Depression: Looking Up from the Stubborn Darkness by Edward T. Welch Page B
Authors: Edward T. Welch
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not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited. 8
This longing is joy. It is a longing for glory, heaven, and, especially, God himself.
Augustine and Lewis echo Paul’s exhortation to the church at Philippi to meditate on those things that are true, noble, pure, and lovely (Phil. 4:8). This exhortation resides in a letter uniquely committed to teaching the church how to have joy in the midst of suffering.
Joy is the natural response when we behold God. What does it have to do with boredom? Joyful people are mobilized. They delight in doing small obediences. They are pleased to serve God in any ordinary way he sees fit. They also know that an army of people taking small steps of obedience is what moves the kingdom of God forward in power.
R ESPONSE
When we first listen to depression, we find that the misery is consuming. It doesn’t point anywhere or say anything. It just is. But when we keep listening, it tells stories of loss, rejection, or other events that happened to the person. It speaks of identifiable physiological problems. It points to a culture of irony: the culture with the most peace, money, and leisure is also the one with the most malignant sadness.
As you consider the comments about joy, don’t be discouraged if joy is elusive. It takes time and practice. If, however, you don’t want joy, if you are resistant to considering joy in God, then you are probably angry and avoiding God. The following chapters will give you opportunity to consider this more closely.
What feature of our culture have you absorbed that shapes your depression?
CHAPTER
13
The Heart of Depression
Jane was on the verge of hospitalization again. Could she make it another day? Should she be committed? And what do you do when you know hospitalization isn’t going to help? At best, it would temporarily keep her out of harm’s way, which is what it did the other two times.
With her resources alerted and ready to help, her small group leader called and asked Jane the obvious. When someone is desperate, ask about her relationship with God. This wasn’t a new question to Jane. When she wasn’t depressed she found the question to be among the most important that anyone could ask. But not this time.
“Why are you asking me about God at a time like this?”
“Jane, how could I not ask you? You are desperate. Where else can you really turn?”
The small group leader was faced with at least two possibilities. One, he had not really listened to Jane and put a spiritual band-aid on a potentially lethal wound. Two, he got to the heart of the mat-ter—there was nothing deeper than her relationship with God—and Jane would have none of it. That doesn’t mean that Jane’s relationship with God was the cause of her depression, but, at least, her depression exposed how, when life was sufficiently difficult and her faith was severely tested, Jane found God irrelevant, which made her relationship with God very relevant.
Only later was Jane able to realize that the question revealed her heart: she trusted God when circumstances went her way but not when she went through hard trials, such as depression.
We are trying to carefully dissect depression. We are listening to it, hoping for clues about how it began and how it can be relieved. This led us first to highlight a number of causes that come at us. Satan, other people, death, and culture often play a part. The next step is to complete the loop and consider those things that come out of us. How do they contribute to depression (fig. 13.1)?
Figure 13.1. The Development of Depression.
Things don’t simply happen to us. When they do, we respond with an immediate interpretation of their meaning and significance. We filter the event through our view of God, others, and ourselves that we have been developing throughout our lives.
For example, let’s say that someone didn’t say hello to you at church. You interpret it: “She is angry at me”; “She is a snob”; or “She
This longing is joy. It is a longing for glory, heaven, and, especially, God himself.
Augustine and Lewis echo Paul’s exhortation to the church at Philippi to meditate on those things that are true, noble, pure, and lovely (Phil. 4:8). This exhortation resides in a letter uniquely committed to teaching the church how to have joy in the midst of suffering.
Joy is the natural response when we behold God. What does it have to do with boredom? Joyful people are mobilized. They delight in doing small obediences. They are pleased to serve God in any ordinary way he sees fit. They also know that an army of people taking small steps of obedience is what moves the kingdom of God forward in power.
R ESPONSE
When we first listen to depression, we find that the misery is consuming. It doesn’t point anywhere or say anything. It just is. But when we keep listening, it tells stories of loss, rejection, or other events that happened to the person. It speaks of identifiable physiological problems. It points to a culture of irony: the culture with the most peace, money, and leisure is also the one with the most malignant sadness.
As you consider the comments about joy, don’t be discouraged if joy is elusive. It takes time and practice. If, however, you don’t want joy, if you are resistant to considering joy in God, then you are probably angry and avoiding God. The following chapters will give you opportunity to consider this more closely.
What feature of our culture have you absorbed that shapes your depression?
CHAPTER
13
The Heart of Depression
Jane was on the verge of hospitalization again. Could she make it another day? Should she be committed? And what do you do when you know hospitalization isn’t going to help? At best, it would temporarily keep her out of harm’s way, which is what it did the other two times.
With her resources alerted and ready to help, her small group leader called and asked Jane the obvious. When someone is desperate, ask about her relationship with God. This wasn’t a new question to Jane. When she wasn’t depressed she found the question to be among the most important that anyone could ask. But not this time.
“Why are you asking me about God at a time like this?”
“Jane, how could I not ask you? You are desperate. Where else can you really turn?”
The small group leader was faced with at least two possibilities. One, he had not really listened to Jane and put a spiritual band-aid on a potentially lethal wound. Two, he got to the heart of the mat-ter—there was nothing deeper than her relationship with God—and Jane would have none of it. That doesn’t mean that Jane’s relationship with God was the cause of her depression, but, at least, her depression exposed how, when life was sufficiently difficult and her faith was severely tested, Jane found God irrelevant, which made her relationship with God very relevant.
Only later was Jane able to realize that the question revealed her heart: she trusted God when circumstances went her way but not when she went through hard trials, such as depression.
We are trying to carefully dissect depression. We are listening to it, hoping for clues about how it began and how it can be relieved. This led us first to highlight a number of causes that come at us. Satan, other people, death, and culture often play a part. The next step is to complete the loop and consider those things that come out of us. How do they contribute to depression (fig. 13.1)?
Figure 13.1. The Development of Depression.
Things don’t simply happen to us. When they do, we respond with an immediate interpretation of their meaning and significance. We filter the event through our view of God, others, and ourselves that we have been developing throughout our lives.
For example, let’s say that someone didn’t say hello to you at church. You interpret it: “She is angry at me”; “She is a snob”; or “She
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