Spiritual Depression

Introduction

This morning we are continuing our series on emotional and spiritual health. We’ve entitled this whole series of messages under the idea of being Connected because there are so many different factors that play a part in our overall state of health as human beings. We are physical and spiritual beings that have both emotions as well as an intellect and we were created with deep needs for relationships with God and with one another. In this period of isolation, stress, and sickness, it’s no wonder that many people are experiencing a decrease in their overall sense of well-being. Yet at the same time, we don’t want to talk about it anymore because some of us are tired of talking about how we are doing because there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. Unfortunately, it is these types of scenarios that can leave us feeling hopeless and depressed. Today, we are going to be looking at the subject of spiritual depression.

Psalm 42:1–11 ESV

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

Body

As we make our way through this Psalm, we are going to address two main points:

The causes of spiritual depression

The cure for spiritual depression

As we look at this Psalm, it is important to ask the same question that the Psalmist asks himself, “Why are you so downcast, oh my soul?” Why am I feeling the way I am? What are the reasons for my sadness or depression? Unfortunately, people often don’t take enough time to figure out what is truly causing the lack of happiness in their lives.

Having grown up in the age of anti-depressants, pyschiatrists and the big pharmaceutical companies told the general populations that our happiness is simply about brain chemistry. We were sold this notion that depression was a result of imbalances in our brain chemistry and that there were legitimate drugs out there that could address these emotional problems. From that point on drugs like Prozac and Paxil became almost household names and so many people were taking these anti-depressants that there are now traceable amounts in all of the water treatment systems of the major cities across our country. Generally, we all tend to trust our doctors and the medications that they prescribe to us but when you take a close look at some of the clinical data of these drugs, there is a startling fact that comes out, these drugs are barely more effective than the placebos that were given at the same time. There are some people that are helped by these drugs but it’s up for debate on whether or not its the actual chemistry of these drugs that is helping or if it is just the idea that there’s a cure for our unhappiness that causes these drugs to work. We all understand the power of suggestion and the proven effect of placebos so it shouldn’t surprise us that there are good scientists out there that doubt the efficacy of these drugs to deal with something as complex as the human pursuit of happiness and fulfillment. Oddly, some people get really upset when I suggest that these drugs might not be as effective as we have been led to believe and I have even been accused of not caring about people’s mental health. But it’s precisely because I care that I brings these matters up because I would rather you experience genuine healing and joy in your life rather than rely on some antidepressants that are largely unproven from a scientific standpoint. In some ways this is like the scenario from the Matrix. Do you want the red pill so that you can see the painful truths of life and deal with it or do you want to continue to take the blue pill of ignorant bliss.

And the very fact that our society has even bought into these drugs without any questions or close examination of the scientific research tells us alot about how people in general want to deal with their emotional and spiritual pain. We would much rather have a quick fix and not have to face the messiness of our emotional and spiritual distress. And our drug of choice doesn’t always have to be in the form of a pill, we can choose to soothe our pain with hours of binge watching netflix, playing videogames, having to unwind with alcohol, keeping ourselves so busy with work and life that we don’t have time to sort out our thoughts. Even ministry and fulfilling our religious duties can be used to artificially ignore our pain. And some of us have done this so long and pushed our problems down so deep that we don’t even know that we might be depressed. We just accept our unhappiness and our subdued emotions as the way life is. Although, I’ve made a distinction between spiritual depression and clinical depression, there is a lot of overlap between the two and if you are a non-believer or even a nominal Christian, I think that you will see that the causes and the cure for spiritual depression will be just as relevant for someone who might not be necessarily looking for spiritual answers.

The inability to worship physically alongside other believers. We don’t know the exact situation for why the Psalmist has been cut off from worshipping in the temple but it’s clear that he understands that there is a difference between worshipping and praying in private versus worshipping together in the house of God. It’s not like he doesn’t know that he can worship and pray from anywhere but at the same time, he knows that there is a qualitative difference between corporate worship and private worship. You need both in order to be spiritually whole. The presence of God often seems to be more tangible when a crowd of people come together to seek God in worship. This is why God’s presence seems so distant to the Psalmist and he is longing to return back to that. As Christians, we should be sad about not being able to meet together for worship. I understand that it might not be feasible or safe given the health concerns but you should be at least discouraged or feel like something is missing in your walk with God. Maybe we are not at that place where we are so broken up by these things that we are crying day and night but I believe that this lack of corporate worship is affecting believers more than we know because we have lost so much more than simply an opportunity to come and sing together.

In his book Lost Connections, Johann Hari uncovers some of the real causes of depression in people’s lives. He is a journalist who kicks his reliance on antidepressants after a decade of using them and he is basically answering the very same question that is posed in this Psalm, “Why in the world am I so sad?” After doing his own research, he gives a list of nine lost connections in our modern world that has led to the explosion of depression in the west. It certainly isn’t a comprehensive list of causes but I believe at least three of those lost connections are addressed in the act of coming together in worship. The two that are most apparent is our connection to others and our connection to meaningful values. There is something special about worshipping physically together and and these worship services over Zoom do not equate to the same thing as coming together in one place and hearing each other praising God, praying together for one another, and taking the time to fellowship after the service. These are all differerent ways that worship connects us to one another.

I also think that some of us have lost connection to meaningful bibical values like loving one another, living selflessly, and being humble and gracious to each other. When we live in isolation and in the confines of our private world we begin to become more selfish and we lose touch with these meaninful values that Christ taught us. When we are together we can spur each other on to love and good deeds and that is much harder to do now.

A third lost connection is the loss of meaningful work. Though most of us still have our professional jobs, many of us have experienced a reduction of responsibilities at church. This may not be as obvious but when you look at description of the Psalmist, he is identified as one of the sons of Korah. This family was known for their music ministry in the temple. These were the musicians, singers, and choir directors for God’s people and now he was no longer needed. This is why he remembers fondly the times when he used to lead the procession of worshippers into the house of God. Now, he no doesn’t have that ministry and there doesn’t seem to be an equivalent way to serve God. In a similar fashion, many of the ways we used to serve in the church are either not neccessary or they have changed in significant ways. Leading community group is very different in this season, being part of the worship and prayer teams is not the same, hospitality and welcoming needs have been greatly reduced, and the list goes one. This can certainly be disorienting and it is more of a loss than some of us realize. We were meant to serve God and one another and we have to find meaningful ways to continue to do that in these changing times.

Besides the inability to worship together, there are several other causes of depression that the Psalmist mentions.

Psalm 42:7 The overwhelming trials of life can lead to depression. I would guess that some of us here this morning are going through some very difficult times. These trials are described as breakers and waves crashing over us. As a former surfer before moving to San Francisco, this paints such a vivid picture for me. The first time I went out into the ocean on what I would consider a big day was probably the most scared I have ever been for my life. There were waves about 8-10 feet with 12-15 foot sets coming through and I caught a smaller wave but the sheer force of that wave ripped off the surf board from my feet and I go tossed into what surfers call the washing machine because your just spinning underneath the water with no idea which way is up. But the scarier this is when you finally reach the surface of the water, there is another huge wave getting ready to crash over you, and all you can do is hold on for dear life. Sometimes that is what life can feel like and understandably it leads us into some dark places.

Psalm 42:9 The feeling of being forgotten by God. It’s not uncommon during these difficult trials of life to feel like God has forsaken you. Again the Psalmist is reminding himself that God’s love is steadfast and that He sings over us but his heart is telling him something else. And that internal battle between what we know to be true about God often conflicts with the suffering that we are called to endure in this world. Sometimes as Christians this conflict is much greater in us than in those who don’t believe in God. For non-believers, suffering is just a part of the randomness of life but for the Christians, we believe that God gives everything a purpose and a meaning and sometimes that can be extremely hard to receive and that can lead to our spiritual depression.

Psalm 42:10 Finally, the one that maybe hurts the most is the accusations of your adversaries. My kids are big Kpop fans and they tell me of the emotional struggles of these young stars as they hear and read all the negative rumours about themselves. As Christians living in a very liberal part of the country, we have to be prepared for the taunts and the accusations of non-believers and that will take an emotional toll on you. Jesus made it very clear, “If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you.” If you have not experienced any level of persecution, perhaps it’s because you have not been open enough about your faith. About a week ago, Mira innocently put up a post on Next Door inviting women to join Moms in Prayer and one person looked up their mission statement to bring the salvation of Christ into the schools and ridiculed it and someone else commented that this makes her skin crawl. It’s difficult to hear people unfairly accuse and demean the things that we hold most dear to us and not get affected emotionally.

There are so many other causes of depression but fortunately, they all have the same remedy.

Don’t let your emotions get the best of you. Martyn Lloyd Jones in his book on spiritual depression mentions two key principles that will help you overcome bouts of sadness.

You need to make sure that you are speaking truth to yourself and not allowing your circumstances to speak to you.

You have to allow your mind to control your emotions and not have your emotions dictate to your mind. (Note that I didn’t say have no emotions)

Jones calls this the essence of wisdom from the Psalm and I couldn’t agree more. “You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul: ‘Why art thou cast down’—what business have you to be disquieted? You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: ‘Hope thou in God’—instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way.”

2. Challenge yourself to do what is rational. For the Christian, the only rational thing to do in times of crisis and the emotional and spiritual pain that comes along with it is to “Put your hope in God.” You have to preach and proclaim that that to yourself as if your very life depends on it because it does. Next week, I’ll address the topic of hope in relation to our emotional health but we can all get a head start on being more hopeful this week. Even though things may not seem all that hopeful, we can be sure that God has a reason and a purpose for all of this and that should be our light at the end of this dark tunnel.

3. Remind yourself of the certainty of your salvation and relationship with God!

Conclusion

As we close out this message, I want to finish by talking about what needs to take place in-between the cause and the cure for our spiritual depression. In a short Psalm like this, it’s easy to make the mistake that all of this takes place in a short span of time and that is not the simply not the case. In many ways, Christians can turn religion into just another placebo against their depression and not allow their faith and their relationship with God be the source of their healing.

What goes in-between the cause and the cure for our depression is the difficult but healing process of grieving. We live in a society that prizes personal happiness above almost everything else but the fact remains that many of us are chronically unhappy. We try to avoid emotions like sadness, grief, and sorrow and instead of escape, we find ourselves falling deeper in. This psalm teach us how our tears and the process of grieving is actually a gift from God. And if we do it well, grief not only helps us survive our times of sorrow but it can transform them turned into seasons of great joy. We don’t have a lot of time to get into how grieving restores emotional and spiritual health but we know that the tears that this Psalm talks about is an integral part of the journey of both healing and maturity. You cannot mature as a person let alone a Christian until you learn how to grieve well. This is why the Psalmist describes his tears being his food day and night. Think about this, no matter what context or culture, the metaphor of food is rarely used in a negative because food sustains us and nourishes us. This psalmist is telling us that his grief is literally sustaining him, keeping him alive. How can this be?

I love this quote from the the book “A Grace Disguised” by Jerry Sittser.

It is not therefore true that we become less through loss — unless we allow the loss to make us less, grinding our soul down until there is nothing left. Loss can also make us more. I did not get over my loved ones; rather I absorbed the loss into my life until it became part of who I am. Sorrow took up permanent residence in my soul and enlarged it … One learns the pain of others by suffering one’s own pain, by turning inside oneself, by finding one’s own soul … However painful, sorrow is good for the soul … The soul is elastic, like a balloon. It can grow larger through suffering.

At a certain point, all the tears that we shed will be turned into joy. The Psalms are a promise of that truth and the greater the tears, the greater joy if not in this life, then the life to come. The conclusion of a a life filled with tearful prayers will always be songs of joy! Over the years, we may pray many prayers and cry many tears but in the end the most important thing that we are left with is praise for the One who promises that what we sow in tears will be ultimately transformed into songs of eternal joy!

William Cowper, who was an English poet in the 1700’s and who wrestled with clinical depression, summarizes this perfectly in this poem:

Long plunged in sorrow, I resign My soul to that dear hand of Thine, Without reserve or fear; That hand shall wipe my streaming eyes, Or into smiles of glad surprise Transform the falling tear.