Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
It’s a very widespread malady--depression. Even many who sincerely want to follow the Lord Jesus Christ suffer from it. Physicians are trained to treat it, books are written about it, institutions exist where sufferers can be treated, huge economic losses come because of it, and the wealthy endure equally with the poor--perhaps more so. Even little children are given medications to correct it.
How does the Holy Spirit relate to it? Medical scientists who do not recognize His existence can rely on drugs and psychology in efforts to treat it. Even in the church there is widespread depression that pastors are at a loss to relieve. Many people find that funny stories and entertainment are helpless band-aids.
Depression is the condition that Jesus describes in Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” But often the way seems blocked, and we wrestle with nagging doubts about whether “coming” can really help. Aren’t committed Christians also “heavy laden”? Doubts plunge us back into the pit.
Depression afflicts multitudes, and right here is an acid test of “the faith of Jesus.” The shadows are dark and heavy; can we let in a ray of sunlight?
(1) The first work of the Holy Spirit is to “convict of sin” (John 16:8). When He is resisted, depression is created--unless we cut our spiritual vagus nerve and create a soul-lobotomy (the final sin against the Holy Spirit). Some then find endless carefree abandon, because He is gone.
(2) The one truly sinless Man in history suffered the most enormous depression of any human--crying in an ultimate heart agony, “My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46). Yet that depression was not personal sin on His part. There have been faithful followers of Jesus who have suffered depression--Joseph sold as a slave into Egypt, David persecuted by King Saul (his psalms are healing medications), the prophet Jeremiah, and others. It could be a hidden blessing.
(3) The faith of Jesus gets slighted (as relief from depression) because many pastors cannot distinguish between the Old Covenant and the New. The New Covenant is not mere psychology; it’s honest truth.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 19, 2006.
Copyright © 2013 by "Dial Daily Bread."
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