God & Depression: A Lost Sense of Purpose
This is part 1 of a 6-part series on God and depression, from Psalm 42 & 43.
The book of Psalms gives us a chance to look closely at the biblical way of relating to God in the real world of joy, frustration, excitement, setback, delay, delight, injustice, disappointment, and shame.
I have learned a lot from preaching on Psalm 42 and 43, as they throw a lot of light on the theme of depression. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached a series of messages on this subject back in the 1950’s that was later published as the book, Spiritual Depression. This book quickly became one of the biggest selling Christian books of the century, revealing the importance of teaching on depression.
Lost sense of God
The writer of Psalm 42 is a musician and leader in the Jerusalem temple who has somehow been cut off from his home, his friends, and his occupation. Being away from the temple, for him, is being away from God, so he pens a song to express his deep grief.
He starves without the presence of God, which used to be the hallmark of his life as a full-time temple servant. His life is nothing without it, in the same way that life is nothing without water.
This is not because he is unusual — he is exactly like us. The only difference is that he knows what he’s craving.
People are born craving and starving for something, but we tend to refuse to feed on the thing that’s designed to satisfy our thirst: God.
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The difficulty for Christians arises when we are faced with seasons where God seems to hide his face from us; but this is completely normal. As believers, we will encounter times of spiritual drought, during which our awareness of God’s smile seems to dwindle. This can be a shock to new Christians, and for many, it can be a reason to quit because God seems distant or somehow "unreal". But these are the seasons when we are growing up fastest.
There are also seasons where our hearts are tested. In 2 Chronicles 32:31, it says God "left" King Hezekiah "to know all that was in his heart." We mustn’t be surprised by such seasons, but be prepared for them, and in Psalm 42, we have a helpful resource for each day.
Next up: Part 2: Lost Community.
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