Jeff Adams

Who hasn’t struggled with depression? For most of us depression can result from any number of circumstances or events and can last for a few hours to a few days. Sometimes we are not even certain why we feel depressed. Modern science helps us understand that things like certain foods, climate, chemical imbalances in the body and other stimuli can bring on depression. For some people depression is a chronic, debilitating and dangerous condition that dominates their lives.

If anyone had a legitmate reason to be depressed the biblical prophet Jeremiah would qualify. He preached his heart out for his entire prophetic career, yet no one really paid heed to what he said. Now, in the final years of his life, he has lived to see his prophecies fulfilled in the horrific destruction of his beloved Jerusalem. The scene before him is bloody and hopeless as he pens these words in his Lamentations, an appendix to the book that bears his name.

And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD: Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. Lamentations 3:18-24

These verses tell how Jeremiah faced down depression.Here’s a brief summary of principles we can take away from this passage.

Openly admit the problem of depression. Jeremiah did not deny his depression, nor did he run from it. He did not try to put on a happy face and pretend it did not exist. He did not wallow in guilt, nor did he give in to futile self-analysis. In full transparency, he simply faced up to the reality of the bitter misery that gripped his soul and called it what it was. This honest admission resulted in a genuine humility, a recognition of the humanity he shared with all human beings.

Find strength in your weakness. There is a wonderfully amazing statement tucked away here. “This I recall to mind, therefore have I hope.” The very thought process of acknowledging the source of his depression and the weakness of his own fallen humanity is the very thing that led Jeremiah to hope! This is very similar to Paul’s conclusion when he had prayed three times about his thorn in the flesh to no avail. In the final phrase of 2Corinthians 12:10 Paul said, “for when I am weak, then am I stong.”

Realize that it is not as bad as it could be. What thought process could possibly lead Jeremiah to find hope by remembering his depression? The answer is found in the words that follow. He understood that when the city lay in ruins around him, he was still standing. Only by God’s mercies could he stand. The very fact that he was not consumed was evidence of God’s compassion toward him. No matter how bad things are, they could always be worse. Always.

Discover new freshness in God and the life he gives. Jeremiah practiced a walk with God that looked to discover fresh truth of God every day. He saw God’s unchanging faithfulness in the way his prophecies were fulfilled, even though the results were catastrophic.

Choose God over depression. Refusing to be paralyzed by depression, Jeremiah chose God instead. “The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.” Beating depression requires an act of free will by choosing God instead of your depression. Even if you have lost everything, you can still have God if you choose him. If you have him, you have everything and what you lost was really nothing. Paradoxical? No. This is entering into a new dimension of reality and understanding.