Depression: Looking up from the Stubborn Darkness

by Edward T. Welch

Put it this way: at the cross, Christ has taken your story of misery upon himself and he has given you his story of resurrection and hope.

There are future and present benefits to the blood of Jesus. Through faith, you are brought into the royal family with all its rights and privileges.

“Be holy, because I am holy” (Lev. 11:44; 19:2; 20:8, 26); “be imitators of God” (Eph. 5:1); “live as children of light” (Eph. 5:8); “your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5)—these are familial exhortations. Study Jesus, your older brother and your God, and imitate him by faith. This is our purpose.

God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. . . . It produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Heb. 12:10–11)

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” How can your suffering be good in any way? The answer comes in the next verse. The good is that we are being “conformed to the likeness of his Son.” This is what we are intended to be. This is our purpose, and as you are more and more aligned with your purpose, your experience of depression will change.

Suffering is God’s surgery that leads to health when responded to by faith.

For some, it will mean “do the next thing.” Put one step in front of the other. It will look like serving God and others by greeting them, asking about them, praying for them. It will be saying, “Lord, I am willing; what would you have me do today?” What is your purpose?

But remember once again that we cannot avoid God. All paths lead to him. If you are tempted to skip over his words on perseverance, remember that he is life. His words give life. Whatever he says is surprising in its beauty and elegance, and is of invaluable worth. In other words, there is more to perseverance than you think.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb. 12:2)

All teaching on perseverance, patience, and endurance finds its source in the character of God. Just as we love because he is love and he loved us before we knew him, so we persevere because he is perseverance and he has persevered with us throughout history. Perseverance in Everyday Life

It is the older wise man or woman who can take the many hassles of life in stride, without grumbling and complaining, with contentment rather than resignation.

we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance. (Rom. 5:3)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses [who have gone through suffering] let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Heb. 12:1) The testing of your faith develops perseverance. (James 1:3)

Through our struggles and pain, we are being offered perseverance, the character of God. Hardships are intended to give us a spiritual makeover, “that we may share in his holiness” (Heb. 12:10). Therefore, when God encourages us to persevere, he is not stumbling for encouraging words. He is teaching us how to look like him. Given this connection to the character of God, perseverance is not ordinary but glorious.

could it be that she was putting her trust in being healed rather than in the God who loves, forgives, perseveres, and heals?

experienced deep depression. Her testimony is that she believes God is good, whether depression leaves or returns. She has learned to persevere in troubles and find contentment in God in the midst of them. That is a glorious testimony. Perseverance isn’t flashy. It doesn’t call attention to itself. It looks like putting one foot in front of another. But beneath the surface, where few can see the glory, is something very profound (Rev. 2:2, 19). You are becoming more like God. God sees it, and he is pleased by it.

Perseverance is more than just making it through life until you die from natural causes. It is perseverance in faith and obedience. It is perseverance in our God-given purpose, even when life is very hard. Perseverance asks the question, “Today, how will I represent God? How will I trust him and follow him in obedience?” Then it asks for help from others, cries out to the Lord, and looks for an opportunity to love. It may seem feeble, b...

is a call to arms.

Wise counsel tells us that we must talk to depression—fight it—rather than merely listen to it. What we often hear from depression is, “God doesn’t care”—if, indeed, we hear God’s name at all. What we say to it is, “Put your hope in God.” Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. (Ps. 42:5–6, 11) “Hope.” There it is again. Hope is the constant companion of perseverance.

God’s Word gives you daily encouragement. In fact, all Scripture is his means of sustaining you in the battle.

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Rom. 15:4) Your hope is that God hears, that he finds great worth in perseverance, that he rewards those who seek him (Heb. 11:6), that he blesses those who persevere (James 1:12), that he is faithful to all his promises. Your hope comes when you begin to fix your eyes on Jesus, the One who is invisible (Heb. 11:27).

Here is a map that assembles some of the pieces of perseverance (fig. 10.1). It starts with you reciting, “You, O God, are strong, and . . . you, O Lord, are loving” (Ps. 62:11–12). Or, you listen as God says to you, “I love you, and I am the Mighty God.” From there it travels to hope and purpose, which lead us to perseverance. It doesn’t stop, however, at perseverance. Perseverance and patient endurance find grace from God, which gives us deeper knowledge of his love and sovereign strength. This in turn leads to a greater sense of purpose and greater confidence in God, which sends us toward a new place of perseverance.

you feel unable to persevere, you may be skipping some of the steps needed to get there. So review who God is, and be able to articulate your purpose and your hope. If perseverance still seems elusive, you might want to consider how you already have received it. For example, are you in any way open to what has been written so far? That is evidence of perseverance, and it is more beautiful than you think. God is greatly pleased by it.

their history consists of two parts: (1) events outside of us, which include physical problems, and (2) beliefs, spiritual allegiances, and interpretations within us. The interaction of these two, over time, is what causes depression (fig. 11.1).

With depression, God gives grace to live in the midst of hardships. He also gives grace to investigate it more carefully.

With the curse, work has changed from a pleasure to a drudgery. Yes, there are times when God’s original intent breaks through and we find satisfaction in our labor (even if it isn’t going to change the course of history), but misery is never far away.

The perceived meaninglessness of work is often part of depression. It usually, however, is a sign of depression rather than a cause.

these circumstances do not cause depression by themselves. They are usually necessary to the depressive cycle, but they are not sufficient—that is, they can’t make you depressed all on their own. These circumstances must also connect with an internal system of beliefs or an interpretive lens that will then plunge you down into depression. Even chemical imbalances usually need help if they are to become depression, especially a depression accompanied by hopelessness and self-accusations.

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Cor. 4:8

Although life before a sovereign God assures us that God is in control, accomplishing his good plans even through our poor choices, it is easy to lose sight of this reality. When we do, we can feel as if an unwise decision has forever doomed us to a path that is second best.

An understandable response to such a pressured culture is withdrawal, paralysis in the face of decisions, fear of making wrong ones, fatigue, and feeling like you could sleep for days and still be tired.

in view of God’s sovereign control, God will accomplish his purposes in our lives even when we make decisions we later regret.

When we go into the courtroom of the King of kings, we are in awe of him more than we are aware of ourselves. Our troubles become much smaller in contrast to his beauty and holiness. Then, when we listen to the King, his command to us is simple: love others as you have been loved. Love breaks the hold of individualism; it builds new communities out of the ashes of broken and fragmented relationships.

“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb. 10:25).

we live in a culture that idolizes happiness, and if we idolize happiness, it will always elude us.

If we are not amused, we have the dreadful quiet to fill. As Pascal astutely noted, “I have often said that the sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.”6

The antidote for boredom is joy. It comes when our hopes are fixed on something eternally wonderful and beautiful. Augustine rightly identified the ultimate object of joy as God.

According to Augustine, true joy is the delight in the supreme beauty, goodness, and truth that are the attributes of God, of which traces may be found in the good and beautiful things of this world.

This longing is joy. It is a longing for glory, heaven, and, especially, God himself.

Joy is the natural response when we behold God. What does it have to do with boredom? Joyful people are mobilized. They delight in doing small obediences. They are pleased to serve God in any ordinary way he sees fit. They also know that an army of people taking small steps of obedience is what moves the kingdom of God forward in power. Response

the question revealed her heart: she trusted God when circumstances went her way but not when she went through hard trials, such as depression.

Things don’t simply happen to us. When they do, we respond with an immediate interpretation of their meaning and significance. We filter the event through our view of God, others, and ourselves that we have been developing throughout our lives.

But there is a specific way our hearts are misaligned. They were intended to be devoted to God, but they aren’t. Instead, they are devoted to a strange brew of God, ourselves and the objects of our affections, a.k.a., our idols.

We can feel miserable about ourselves because we want to be great, at least at something, and we are not feeling very great.

The way out of autonomy begins with a simple prayer. “Lord, teach me. I want to think like you.”

Does it seem that more

of anything would change your depression? If so, you are most likely seeing the grasping, accumulating desires of the human heart. The problem is that even if we get more, we never feel quite satisfied, so we want more still. Even God is not enough. Then, when more is not available, life becomes empty and holds no interest.

The feeling of emptiness is usually a sign that we have put our trust in something that can’t sustain us. It reminds us that we were created to trust in our heavenly Father and nothing else. We were created to enjoy the many things God gives without making them the center of our lives.

Keep probing. Life is ultimately about God.

When you get to God, don’t stop until he surprises you with his beauty and love, which shouldn’t take too long.