Shayla: Can a Christian struggle with depression?

Meforshim:

I’m pretty sure one can be a saint and struggle with depression. Job did.

• Job 3:3 HCSB May the day I was born perish, and the night when they said, "A boy is conceived."

Even David, the “man after God’s own heart” did.

• Psalms 38:8-11 HCSB I am faint and severely crushed; I groan because of the anguish of my heart. 9 Lord, my every desire is known to You; my sighing is not hidden from You. 10 My heart races, my strength leaves me, and even the light of my eyes has faded. 11 My loved ones and friends stand back from my affliction, and my relatives stand at a distance.

Merchant prince, warrior king, prophet…we all struggle from time to time.

• Lamentations 3:18-20 HCSB Then I thought: My future is lost, as well as my hope from the LORD. 19 Remember my affliction and my homelessness, the wormwood and the poison. 20 I continually remember them and have become depressed.

What to do? What to do?

• Lamentations 3:21-26 HCSB Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the LORD's faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end. 23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! 24 I say: The LORD is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in Him. 25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. 26 It is good to wait quietly for deliverance from the LORD.
• Psalms 34:18 HCSB The LORD is near the brokenhearted; He saves those crushed in spirit.

When we are struggling, we need to remember that we would perish if it weren’t for the Lord’s faithful love. His mercies “are new every morning” the Scriptures say. That means we must recount them every morning. We should wake up each morning, and as a spiritual discipline, take out a tablet and write down all the good and wonderful things that Hashem has done for us.

The Lord is our portion. He is our inheritance. It doesn’t matter how hard our life is on this earth. In the world to come, we will come into possession of a direct relationship with God Himself. We put our hope in Him anyway. What use are human relationships? What place does financial ambition have with those who are bound to inherit the universe? What power does circumstance have on those who have conquered Death itself?

Depression is like a rain storm. Storms come and storms go, leaving us standing in the sunshine of His grace. It is good to wait patiently for the rain to stop.