One well-known Bible verse states, “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Many Christians, however, find that difficult because they could be suffering from spiritual depression, and might not even know it.
An estimated 75 million Americans struggle with depression. That number is likely much higher, however, due to the untold numbers who suffer in silence. That included Pastor Nate Pickowicz until getting help from the Lord, something he describes in his book, Overcoming the Darkness: Biblical Help for Spiritual Depression.
Erasing the Stigma of Depression
“I was a little nervous to write about it,” he told CBN News. “I think there’s a stigma a lot of times attached to Christians who struggle in these ways. I think one of the things that people tend to do is to say that if you’re depressed that somehow there’s something wrong, that you’ve sinned in some way. But the truth is, is that we’re regular people. We all have a condition that needs help from the Lord. And I think to not talk about it actually hurts people.”
Pickowicz believes many may not even realize they’re depressed.
“How do you differentiate between just having a bad day or a bad week or the normal rhythms of life, you lose a job, someone passes away? Those are normal things,” he said. “But I think when the spiritual lowness, when the sadness, when the depression starts to stretch into a longer season of life, or it becomes the pattern of your life, you start to notice you just can’t experience the joy of the Lord at all. It’s muted or it’s suppressed in you. And so that’s usually when you start to notice, this is my normal pattern now, and I know I need to break out of it.”
The Bible is filled with examples of those who endured seasons of sorrow, including Elijah, Naomi, and Jeremiah. There are also Christian leaders like Martin Luther and John Wesley. Pastor Pickowicz points out a number of things behind this condition.
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“We all think about Job when we think about this kind of thing. He loses everything. He loses his family to death, he loses his health, he loses his wealth. His whole life just falls apart. And that brings about these feelings of depression,” he said. “Or you think about David who was dwelling in sin, a repeated pattern of sin that brings about depression. Moses, for example, was embroiled in constant relational strife with the people of Israel that brought about depression.”
A medical problem could also lead to depression.
“I try to differentiate between physiological, physical things of the brain. And I usually tell people, if you think there’s something physically wrong with you, if you have had a brain injury or there’s something wrong physically, then please go talk to a trusted doctor,” he said. “We always want people to get the help they need on that level.”
Five Steps to Healing
When it comes to spiritual healing, Pickowicz recommends five steps: discipline, obedience, holiness, peace, and joy through gratitude. Begin with doing what you know God wants, even if you don’t feel like it, such as reading the Bible, praying, and communing with people at church.
“And then those disciplines eventually become obedience, where you’re doing it from the heart, which then produces a holiness of life. And holiness is really just being conformed more to the image of God, being more like him,” he said.
Pickowicz recommends differentiating and embracing two types of peace. The first is peace with God.
“I think so many people wrestle with feeling like, well, maybe if I’m having a bad day, maybe I’m not saved. Well the truth is in Romans 5:1, it talks about having been justified by faith. So justification means we’re declared righteous in God’s sight and does this through Christ. So we’re justified by faith. It says we have peace with God,” he said.
The other type of peace is the kind that comes from God.
“Second Corinthians talks about how God actually comforts the depressed,” Pickowicz said. “God is able to minister His comfort, His strength, His peace, a settledness of spirit.”
The last step involves finding joy, rooted in gratitude.
“There’s an old saying, ‘Comparison is the thief of joy,'” Pickowicz said. “That when you look around you and say, ‘Oh, I don’t have as much as so-and-so,’ or ‘I’m not receiving what I think God should give to me,’ it brings us down to a low place. We’ve become lost in self-pity, and that surely will lead you into states of spiritual depression.”
Therefore, as the traditional hymn goes, “Count your many blessings, name them one by one.”
“Some of the most joyful Christians I’ve ever met are the most afflicted,” Pickowicz said. “It’s not the affliction that produces it, but their response to the affliction. But we can actually experience the joy of the Lord, even when we’re having a hard time.”
Draw Close to God
So while spiritual depression can cause people to pull away from God, the Bible states that believers should do the exact opposite.
“But Jesus actually says in Matthew 11, ‘Come to Me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I’ll give you rest,'” Pickowicz said. “Oftentimes, I think we think our prayers have to be these long, amazing theological prayers, but in truth, going to the Lord and saying, ‘Lord, help me,’ that’s a good prayer.”
Pickowicz said at its core, spiritual depression is often a battle of the mind. Whether we face attacks from the enemy or wrestle with the opposing voices within, the struggle is to keep our thoughts fixed on the things of God and to remain fully devoted to Him.
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