Scriptures Weekly 60 - Can Christians be Depressed?

The words of David in Psalm 39:12-13,

“Hear my prayer, O Lord,

And give ear to my cry;

Do not be silent at my tears;

For I am a stranger with You,
A sojourner, as all my fathers were.

Remove Your gaze from me, that I may regain strength, 
Before I go away and am no more.”

As a people of faith, Christians often gauge everything they do through the lens of scripture to try and please God. But as David so openly admits his crying anguish here with a sense of the end, how does he and we deal with the bottoming out of our lives during the really tough times? What should we do if we feel depressed. As our presenter states in this podcast lesson, is it OK for a Christian, a person of faith armed with the power of the Holy Spirit to take medication while clinically depressed?

When we see our brother or sister in the Lord struggling with depression, maybe even seriously depressed to the point of the anguish of David, we want to help them out. How do we do that? Do we tell them to get over it, or, should we be so cruel as to tell them, "Well you just don't have enough faith! Some even go as far to say, a Christian with depression is a contradiction.

Is depression a faith problem?

Is depression a sin issue?

Do you just need to believe more?

Are these loving responses? Matthew 7:1-5 addresses this,

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Also, read a servant of God's experience with depression in Job 10:18-22,

“Why then have You brought me out of the womb?

Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me!

I would have been as though I had not been.

I would have been carried from the womb to the grave.

Are not my days few?

Cease! Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort,

Before I go to the place from which I shall not return,

To the land of darkness and the shadow of death,

A land as dark as darkness itself,

As the shadow of death, without any order,

Where even the light is like darkness.”

Do you think Job ever had a problem with faith and high self esteem?

Before you make a judgment about others depression and maybe even your own struggle with it, click this LINK to hear a revealing lesson from brother Mark out of Gods Word on how the Lord desires his children to face this difficult malady.

Many blessings to you as you explore more of the mind of Christ in your studies.