Are the feelings you are experiencing hard to put into words—or maybe you aren’t feeling anything at all? Is it a sadness, but you can’t put a finger on why? Does life seem flat and monotonous with no change in sight? Is it possible that you may be depressed?
In his minibook, Depression: The Way Up When You’re Feeling Down, Ed Welch explains it this way, “It is technically called depression, but it can’t be captured by a word. You feel numb, yet your head hurts; empty, yet inside there are screams; fatigue, yet fears abound. Things that were once pleasures now barely hold your attention. Your brain feels like it is in a fog. You feel weighted down.”
As Christians, we often feel guilty for not being filled with joy and having happy hearts. However, we need to remember that God doesn’t prescribe a happy life, but he does offer us hope. In this post, we share that hope from scripture to help with depression as well as wisdom and encouragement from some of our authors for times when you or a loved one experience feelings of depression.
For further reading on the topic, click any book title to learn more about resources that can help.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
James 1:2–4 NIV
These are not the easiest of God’s words to hear, and it would take some explanation to link them to your situation. But the absence of the word “depression” shouldn’t keep you from finding encouragement and purpose in this passage. James intentionally enlarges the scope of suffering when he writes, “trials of many kinds.” By doing this, he invites those who experience depression to learn that, whatever the cause, depression will test our faith and serve as a catalyst for growth rather than a reason for despair. Yes, depression is spiritual in the same way that all suffering brings us face-to-face with critical spiritual realities.
~ Ed Welch in Depression: Looking Up from the Stubborn Darkness
Your testimonies also are my delight; they are my counselors.
My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!
Psalm 119:24–25 ESV
Loss brings sadness. In turn, sadness can sometimes stall and settle into depression. Sometimes this happens suddenly. Most often it’s gradual, even unnoticed. Either way, you need help from God. In the middle of your fog, you need the piercing light of divine truth to break through and speak words of grace and comfort to your hurting soul. You could pray something like this: “Let your mercy come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight” (Psalm 119:77). Or you might pray like this: “Trouble and anguish have found me out, but your commandments are my delight” (Psalm 119:143).
When the trials of life seem to drain every bit of spiritual, physical, and emotional energy from you, God’s Word will be your strength. It ministers to your deepest agonies, and helps you gain eternal perspective, even perspective on the here and now. For that reason, you can receive strength by appreciating that the testimony of others in the Bible is a healing balm. Consider these words from the apostle Paul: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). Or, again, David says: “If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction” (Psalm 119:92). His cry is a testimony of persevering grace.
~ Paul Tautges in A Small Book for the Hurting Heart
And I will lead the blind
in a way that they do not know,
in paths that they have not known
I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I do,
and I do not forsake them.
Isaiah 42:16 ESV
So maybe you don’t know all that is needed to assuage your melancholy today (I don’t presume to have all the answers either!). But thankfully your condition is neither a surprise nor a mystery to your Maker. He knows how to turn the darkness before you into light and the rough places into level ground (Isaiah 42:16). More than that, he’s promised to accomplish his redemptive work in your life. Though his timing and methods may look much different from what you would expect or prefer, take courage by choosing to lean onto his understanding in the days ahead (Proverbs 3:5). God will not withhold anything necessary for preserving you through this hard yet momentary season (2 Corinthians 4:17).
~ Christine Chappell in Postpartum Depression
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16–18 NIV
Will your depression go away? Perhaps. If you follow these suggestions, your depression will, at least, be changed. But to guarantee that you will be depression-free is like guaranteeing that you will never have suffering in your life. The cross of Christ is a sign to us that we will share in the sufferings of Jesus rather than be free of all hardships.
Your hope rests on something much deeper than the alleviation of pain. Depression can’t rob you of hope because your hope is in a person, and that person, Jesus, is alive and with you. The apostle Paul put his suffering on a scale and found that it was outweighed by all the benefits he had in Christ. Of course, that kind of hope and vision doesn’t come overnight—but it does come. Set your sights high. You can set a course where you say “Amen” with Paul.
~ Ed Welch in Hope for the Depressed
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:4–5 NIV
You may have past experiences that make your whole world feel dark. The darkness and depression may last for an extended season, or it may reoccur at the same time each year. You feel like you are drowning in darkness because the pain permeates deep in your soul. With this darkness comes a fear of the unknown and anxiety over endless unknown outcomes. You may be weighed down with sorrow over something you’ve lost, regret over something you should have done, or guilt over something you should never have done. Shame can drag you down into a pit of self-loathing where a sense of being unworthy and unloved leaves you in despair. You can become desperate for something—anything—that will change your circumstances, help you to feel differently, or take your mind off the pain (fantasy). Or, you might become complacent as you see your hopes and dreams fading away like a mirage. The darkness seems suffocating. Your doubts drain your faith, despair eclipses hope, and a sense of distance from God and others leaves you feeling alone and defenseless.
God understands the power of evil, the deception of darkness, and our weakness in this fallen world. God be-gins the creation story with a desolate scene: “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the sur-face of the deep.” Then, he closes this dismal description with striking intentionality by saying: “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (Genesis 1:2). Creation began when God entered the darkness.
At the end of God’s story, we see a vastly different scene. In the new heavens and new earth, God’s city “does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. . . . There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 21:23; 22:5). When we consider both of these accounts, it’s comforting that God is present and active both in utter darkness and in the brilliance of his glory.
~ Robert K. Cheong in Restoration Story
Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
2 Corinthians 1:9–11 ESV
“Ministry to those who are depressed starts with compassion. When you listen closely to the experiences of those who are depressed, it sounds like a form of torture. Even worse, since pain tends to isolate people, those who have symptoms of depression tend to feel very much alone, even alone from God. God’s Word calls us to respond with compassion. The church must move toward the depressed person and mourn with those who mourn (Romans 12:15), pray for God’s deliverance (2 Corinthians 1:9–11), and search for encouraging words that can bless and give hope.”
~ Ed Welch in Blame It on the Brain
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
Romans 12:15 ESV
Since I am both a practicing physician and a biblical counselor, I am often asked what I think about the role of medication in the care of those who face sadness and depression. My response as a biblical counselor is that the question of whether or not to take medication for depression falls within the realm of Christian liberty (Romans 14; 1 Corinthians 8). Not much is said in Scripture about it. Thus, Christians have the privilege of making the choice themselves within the confines of the rest of Scripture and taking into account how their choice will affect others.
As a physician, I would say that we all should be good medical consumers. There is not an absolute consensus that current medications work much better than counseling. There are concerns about side effects. I suggest anyone who would take medicine for any condition have a thorough conversation with their physician and discuss the benefits and risks of the medicine.
. . . The apostle Paul told us to “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). Among the most important things biblical counselors can offer to those experiencing depression is a careful listening ear that is attuned to their suffering. And, yes, they suffer. We can take them to the Savior who invites them to “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30).
In the process, we can help these individuals see the burden that weighs them down and exchange it for the lighter one of which our Savior spoke. There is a considerable difference between an office visit that ends with a prescription and the principles of Scripture that lead to change. As Paul said, “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4).”
~ Charles D. Hodges Jr. in The Christian Counselor’s Medical Desk Reference
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in
you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:6 ESV
“Depression is hard. No matter what its origin, it doesn’t leave without a fight. But don’t be discouraged. There are good reasons to enter into the fight. Changes are guaranteed (Philippians 1:6). You are in the presence of “the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). Do you believe that? Think about it. When you consider that the Father sent his Son to die for us when we were still his enemies, there is no reason to think that he will withhold his love and compassion now that we are his children.”
~ Ed Welch in Depression: The Way Up When You’re Feeling Down
