Because our depression is a deeply personal experience it is better described than defined.“I have felt my mangled heart periodically strangled by the silent thief lurking in the melancholy shadows.” Or, “It is a thickly clouded midnight sky that chokes out distant starlight.”
There are many potential cures for depression but let me give you one. 1 Peter 5:6-7, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
‘Humble yourself,’ really great advice for one who is already depressed! Aren’t they crushed enough already? Hear me out. One cause of depression is a faulty view of ourselves. We can either love ourselves too much, or hate ourselves too much. And one common factor in both tendencies is thinking about ourselves too much. Our self loathing or self love becomes our all consuming obsession and it produces a deepening darkness. And therefore we need to humble ourselves. We need to shift our focus from self, and our slights, wounds, worries, and distasteful circumstances to God our creator and how he sees us. And the first thing this altered vision produces is humility.
What do we really deserve anyway? I remember moving from a 2 bedroom 6-Plex with bad neighbors to a 3 bedroom home in the woods with a finished basement and great neighbors for only $25 more a month. My wife said, as a good Calvinist, “We don’t deserve this.” I retorted, as a better Calvinist, “We don’t deserve anything.” From that place of humility almost everything can seem a blessing. The mind shifts from what we deserve, to how ridiculously we are blessed. And that is healthier air to breath. Remember, God is mighty, mightier than our depression, and looking to him will bring exaltation, in His time – eventually but also certainly. So humble yourselves in the presence of God.
Second, cast your cares upon Him. But, we like our cares, concerns, conundrums, and corruptions. Better the devil you know applies to depression. “I would rather live with this misery than risk it growing worse.” We tend to cling to our wounds and worries instead of casting them unto the stronger shoulders of our compassionate Savior. Transfer the weight of your depression to the other side of the yoke, the side that Jesus bears. He care for you. That is at times difficult to believe, but it is necessary to stare down the beast of depression. Jesus sees you was the object of his love, the reward of his labors, the apple of his eye, and a friend in need. His opinion of you must take precedence over your own. That is one method of starring depression down by looking to Jesus.