Sovereign Grace and Depression

A church leader who came as a guest speaker to my church, after a conversation that largely consisted of me telling to him what I do at work, said this in response, "Just as evolutionary sciences attempt to get rid of God, so too does medical psychiatry as it attempts to get rid of Satan."

Chilling.

The truth of the gospel cannot just be a Sunday-morning activity. If it is true, the work of Jesus and the supremacy of God's grace have devastating effects upon society as we know it.

So, what is depression? The ICD10 and the DSMIV share this common description: a common psychiatric disorder, characterised by a persistent lowering of mood, loss of interest in usual activities and diminished ability to experience pleasure. Furthermore, it is described as a persistent sad, anxious or 'empty' mood associated with loss of appetite, weight loss or conversely over-eating and weight gain, insomnia, restlessness, feelings of worthlessness, guilt, helplessness, pessimism, difficulties in concentration, remembering or making decisions; possible thoughts of suicide with persistent physical symptoms such as headaches, digestive disorders and/or chronic pain.

So, how does this subject of depression have anything to do with the gospel? Amongst many profound things that Jesus said, such as, "I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life...", He also said, "I have not come into the world to save the [self] righteous, but to save sinners".

Depression, whether we like it or not, is the result of our attempt for self-exaltation, which according to His Word is plain idolatry and sin. Wait a minute, how can depression be self-exaltation? They don't have anything to do with each other; in fact they are in opposition to each other! Wake up Nat! Come on, get real!

Self-exaltation says, "I am god." Self-exaltation says, "I can do this." Self-exaltation says, "it is up to me to succeed." It says, "I AM THE CAPTAIN OF MY SOUL." There is probably nothing more thrilling and satisfying than to be in control of our destiny.

The trouble is, that once in a while situations do occur to remind us that we are in fact, not in control of our environment. It may be that we face a potential job loss, most of us will encounter bereavement and for some, maybe a relationship breakdown. When the towering walls we have built for ourselves suddenly come crashing down, what are we left with? A deflated ego with only a deflated carcass to grasp on to. Depression, inevitably ensues.

"I did not come into the world to save the righteous, but to save sinners..."

The beauty of the gospel is that according to His Word, we are all sinners ("There is none righteous, no, not one." Romans 3). The truth is, as a result of our insurrection against our Creator, we really are worth nothing, deserving only death; our rebellion makes it fitting that we see death.

The whisper of Satan in a person's ear when he says, "Face it, you're worthless, you might as well kill yourself", is pain-stakingly, yet gloriously true! The gospel makes it strikingly clear that we, in of ourselves, really are worthless. We are dead in our sin. There is nothing that anyone can do to make themselves any more worthless when they are spiritually dead.

To the worldly-wise, the gospel is foolishness. The gospel just doesn't make sense because the human instinct for when we find ourselves in a rut, is to help ourselves! This is the time when we either work to make the desperate situation better or we look to other things, like alcohol, drugs, even anti-depressant medication to drown out the ever-present despair, and carry on with life as if such things do not affect us.

Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians (chapter 12), he describes an unusual affliction with a 'thorn in the flesh'. Paul prays three times to ask for God to remove it, for which God replies, "My GRACE is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

The way that God works as He weaves His will in and through the lives of His chosen few is strange, if not absurd because it is only in times of weakness that His power is made perfect. It is in our weakness that either drives us, if we are not His chosen, to help ourselves but, if we are His chosen we are driven to seek Him.

It is of no wonder that Paul, in his repsonse to grace, then continues to say, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

The message of God's Sovereign Grace is an insult to the self-righteous and foolishness to the wise, but for those of us who consider ourselves to be weak and helpless, we might then have the privilege of a glimpse of raw power and of life itself.

For those who do not know Him, in your most desperate of situations, lay aside your self-righteousness and instead humble yourself as you look to Him; seek Him while He may yet be found. His grace, just as He continues to do so in my life and in many others, will sustain you.