace. It is a living hope (I Peter 1:3) as certain as the resurrection of Jesus. It is a hope that every believer is to have, defend and be prepared to explain (I Peter 3:15) It is a hope that never disappoints because God has poured his love into our hearts. Romans 8:24-25 Be assured that the hope is available and effective. If you can’t find it, you do not need to enter into months and years of psycho-therapy, but find a mature Christian who can help you refocus, reunite, and discover the perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3) that comes from trusting in God.
