Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure

by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

had the power to see ourselves as others

We must stand up as this man did and say: `Why art thou cast down? Why art thou disquieted within me?' Stop being so! `Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance,' He, `who is the health of my countenance and my God.'

the first

thing we have to do is stop thinking about particular sins. How difficult we all find this.

It does not matter if you have almost entered into the depths of hell, if you are guilty of murder as well as every other vile sin, it does not matter from the standpoint of being justified with God. You are no more hopeless than the most respectable self righteous person

the world. Do

what determines whether we are sinners or not is not what we have done...

to...

say clearly that you look to Christ and to Christ alone and to nothing and no one else, that you stop looking at particular sins and particular people. Look at nothing and ...

The first thing you have to do is to say farewell now once and for ever to your past. Realize that it has been covered and blotted out in Christ. Never look back at your sins again. Say: `It is finished, it is covered by the Blood of Christ'. That is your first step. Take that and finish with

look to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only then that true happiness and joy are possible for you. What you need is not to make resolutions to live a better life, to start fasting and sweating and praying. No! you just begin to say : `I rest my faith on Him alone Who died for my transgressions to atone.' Take that first step and you will find that immediately you will begin to experience a joy and a release that you have never known in your life before. `Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by

`If only we all lived like that, the world would be Paradise'.

The second thing they do not see clearly is that their heart

is not fully engaged.

The third thing

their will is divided. They are rebellious, they do not see why a man, because he calls himself a Christian, has got to do certain things and stop doing others.

The most comfortable type of religion is always a vague religion, nebulous and uncertain, cluttered up with forms and ritual.

The second cause, and very often the real trouble with these people, is that they never fully accept the teaching and the authority of the Scriptures. I suppose that ultimately that is the whole cause of the trouble. They do not come to the Bible and submit

another cause of this condition is that almost invariably its victims are not interested in doctrine. Are you interested in doctrine?

Apostles' Creed,

a proneness to look back to the old life from which we have been delivered.

faith needs to be supplemented by virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity,

`You are at the moment enduring this grief, because it has proved needful for you that you should do so'. Now, there then, is our principle; there is a definite purpose in all this. This does not

happen accidentally, this is not something that just takes place because of the whole organization of life. That does come into it, but it is not the main reason. These things happen, says the apostle, because they are good for us, because they are part of our discipline in this life and in this world, because-let me put it quite plainly-because God has appointed it.

We are walking through this world under the eye of our Heavenly Father. That is the fundamental thing, the Christian must think of himsel...

our faith had not developed the element of trust, and God so deals with us in this life as to bring us to trust Him in the dark when we can see no light at all, and to bring us to the point where we can confidently say: 'When

`God knows what is best for me. I will trust in God'. `Even though He slay me yet will I trust Him.'

These things happen to us in order that the genuineness of our faith may be revealed.

Nothing is more important in the Christian life than we should realize that everything that happens to us is of significance if we can but see it.

He was meek and lowly in heart. `The bruised reed He will not break, the smoking flax He will not quench.'

them-the danger of pride, self-satisfaction, and smugness, the danger of drifting away and becoming worldly without realizing it, these

The Bible does not teach that everything everyone suffers is sent from God; the teaching is that illness may be sent by God and that God does chastise us sometimes by means of illness as well as by those various other circumstances. Let us be quite clear about that. God may use any one of these things, but obviously these things happen to all and therefore we must never say that every unwelcome happening is, of necessity, a chastisement from

The great problem in life is, in a sense, how to lay oneself down to rest and to sleep.

but we cannot control our hearts and minds.

`Let your requests be made known unto God.' That is the answer.

before you make your requests

unto God you realize that you are

Beloved Christian, whatever it is that is tending to get you down, tending to make you a victim of this anxiety, this morbid care, harassing and spoiling your Christian life and witness, whatever it is, let it be known unto God in that way, and if you do so it is absolutely guaranteed that the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall guard, keep, garrison your heart and mind. That mighty turmoil of heart and mind within you will not affect you. Like the Psalmist you will lay yourself down

you will sleep, you will know this perfect peace. Do you know this, have you got this peace?

can I be abased in my profession or office or

One of the greatest tasks in life is to discover how to suffer any or all of those things without feeling a sense of grudge, without complaint or annoyance or bitterness of spirit, to discover how not to be worried or anxious. Paul tells us that he has learned how to do that.

together-in all things, whatever may happen to me, I am self-sufficient, I am not dependent upon them, my life and happiness and joy are not determined or controlled by them'. That,

`boredom of the blackout'.