Prayer and Depression

My Prayer: “By day, O Lord, direct your love toward me, at night your song is with me – a prayer to God of my life.” (Psalm 42:8) “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Put your hope in God for I will praise him, my Savior and my God.”

Not all depressions are the same. Some are circumstantial, the result a of loss or disappointment or fatigue; some are clinical and more complex. Whatever their nature or source, their symptoms are very similar; the numbing dread that the darkness and grief are impenetrable and immovable; the lie that what is passing is really eternal. Psalm 42 and Psalm 43 provide some helpful clues as to how we can deal with depression.

The first is to talk to God about our depression. That is what these psalms are addresses to God about how the psalmist feels. We can be brutally honest, as the psalmist certainly is. “I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning oppressed by the enemy?” My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?” (Psalm 42:9-10). It is always better to talk to God about how we feel about him than to talk to others about how we feel about God. The most destructive aspect of any depression is the sense of abandonment by God. That’s why we need to talk to him about it. Prayer can turn the deep hole into a bridge.

We need to talk to ourselves about our depression also. Three times the psalmist says “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (42:5,11, 43:5) Feelings can be like unruly children. They must not be allowed to have the last word. We need to let them sound off but also let them know about what is true. It seems a little strange at first to talk to ourselves this way, but he power of depression will spilt one off from what is true. It takes a piece of a picture and makes it the whole picture. We need to talk back to ourselves and affirm the truth and our intent. “I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” We need to allow our faith to speak to our faith. We need to remind ourselves what our deepest need is, whether we are depressed or not. God. Depression can be a reminder that we are not whole without God, no matter how badly or well we may feel. “We need to put our hope in God”.