Depression

StephanieStaples.com
Depression

Depression is a hot topic these days. Everywhere we look there are advertisements for remedies—natural, pharmaceutical, therapists, self-help books, etc. The “Christian world” has joined in the fight, doing it’s best to offer answers/solutions to one of the most difficult struggles of humanity.

Depression is not new. History is full stories of men and women being crushed by feelings of loneliness, isolation, despair, etc. Perhaps it seems more rampant now—and if that is the case, I am sure there are reasons. But depression is not a new phenomenon.

That said, I’ve been wondering lately why we, in our “modern age,” have suddenly decided that we need to SOLVE this very normal problem? (Yes, I said normal. Some struggle more than others, but feelings of depression ARE normal. My heart has been aching for the many who have shared their struggles with anxiety/depression with me and who have been told that something is “wrong” with them.) Maybe it’s because our culture has a problem dealing with anything uncomfortable. We want to “fix” everything, instead of learning to endure (or help others endure) what can’t always be fixed.

I understand what it feels like to be in a dark pit, unable to breathe, wishing my life were over. The feelings were at their worst when I was put on medication for my neck. The side effects were horrible. If I had given in to the thought that something was “wrong” with me, I would have just felt worse!

What got (gets) me through was (is) when I remembered a man I read about whose feelings of loneliness, isolation, and anxiety got so bad hat he began sweating drops of blood. The Man I am referring to is Christ.

Hebrews reminds us that Christ, when He took on human flesh, suffered in EVERY WAY as we do, so He can sympathize with our weaknesses. This applies to depression and anxiety.

George MacDonald said it well, “From the lowest, weakest tone of suffering, up to the loftiest pitch, the divinest acme of pain, there is not one pang to which the sensorium of the universe does not respond . . . God, in the simplest, most literal, fullest sense, and not by sympathy alone, suffers with his creatures.”

Before He took up His cross, Christ experienced the darkest moments any human has ever and will ever face. He was engaged in a war that would have killed anyone who did not have the power of God resting inside of Him. Was something wrong with Jesus? No. Was He in sin, or did He lack faith, because He felt so low and was shaking with anxiety? No.

Christ endured everything for our sake. And He was only able to do so because despite His humanity, He was one with God. His communion with His Father, while it did not relieve the physical and emotional pain, enabled Him to endure it.

I do believe that there ARE things many of us can do to escape the “pit.” Sometimes depression IS selfish. But other times, it is not. The point is, no matter the reason, depression is not “abnormal” and Christians need to stop feeling condemned (and others need to stop condemning) when they experience it. They are not “lesser” or “weaker” or “faithless,” just because they encounter darkness more than others (in fact, those dark moments may lead them even closer to the Father). Some of the greatest “saints of old” experienced severe bouts of depression (David, Elijah, Paul). Did this make them strange, or unholy, or useless to society? No. It made them human.

Depression is not sin. It is a weakness in our humanity. It is but another sign of our need for Something (Someone) greater than ourselves.

If you or someone you love suffers with depression, please know that Christ understands your struggle and that, though you may not immediately face relief, He will be with you through it. His Life and Light inside of you (the same Life and Light that was in Christ as a human) can and will give you the strength to endure.

“Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame . . . “ Hebrews 12:2

“For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews
4:15-16

Stephanie

“Ease and prosperity and comfort—indeed, the absence of those things you mentioned—are far from what God intends us to have. What if these things, or the lack of them, should be but the means of our gaining something in its very nature so much better that…” George MacDonald, The Marquis Secret