Why Should You Feel Depressed?
We awoke to a phone call you never want to receive. “We’ve been trying to reach you… They think they’ve stabilized her…”
It was Christmas night, and we had just talked with Mom that morning. We had begun establishing new traditions as a young family and were planning to get together with extended family a few days later. No one suspected it was the last time we would talk with her.
Then the follow-up call came: “We lost her.”
She was only 56 years old and had worked hard over the previous couple years to lose more than 110 pounds. Her motivation was the desire to spend more, and better, time with her young grandchildren. In addition to her move towards greater health, she had been growing spiritually, mentoring younger women, and expanding her influence in such positive ways.
“Why, God!?!” Why would you take her so soon? Why would you take someone so loving? Why take someone who spent so much of her life serving others? Why would you take her from us when she so clearly delighted in her seven grandchildren?
When these unexpected traumas and trials of life strike, our emotions respond and take the roller-coaster ride with us. Sometimes, it feels like they are the lead car on the roller coaster.
The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah was feeling the impact of trauma when he wrote Lamentations 3.
The Babylonians had surrounded Jerusalem and besieged the city for three years as a tool of God’s judgment against the peoples’ sin and idolatry. The famine in the city had grown quite severe, and the people had turned further into idolatry in an attempt to get some god to deliver them.
Jeremiah spoke the truth and exhorted people to turn to Jehovah or face his further judgement. As a result, he was threatened with death, and then thrown into a muddy pit. He almost starved to death.
Eventually, the walls were breached by the enemy. The king and his men fled, only to be captured. The king’s sons were killed in front of him and then his eyes were gouged out so that he would remember the death of his family as the last thing he saw. (See 2 Kings 25)
Finally, the enemy stripped the city of all precious metals. They burned the grand houses, the king’s palace, and ultimately, The Temple, to the ground.
Lamentations chapter 3 is a funeral dirge recording Jeremiah’s grief response.
On the very day I needed it, the Lord took me to this passage in my Bible reading plan. I recorded in my journal that I had been feeling distant from God and drained by the emotional weight from unexpectedly losing a loved one.
I very clearly remember reading, “I will never forget this awful time as I grieve over my loss.” (Lam. 3:20, NLT)
Thankfully, Jeremiah did not end there. He went on to profess God’s steadfast love “Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him! The LORD is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the LORD.” (Lamentations 3:21-26, NLT)
Dear Saints, we have a responsibility to consider our thoughts and how they are contributing to our emotional state. If you find yourself emotionally depressed because of the circumstances of life, there is hope! First, express your emotions honestly before the Lord. Jeremiah even let God know that he felt like God was the enemy! (Read the first 18 verses of Lamentations 3). Second, recall the truths of who God is and how He feels and acts toward you. Intentionally think about the Lord’s character and loving treatment of you.
His love and compassion never end! Our hope is in Him! No matter how we feel, God is good to those who search for and wait on Him. We simply need to exercise faith and choose to believe what God says is true.
The Apostle Paul echoed Jeremiah hundreds of years later when he said, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:13, ESV)
Note: There are times when depression is biologically based due to an imbalance in brain chemistry. If you have been faithfully pursuing God, taking care of yourself physically, and staying in healthy relationship with others but the depression doesn’t dissipate, we encourage you to seek medical advice. Medication can be a gift from God, through the wisdom he has given to people in the medical field.