So what do I do? ~ Bread for Beggars

What do you do when someone you love has depression?

Let me begin by saying what not to do: Don’t tell people to cheer up. Don’t tell a depressed person they shouldn’t have depression. Telling a Christian that if their faith was stronger they wouldn’t have depression is as bad as telling a Christian that if they truly believed they would be monetarily rich. It is heresy that says, “If you believe, your life will be better,” and not, “Christ walks with you through the shadow of death, even the shadow that depression casts on your life.”

If you have done that to someone else, maybe a friend, let me urge you: Repent. If it was done in ignorance, so be it. Repent. And know this: The same Jesus that died for the person with depression died for you, too. Be comforted that you do not wear your own righteousness. A righteousness apart from following the Law has been made known. (Romans 3:21) You now wear Jesus’s record. You are forgiven. You are free of the sins of your past, and all the sins of your future, too.

It may seem odd, but theological explanations probably aren’t what’s needed either. Rebecca Reynolds writes in Courage, Dear Heart:

When I am hurting deeply, formal theology explanations of suffering never seem to calm my restless soul because long-term pain isn’t something that logic alone can fix. If the Lord is going to allow the world to be this brutal, I need more than the math of things. I need to know that my Father feels pain intensely as I do and that his love for me will prove stronger than any single moment of weakness that suffering evokes. I need to be free to cry out to him, knowing that he sees me and that he cares.

Over the next several posts, I’m going to be speaking directly to those who suffer depression. Perhaps you don’t, personally. If you don’t struggle with depression, first, praise God. Second, look on the following posts as examples of how to address someone who battles depression.

I pray the following posts are helpful to anyone reading them.

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A devotion for those who may be struggling with depression today:

Today Will End

“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (2 Peter 3:8)

And now, as depression takes you, don’t you feel like you identify with God? Depression seems to slow everything down, doesn’t it? This day feels like a thousand years. And the nights… maybe you can identify with Solomon: “All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.” (Ecclesiastes 2:23)

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Know the truth: the Dawn is coming, and it is coming so, so soon.

It sure doesn’t feel that way, though. It looks like life will just get worse and worse and worse.

Your depression lies.

Yes, this world is broken. Yes, we decay. Yes, we groan.

Today will end.

It’s not just the end of time you have to look forward to, though. It’s not just heaven. Even here, today, this depressive episode will end. That doesn’t mean you’re marching in triumph and will conquer the world.

But today will end.

I will not promise that tomorrow will be better. I don’t know that. I don’t know what form sin will take tomorrow. I won’t promise that your depression will get better. But I promise this: despite how it feels, time continues.

How long did it feel to Jesus as he wrestled in Gethsemane? For those hours as he struggled in prayer and sweat blood, did it feel like an eternity to an eternal God who had placed himself into time? As he saw those torches crossing the valley toward the Mount of Olives, did every moment last forever?

But time continued. Jesus was arrested. Tried. Crucified. Died. Buried.

And three days later, he rose.

Today will end. Do not believe the lies of depression. Jesus himself stands with you in this moment. He knows your pain. He has borne your pain. He has taken your darkness and made it his own to release you from it.

Today will end.

Prayer: When will it end, Father? When will I be able to feel again? When will I be able to smile? I want to rejoice in your grace, but all I can do is weep. Hold me now. Carry me through this endless moment. Wrap my fingers around the knowledge that today will end, and even this time is in your hands. You have not forgotten me. Carry me now. Amen.