“The Lord upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down.” Psalm 145:14
There is no doubt that depression brings a person down emotionally, but it also can drag someone downward mentally, physically, and spiritually as well. Depression is a lower condition from the higher position God has intended for us. Depression is not a product of life; it’s a result of our fallen world. Whether depression is caused from something that has gone wrong within us or something has brought us down from what is around us, depression is not from God. I will even go as far as to say that there are times when our spiritual enemy will use depression in an attack against us. Whatever the cause, depression is downward spiral descent that steals away our quality of life.
Depression is more than a lack of joy. Depression can be a robber of our “want to,” our motivation. Depression can numb us so that we just don’t care anymore. We can lose our drive for productivity, our passion for purpose, our appetite for enjoying life, and in some cases, our will to live. People who suffer with depression often feel lethargic from experiencing circumstances and relationships. They feel worn, like it should be the end of a day. Each day they look less and less forward to the mornings. Depression can feel like you are slowly dying. Life is being drained by each situation, emptying a person of their vitality and vigor.
Depression is more than sadness. Sadness is an emotion, and sadness can change with circumstances. Depression is a state of being, and it can hold a person down, no matter what the circumstances. Depression can take over, to control or manipulate a person from rising up or from doing what they should do, could do, or would do.
Depression is often based on lies – lies about you, lies about others, and lies about God. If the truth can set us free, then believing a lie can keep us down. There can be underlying mistruths about your past, your present, and your future. Religious control and bondage can be a chain of depression, using guilt, shame, and fear to dominate us. Magnification of things gone wrong can imprison a person in depression.
Jesus went to the grave and defeated it. He has power to reach down into your darkness and snatch you out. Jesus can bring you into the light of His life, a place where you are seated together with Him. No matter what is going on around you, you can live above it.
Application: Depressed? Look to God to lift you, because you can’t do it on your own. Believe Him, receive Him, and be free in Jesus’ name!