DEPRESSION - PRACTICAL ANSWERS FROM the BIBLESample

Psalm 102:1 (NLT): A prayer of one overwhelmed with trouble, pouring out problems before the Lord.

Psalm 69:1-3 (NLT): Save me, O God, for the floodwaters are up to my neck. Deeper and deeper, I sink into the mire; I can’t find a foothold. I am in deep water, and the floods overwhelm me. I am exhausted from crying for help; my throat is parched. My eyes are swollen with weeping, waiting for my God to help me.

Psalm 69:17 (NLT): Don’t hide from your servant; answer me quickly, for I am in deep trouble!

Psalm 88:1-7 (NLT): O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out to you by day. I come to you at night. Now hear my prayer; listen to my cry. For my life is full of troubles, and death draws near. I am as good as dead, like a strong man with no strength left. They have left me among the dead, and I lie like a corpse in a grave. I am forgotten, cut off from your care. You have thrown me into the lowest pit, into the darkest depths. Your anger weighs me down; with wave after wave, you have engulfed me.

1 Kings 19:4 (NLT): Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”

Job 30:16 (NLT): “And now my life seeps away. Depression haunts my days.

Several examples from the lives of the 'heroes' of the Bible

In the Bible, God shows us not only the exploits of these great men but also the other side of the mirror. David, Elijah, and Job ... all suffered from depression at some point in their lives. And yet, they were men of God.

Let's look at what the Bible tells us about Elijah in chapters 18 and 19 of the first book of Kings. He faces the wrath and death threats of Ahab, king of Israel. He challenges Ahab face-to-face and accuses him of being responsible for the loss of God's spiritual people. He then asks 850 priests of Baal and Astarte to gather against him. He mocks their inability to get an answer from their gods. He builds an altar to see the Lord's fire descend from heaven and consume his offering in answer to his prayer. This immediately leads to a spiritual awakening of the whole people of Israel, who return to their Creator. He then destroys the 850 idolatrous priests. He is reconciled with the king and prophecies that the rain that has been missing for three years will return very soon. He begins a marathon of praying to God on a mountaintop to plead for rain, and his prayer is answered once again. He runs down the mountain, carried by the power of the Holy Spirit, faster than the king and his galloping chariot.

All this takes place in a time that seems to range from one day to a few days. Who would question that Elijah was indeed, at that moment, sent by God?

Yet sometime later, when Elijah learns that the queen is threatening him with death, he breaks down psychologically and flees. He becomes unable to control his emotions, becomes depressed, pities himself, rejects his friends, and isolates himself. He sinks into despair and fear and ends up wishing for death as a solution to his problems.