A Biblical Counseling Study #6
A friend and I were discussing depression and anxiety this
week. We acknowledged that truly, the feelings of depression and anxiety are a
symptom of another problem. No one chooses to feel panicky and sleepless or
weepy and exhausted. If our bodies were a car, the symptoms of anxiety can be
likened to an idling vehicle revving its engine in the garage. It expends a lot
of energy but gets you nowhere. And Godly men like Charles Spurgeon experienced
deep bouts of depression without relief.
Studying Biblical counseling with a medical doctor has helped me avoid the mentality that reading the Bible and praying more can remove all feelings of anxiety and depression. Many medical reasons can cause these symptoms, from hormonal levels, histamine reactions, the lack of sunshine, and mechanisms in the body that do not convert the vitamins and minerals needed for health.
Sin can cause feelings of depression and anxiety, so it is good to search your heart for anything that may be separating you from God’s grace and help. Yet, personal sin is not the only reason for such feelings.
To teach that if your heart is right with God, you will not be anxious or depressed is to teach
a prosperity Gospel. However, how we respond to the feelings of depression and anxiety can exacerbate those symptoms, so it is game-changing to look to God in the depths of suffering.
In my case, anxiety caused me to lean hard on the Lord, trusting in His strength for my weakness. It helped me walk closer to Him than I ever had learned before and gave me a deeper understanding of His mercy and grace in times of need. It also gave me empathy for those experiencing these symptoms for themselves.
While my friend and I discussed this, the Lord recalled to
my mind a blog post I wrote many years ago that was relevant to the
conversation. I will republish it with the hope that it may be helpful for anyone
walking through this suffering right now.
Capturing the Rebels
How often does an unnamed melancholy steal over our souls,
leaving us dry and thirsty for something that we cannot seem to find that will
satisfy? We try this thing or that, often a friend who will cheer, an outing that will uplift, perhaps a source of entertainment that distracts for a time.
Going through daily motions, we move as through fog just doing the next task. Even spiritual things that once uplifted and poured life into our souls no longer flow with life-giving water. Have you found yourself in this arid place, if even for a short time?
As the hart panteth after the water brooks,
so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God:
when shall I come and appear before God?
Psalm 42:1-2
David did. The Shepherd king of Israel, and the one God calls a man after His own heart,
describes the wasteland of melancholy that he found himself in a time or two.
His tears seem to ask, “Where is thy God?”
He recalls the days of joy in God’s house and his former heart of praise. And it begs him to ask the question:
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me?
Psalm 42:5a
David searches out the cause of his despondency.
Spurgeon speaks of this verse in The Treasury of David,
”To search out the cause of our sorrow is often the best surgery for grief…The
mist of ignorance magnifies the causes of our alarm; a clearer view will make
monsters dwindle into trifles.”
Have you considered the reason for your mist?
What unnamed thought must be brought to the surface of your heart and set to conscious prayer?
A dear friend calls these rogue emotions “the rebels that must be captured.” Once captured, they can be dealt with forthrightly.
David commands his emotions to Hope.
HOPE, verb
intransitive–To place confidence in; to trust in with confident expectation
of good.
David placed his hope not in himself. He did not buoy himself with uplifting
inspirational phrases or by confidence in his own strength. He placed his hope in the unchangeable, faithful God.
“This is the grace that swims, though the waves roar and be troubled.
God is unchangeable, and therefore His grace is the ground for unshaken hope.” –Spurgeon
David chooses to praise, to sing, to pray.
…for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. Psalm 42:5b
Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his
song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. Psalm 42:8
God’s faithfulness still holds. His mercies spring anew every morning. His sovereignty will not lose hold of its scepter. His love never fails, and His presence never leaves the believer. Even the unbeliever is delivered from the sin that holds him fast when such a one calls upon the name of Jesus.
“Praise has the power to lift the soul above all care as if on wings.”
Susannah Spurgeon
David repeats the process.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?
hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him,
who is the health of my countenance, and my God. Psalm 42:11
The rebels will rear their ugly head time and time again with persistent
demands. They do not quietly surrender after the first battle. We must choose to capture and command them with all the authority of God’s Word as often as they take up arms. Throughout the day, we must school our hearts to thanksgiving and praise.
Writing down three things to be thankful for three times a day turns praise into the habit
of our days. Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs remind us of His grace throughout our days and into our nights. Unceasing prayer and praise will replace the misty thoughts of melancholy.
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing
that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
My heart needed some schooling this week to capture the rebels. I’m praying for you as you capture and command yours!
His Song in the Night 