The Bible and Mental Health: “I am depressed”

The Bible and Mental Health
Nehemiah 8:10

INTRODUCTION:
The Appalachian Trail, a hiking route that stretches from Maine to Georgia, is more than 2,000 miles long. Millions visit some portion of it each year. Among them are a few thousand who try to traverse its multifaceted entirety. Only about a quarter succeed. In 2017, Tara Dower joined the unsuccessful three-fourths when she suffered a panic attack mid attempt. In the years since, however, Dower became a successful ultramarathoner. Still stung by her prior failure, she set a goal that only fellow lunatics in the distance-running community could even begin to comprehend: not just to return to the trail for a second attempt but to break the record for completing it in the least time. She set out on a support-team-assisted journey of sometimes up to 60 miles a day, subsisting on Goldfish and gummies while moving and taking in larger meals at night, and often camping below the stars. Hoping to beat Karel Sabbe, the previous record-holder, who, Dower admitted, was faster, she slept less (five hours a night was standard) and moved for more hours each day. On September 21, 40 days and 18 hours after she started, a weary but triumphant Dower reached the trail’s terminus ten hours before Sabbe had. Powered, occasionally through tears, by her “love” of the trail, Dower may now enjoy not just the exhausted satisfaction familiar to distance athletes but also the personal gratification of having triumphed over her past self.

Have you ever been discouraged? I guess we all have at some point. The word “courage” comes to us from the Latin which means “heart.” To be “discouraged” means to “lose heart.” Jesus taught His disciples to pray at all times so they would not “lose heart” (Luke 18:1).

Have you ever been depressed? Now we’re getting into a little deeper, darker type of thinking. I’m not talking about clinical depression where you need professional help like medication or some other type of treatment. I’m talking about a stage between discouragement and clinical depression.

A young lady finds it difficult to get out of bed, not on a specific morning but every single morning. She feels directionless and down. Her kids need her but she doesn’t have the energy to make herself available to them. She can’t even find the energy to prepare meals for her family.

Or a young man has a hard time thinking clearly. He has lost his job and can’t seem to crawl out of the hole that he has fallen into. He doesn’t interview for new jobs because he is so discouraged, he fires himself before anyone else will hire him. He sits at home, plays on the computer although he really wants to have a job. But he keeps spiraling downward.

CONSIDER SOME DEFINITIONS:
First, I want to say again that I’m not talking about clinical depression, which can last for months and even years. I’m talking about discouragement and depression that can last a few days, even weeks.

Depression is also different from sadness. God created sadness; its a reaction God designed to slow us down, to process grief. But when we are sad, our self-esteem is not affected. Our hope is still intact. We cry and get relief or we talk to someone and we get encouragement and we are strengthened and get over within some short span of time. Depression is worse than that.

Depression comes about when we get angry, feel failure or rejection, family issues like divorce or abuse, fear, feelings of helplessness, feeling like you don’t have any control over your life, grief and loss, guilt or shame, loneliness and isolation, negative thinking, bad beliefs, and stress. A lot of times, people experiencing these types of stressors feel good in the morning, but then they start getting more depressed as the day progresses.

One thing I want to emphasize is that spiritually strong, faithful men in the Bible struggled with depression at least some points in their lives. Men like David (Psalm 38; 51) and Nehemiah (chapters 1-2), Elijah (1 Kings 19), and Job.

If you are struggling with serious discouragement, that we might consider a sign of depression, how long have you felt that way? What was going on with you when you first felt depressed? Do you have a family history of depression? Do you have trouble focusing? Have you lost interest in doing things you once enjoyed? Has your eating pattern changed or your sleep patterns? Are you feeling guilty over fearful about things in your life? Do you foresee a positive future for yourself or are you unable to do that? Have you ever had thoughts about injuring yourself?

Clearly I am not a mental health professional. But, I am a Christian who is concerned that we have the type of healthy mental habits that God wants us to have and that He created us to have. If someone needs professional help, then they need to get professional help. I am not the one to give that to them.

But, there are some things that we can do and teachings from God that we need to consider when we get discouraged and we start drifting into depression.

SOME STEPS TO TAKE:
1. Make sure you are getting some form of exercise. Even just walking for 30 minutes a day can have a positive impact on your mental health. The current issue of Christian Family magazine has an article in it on exercising as a family. Check it out!

2. Think honestly about what might be the cause of the depression. Maybe keep track over a 30-day period to see if your depression happens on a regularly basis and evaluate what might be causing it.

3. Make sure you are thinking clearly. One of my professors in college, brother Wendell Winkler, encouraged us Bible-students not to make important decisions when we are discouraged. Most preachers resign on a Monday. But that’s the worst day to be making those types of decisions! Maybe it would help if you make a list of 10 things you like about yourself, three of which need to relate to your physical attributes.

One thing I use to do with Ana because she would dread doing something; I got this out of a book. Before she went somewhere or did something, I would ask her to rank on a scale of 1-10 how much or little she expected to enjoy what she was going to do. Then, when she got home, I would ask her how much she actually enjoyed what she had done. Always, she enjoyed the event more than what she had expected. Life is that way, it seems.

4. Get the encouragement you need from your family or friends. What is your level of involvement in the church and her activities? There are a number of activities you could be involved in that would put you around other Christians who could and would be a source of encouragement for you.

5. Here’s where my role specifically, as a preacher of the Gospel and a shepherd in the Lord’s church, gets involved… pay attention to spiritual issues. Do you have a sin that you have not quit or someone you have offended that you haven’t made right yet? Do you need forgiveness from someone or do you need to forgive someone?

Are you motivated to walk with Jesus Christ on a regular basis? I am not suggesting that prayer and Bible study and worship would stop someone from experiencing clinical depression. I’m not suggesting this is the cure all for everything that ails us. But, they are important steps to be making because the One who created our minds is the same One who designed the Bible for our spiritual and emotional health.

SOME BIBLICAL TEXTS:
Elijah - 1 Kings 19:4 - life has mountains and valleys. Don’t think that all of life is going to be a walk in a rose garden. There are going to be sad times; be prepared for them.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote this poem that has helped me in my life as a preacher:

The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.

My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the mouldering past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
And the days are dark and dreary.

Be still, sad heart, and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.

1 Kings 19:5-6 - Elijah needed food; God provided. Elijah needed rest; God provided. Elijah needed help; God provided (1 Kings 19:15-17).

Psalm 42:5 - Remember the goodness of God and grasp the fact that we have to live by faith. We all have to trust what we cannot feel or what we cannot see. What we have is the Word of God to strengthen our faith and a long history of God staying true to His word. Remind yourself of wonderful promises in the Word of God that you have loved. Write them down and tape them to your refrigerator.

Isaiah 61:3 - God is concerned and He wants to reach out through the Gospel of Christ to those who are depressed and discouraged. God will give consolation.

Take home message: When life gets tough, lean on Jesus and His word for comfort and guidance. You are never alone in your struggles.