Is it wrong for a Christian to be depressed?

When the soul is distressed or cast down, that is not sin in itself. But sin comes in when there is distrust of God.

If the sorrow gets between our souls and God so as to produce distrust, it is sin. … Whether from trouble, or from offending, He can restore. … The Psalmist does not say, I must get my soul restored, and then go to God, but "He restores my soul."

"Anxiety in the heart of one causes depression." Is there ever a good reason for anxiety? No! For the Word of God tells us, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let you requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6-7). Thus, in place of depression, believers are entitled to the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding. Precious alternative! This will certainly produce "a good word" to make the heart glad (v. 25).

Having spoken of the joy of forgiveness which you experienced, after having acknowledged everything, God permitted the depression that you might know that there was another work to be done. You are easily elated, and you have lived rather too much on feeling. Now, you must experience what the presence of God means. It is not that your joy was not real and true, but there is another work to be done. Even if some are hard towards you, God uses it for your good. I do not question your sincerity nor your salvation; but God would have us not only say "We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ," but add, "I am manifested to God." Be much before Him.

If I hear bad news, whether relating to the church of God or to a brother, it will make me sorrowful and cast me down, as it did Paul, who had fightings without and fears within. But though thus sorrowful, if Satan has nothing in us, the consequence of this depression will be communion with God, instead of having allowed our affections to wander; we are in the presence of God, we watch with Him in order to speak to Him; but if this is not the case, Satan will take us unawares in moments of carelessness. If we walk with God, this will cause prayers according to the mind of God. The broken heart finds in Jesus the full certainty of God's favour. The Philippians, in their suffering state, had met with God instead of being frightened by it (Phil. 1:28); and though afflicted, if I am in the power of the Spirit, it will only cause more lively intercession. It is precious to see what is produced by affliction, even by chastening; if our walk is spiritual, it will only be an opportunity for gaining the victory, and for driving away Satan. All the members are united to the Head, and by His Spirit interested in all that concerns Him. They cannot always act themselves in such or such a case, but they can, like the centurion, say to Christ, "Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed."

Again, we find Elijah the Tishbite, in a moment of heavy pressure, when a dark cloud was passing over his soul, flinging himself down under a juniper tree, and requesting for himself that he might die. "It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers." (1 Kings 19:4)s This was the language of Elijah, one of the most highly honoured of the servants of Christ — language evoked, no doubt, by a combination of the most discouraging influences — but still it was the language of Elijah the Tishbite; and let no one blame him until he himself has passed, without a wavering feeling or a faltering word, through like conditions.

How came this flight about? Such is man, my friends. Such is even a servant of God, if he get his eye off the Lord. If a man lose faith in God he will flee away. Elijah got dejected and fled. And was he really a man of God? Who can doubt that? He reminds us of John the Baptist. When he was pursuing his ministry he could say, "There comes one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose" (Mark 1:7). But when he is locked up in prison he actually sends his disciples to say, "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" (Matt. 11:3). It makes all the difference the circumstances you are in. The Baptist's faith fails for a moment, and he doubts the Messiah. Jezebel's threat causes Elijah's faith to fail, and he flies to the desert. But look now at the beautiful grace of God to His dear servant: "But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers" (1 Kings 19:4). I think whenever a man speaks that way he does think he is better a good deal, but that no one understands or appreciates him. That is my conviction. For a moment his faith had failed. And here we learn a lesson of the weakness that may mark any one of us. We, too, get a little bit disappointed, and we go under some juniper tree. There is a juniper tree somewhere for you and me. I want you to avoid getting under a bitter tree like that. It was as bitter as Elijah's own spirit was. There is many a Christian today that has made a mistake and he wants to die. He says, I cannot do any more. Like Elijah he too says, "For I am not better than my fathers." At the back of his heart he thinks that he is rather better, depend upon it.

But I hear a sorrowful voice saying, I cannot sing, for I am very miserable, and I fear that I am not converted. You would not be miserable, my dear friend, if you were not converted. If you were still dead in your sins you would be insensible. Why are you wretched now? Because there has been an action of God's Spirit in your soul, and you have had a glance at the value of the cross, but then, instead of keeping your eye resting on Christ, you have been looking into your wretched miserable self If I were you, I would drop all that, and get into the spirit of this beautiful song.

We were speaking of the twofold aspect of the Christian's experience: the cup of natural sorrow and the cup of spiritual joy. He may know at times, what it is to have both cups filled to overflowing. The poor human heart may be so broken with sorrow that it cannot look up; strength, motive, object, as to this life, may be gone. At such a moment he feels a pressure as if he were down and could never rise up again. And surely, but for the Lord's helping hand, he must have gone a step beyond the rallying point. Such is the crushing, exhausting weight of human sorrow — and such the Lord's loved ones may be allowed to experience. The blessed Lord Himself, as the Man of sorrows, had deeper experience therein than any of His people ever can have. And now as the living Head, the great High-Priest of His people, He knows how to succour and raise up the sorrow-stricken soul.

NOTHING happens without the Lord, not even the fall to earth of one sparrow. This gives to God His proper place in all things occurrent and happening; not only is He, in being, before all, but in all that occurs His hand is the most important feature in the case. Satan could not act against Job or Paul without divine permission; and whatever Satan might mean in the one case or the other, God meant blessing, pure blessing, for His servants, and that eternal blessing. I hear you are depressed — it matters little what men call it — to me, as having one infinitesimal of faith, it is "of God" and for the blessing of yourself and husband. That it is, though coming through the body and mind, yet "of God" I doubt not; for that is one way in which He works, in breaking our plans of earthly joy, to make us seek our all in Him. (You know the Olney hymn, "I asked the Lord that I might grow.") The extent to which we are dependent upon circumstances, around and within ourselves, we little know till we get stripped of them, and among them perhaps of the feeling of joy which we mistook for faith. Faith is taking God at His word, saying, "Let God be true, and every man a liar." The effect of this is triumph, often with joy, but when of the purer and deeper kind, without joy, and we have then sometimes to give the lie to our own inward feelings, as much as to the thoughts of others all around us. 1 Peter gives us a case of it, so does 2 Cor. 12.