Psalm 42
Here we have a mirror into the psyche of mankind in the battle with depression that comes upon all from time to time. In this psalm we witness the deep depression that came to David as it comes to many sons and daughters of Adam.
Later in the chapter we observe the triumph of faith. It ends as it begins. This song begins with faith and its holy desires toward God and communion with Him (verses 1, 2). But between the beginning and the ending there is despair and sorrow of heart. This is a window into the kind of sorrow through which Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, passed.
In verse 3 we observe the depression affecting David’s appestat, the area of the brain that regulates appetite and food intake. Verses 3 through 6 reveal the fierce struggle between depression and faith.
“My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, ‘Where is your God?’ When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast. Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within in? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of his countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down within me.”
A true psychological statement is declared in verse 3. Loss of appetite is often brought on by depression. Because his emotions became depressed, food became repulsive to David. He wrote that he lived on his tears—they were his food 24 hours a day. David the king tended to swing to extremes emotionally. He experienced great highs from time to time, but when he was down, he was really down. Those tendencies were passed on to his offspring.
A deep state of depression is again depicted in verses 10 and 11:
“I will say to my Rock, ‘Why have You forgotten me?’ As with a breaking of my bones, my enemies reproach me, while they say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’ Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?”
From the inspired record we learn that depression overtook several of God’s chosen leaders. Three examples will be given here: Jonah, Elijah, and Moses.
Jonah’s depression came upon him because of his resistance to the Holy Spirit. In his anger and despondency he asked God to end his life: “Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!” (Jonah 4:3; see also verses 8 and 9).
Jonah, the reluctant prophet, got himself into this state of mind because he did not want to go to Nineveh to warn the inhabitants of their evil ways and to call them to repentance and faith. He was angry with God because He was so merciful to the Ninevite “heathens.” Jonah wanted God to belie His character and destroy the Ninevites from sheer vindictiveness. He did not care for those people. He found no comfort in their salvation. But in Nineveh there were 60,000 persons more in tune with God than His sulking prophet!
Elijah on the other hand had just completed a great work for God on Mount Carmel. There he overthrew the worship of Baal and deposed the false prophets. God’s people, including the king, were deeply impressed with the preaching of Elijah that day. Elijah, although exhausted from the activity of the day, was jubilant. He was sure that the people had turned back to God. Perhaps he hoped that even Jezebel would be convinced. But alas, she became furious and threatened to execute him within 24 hours. Seized with terror that led to deep depression, Elijah lost his bearings, bolted and fled for his life.
After traveling a day’s journey he sat down utterly depressed and prayed to die.
“It is enough!” he said. “Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” (1 Kings 19:4). Self-worth at an all-time low, he longed for the grave.
But notice how God cared for him when he could not think rationally.
He let Elijah rest while an angel prepared food for him, awakened him, then told him to eat and drink, which he did. Then again he lay down, and slept some more. Again later, the angel came to him, touched him, told him a second time to eat, and to be on his way.
Elijah traveled for forty more days, arriving at Mount Sinai. There he hid himself in the dark recesses of a cave. God then came to Elijah, asking questions of him. He reminded God of his zeal and good works for Him. He felt he was all alone. Everyone was against him (verses 10, 13). He thought all of Israel was against him. But in reality only one was—the apostate queen. In this condition of despondency Elijah pled “with God against Israel” (Romans 11:2, 3), the very people God sent him to save!
In love and tenderness God dealt with His despondent prophet. He spoke to him in “a still small voice” (verse 12). The literal meaning of that phrase is, “a delicate whispering voice.” This is what Elijah needed. Today persons in despondency and depression need to hear that “delicate whispering voice.”
Moses also suffered from severe depression that led to despair. This came upon him because of the pressure of administrative duties. This pressure came from the people because of several events. In Numbers 11 the problem was murmuring over food. The people grew tired of the diet God gave them. They “lusted for the flesh pots of Egypt.” They murmured and complained to Moses. In desperation he also complained to God, not about the food, but because he felt that God had laid burdens of government upon him too heavy to be carried: “Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all these people on me?” (Numbers 11:11).
In his despondency and depression, Moses continued, “I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now! …” God then instructed Moses to delegate his responsibilities. God assured him that He would be with the seventy officers chosen to take over some of his administrative duties.
Some people feel that depression is a sin. It can be, but in and of itself it is not.
Sinning can lead to depression, but all depression does not come from sinning. Depression may be related to several factors such as one’s physical makeup and body chemistry, or glandular functions. Emotional patterns and personality structure may enter into the problem. Or learned-feeling concepts can produce depression. Circumstances that bring on anxiety and stress can produce depression. The guilt of sin from known disobedience definitely drags one down into this mental state. I am not talking about a general sense of guilt. Usually a general sense of guilt is a pseudo-guilt, a false guilt. When God deals with sin in the life of an individual, He is very specific. He points out the sin that needs to be confessed that the guilt may be removed so the person may be comforted (see John 16:7-9). A general sense of guilt without known sin comes from another source—either from the enemy or from a falsely educated conscience.
There are things that can be done by an individual in meeting depression. Avoid being alone. Seek help from others (who are helpful and joyful). Sing. Singing lifts the spirits. So does praising God and giving thanks. Read the psalms out loud. Learn to lean on God’s promises. Rest confidently in the presence of God’s comforting Spirit (Psalm 42:5).
Problems need to be faced squarely.
Accept whatever responsibility you have in the matter. By Christ’s grace, forgive everyone involved in your problem, including yourself. As Christ asked for forgiveness for those who crucified Him (Luke 23:24), He gives grace and faith to us today to enable us to pray that prayer. His prayer of forgiveness included you also.
A question you need to ask yourself is this: Do you really want to be healed? Some persons do not want to be. They like to feel depressed and low. They want to depend on the chemical reactions and stimuli in their nervous system caused by anger and/or depression. Those feelings are familiar to them through habitual indulgence in self-pity. Others like to feel angry. And yet others like to feel sorry for themselves. So ask yourself the question, “Do I really want to be healed?” Then ask the Holy Spirit to show you what the real problem is, and how you need to pray about it. He will help. He will direct. He will comfort (Romans 8:26; John 16:7).
We want to return to Elijah’s and Moses’ experiences of depression.
Elijah had been so mentally low that he prayed to die. From that deep depression he recovered. God’s goodness led him to exercise faith, and he came out of his mental state of despondency and despair. Not only did God bring him out of his depression, He translated him. Elijah did not die. He was taken to heaven.
It is of special interest to note that Elijah along with Moses (the first one to be raised from the grave) were sent from heaven to give encouragement to Jesus shortly before He went through His mental agony in Gethsemane and on Calvary. They “spoke of His death which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem “ (Luke 9:30, 31).
Moses was the first to be resurrected from the dead. “Death reigned from Adam to Moses.” Satan, the self-appointed warden over the grave, claimed it as his prison house. His claim had the appearance of truth. For millennia no one was set free. He fought fiercely to keep Moses incarcerated in the tomb. But Michael the Archangel simply rebuked Satan and called Moses back to life (Romans 5:14; Jude 9).
Moses encouraged Jesus by his testimony and his presence. To see and hear the resurrected Moses must have given Jesus reassurance, hope, and confidence. Jesus knew He must “taste death for everyone.” He must die the death of the damned, “the wages” of our sin. He must die the equivalent of the “second death” (Hebrews 2:9; Romans 6:23; Revelation 20:6).
Before and during the dying process, Christ was to experience to the fullest degree the depths of the feelings of depression, despondency, and despair as the full weight of sin rested upon His nervous system. His heart ruptured from the experience. His mind nearly shattered as sin rent and tore it with a force greater than the earthquake that ripped rocks from their foundations as He died.
So Elijah and Moses were sent to bring reassurance, to let Jesus know that by God’s grace and by faith in God He would come through the most excruciating experience just ahead. Elijah, formerly troubled mentally and later translated, encouraged Jesus in the closing hours of His life on earth.As Jesus entered the garden of Gethsemane, the weight of sin began to crush Him.
In Mark 14:33 we have recorded for us the state of mind experienced by Christ. “He began to be troubled and deeply distressed.” He was in terrible turbulence. The word “troubled” is not found in Matthew’s account of Gethsemane, but is very significant. It indicates something of the horror of the great darkness that fell upon Abraham (Genesis 15:12), but worse and much more frightful.
Never had man experienced such terrifying sorrow as that which came upon Christ. Never before had Christ experienced anything like this. Depression and despair coming suddenly upon Him at this time terrified Him. He trembled. The terror was grounded internally as He was “made to be sin” for you and me. He was made to serve with our sins, and was thus wearied with our iniquities. He was made “a curse” for us (Galatians 3:13). The curse of mankind was transferred to Him as our Bondsman, our Surety, our Representative.
Writing of Christ’s distress, Mark chose a word meaning deep depression. Jesus felt the heaviness that comes in depression. As Christ gave Himself in exchange for our sins, those sins became His. Never did He commit sin. Never! But He felt as though He had.
David captured the depression of Christ brought on by sin in these words: “For innumerable evils have surrounded Me; My iniquities have overtaken Me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of My head; therefore My heart fails Me” (Psalm 40:12). Full of anxiety, anguish and sorrow, Christ was depressed and dejected.
Staggering like a drunken man and nearly falling, Jesus exclaimed, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death” (Mark 14:34). That sorrow of mind nigh unto death forced Him into a fetal position as He lay trembling on the ground (verse 45). Tormented with our sin and guilt, He tasted death for all mankind and abolished the curse. The tasting of the death is not to be construed to mean that He merely put it to His lips and sampled it. He drank the cup of death to its last dregs in Gethsemane and on Calvary.
Christ was in perilous mental agony as our sins rested so heavy upon His soul. In this state of mind, bloody sweat was forced from the pores of His body and moistened the ground where He lay in tormenting agony. Christ is the Alpha and Omega of depression and sorrow. Because Christ went through this excruciating experience, you can know that He understands you when you go through unexplainable mental pain. You may draw comfort from this.
During those times you can simply rest in His care and keeping. You may not be able to pray because of despair. Your mind may be clouded because of depression. Then don’t try to think. Jesus loves you. Your infirmities are understood by Him. Simply rest in His care and keeping. He will bring you through your terrible ordeal. He has never lost a battle, and He never will.
Our Savior’s invitation, “Come unto Me, … and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:29) is a prescription for the healing of depression, despondency and despair. In Him you may find help because He is the Wonderful Counselor. He has been touched with the “feelings of your infirmities.” He knows what kind of and how much help you need. He has been there. He is with you (Isaiah 9:6; Hebrews 4:15; 2:18).