What is Spiritual Depression?

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Many people suffer from low-grade mental or even spiritual depression. Drugs are often prescribed in an attempt to relieve this illness. People often try to mask the symptoms of the disease by using substances such as legal or illegal drugs, alcohol, or even food. Marriages are affected when someone in the family is depressed. Children suffer and try to adjust when one or both parents are depressed. Sadly, the disease seems to run in families.

Depression comes in two major forms:

1. Reactive, where feelings may range from an emotional sadness that comes from a relatively minor event all the way to intense sadness from grief over the death of a loved one

2. Endogenous, which is characterized by an ongoing deep depression with no seeming reason for feeling this way. The source is usually a disease or a chemical imbalance

There is yet another form of this mood disorder which is called spiritual depression. It is a malaise that seems to be upon many people from time to time when they feel "cut off" or "far away" from God. While in this state of mind they have no enthusiasm for God and the Bible. They seem "weary in well doing" (Galatians 6:9, 2Thessalonians 3:13) and ready to collapse under persecution.

There are cases in the Bible where spiritual depression seems to have occurred. King David often found himself spiritually depressed and in need of God.

"Why are you cast down, O my soul?  And why are you disquieted within me? . . . " (Psalm 42:5, NKJV)

"Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls.  All Your waves and billows have gone over me." (Psalm 42:7, NKJV)

It is almost too much for him to bear. There is also the example of Elijah the prophet. God through Elijah had a monumental victory over the 450 pagan priests of Baal at Mt. Carmel (1Kings 19). All the false prophets were killed and Israel's heart turned back to worshipping the true God. Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab, heard what happened and sent word to Elijah that she would make sure he would be dead within a day. When he heard the threat, even after the awesome miracle of Carmel, Elijah decided to run for his life! Traveling to Mt. Horeb he laments to God:

"But he himself (Elijah) went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might DIE, and said, 'It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!' " (1Kings 19:4)

Elijah also laments that he is the only prophet of God left alive. God's "cure" was to get him busy again doing His will. He was also told that he was NOT the only righteous man left in Israel! There is also the well-known case of Judas Iscariot. After betraying Jesus to those who hated him he had a dramatic change of heart. His depressed state and remorse was so severe that it drove him to commit the ultimate expression of self-hate.

"When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put Him to death . . .

"Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He (Jesus) had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, 'I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.' And they said, 'What is that to us? You see to it!' Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself." (Matthew 27:1, 3-5)

Many psychologists believe that one of the causes of depression is negative, pessimistic thinking which creates low self-esteem. They have known for some time that negative, irrational self-talk in the form of simple declarative sentences often leads to this state of mind. Therefore, appropriate self-talk can lift us out of it.