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Depression Is Pandemic In The United States - Part 2 - Depression & Learned Behaviors
A man once wrote, “I write this will all reverence: God Himself cannot deliver a person who is not in trouble. Therefore, it is to some advantage to be in distress, because God can then deliver you. Even Jesus Christ, the Healer of me, cannot heal a person who is not sick. Therefore, sickness is not an adversity for us, but rather an advantageous opportunity for Christ to heal us. The point is, my reader, your adversity may prove your advantage by offering occasion for the display of divine grace.”
On an another occasion, this same man said, “I often feel very grateful to God that I have undergone fearful depression. I know the borders of despair and the horrible brink of that gulf of darkness into which my feet have almost gone. But hundreds of times I have been able to give a helpful grip to brethren and sisters who have come into that same condition, which grip I could never have given if I had not known their despondency. So I believe that the darkest and most dreadful experience of a child of God will help him to be a fisher of men if he will but follow Christ.”
Who wrote and said these things?
Charles Spurgeon!
When observing depression in the life of its “victims,” whether they be Biblical characters like Job, Elijah, Jonah, or Kind David; historical figures like Abraham Lincoln; great Christian leaders like Charles H. Spurgeon; or people like you and me; you’ll observe two learned behaviors manifested in nearly every case.
FIRST: They allow their emotions to interpret the seriousness of their situation, which provides fertile ground for depression to set in.
SECOND: They allow their emotions to prevent them from seeing anything beyond themselves, which gives root for depression to take control of their life.
It must be understood that your emotions do not tell you what is true. They simply tell you how you feel about your situation. And for those of us who battle depression, we must learn how to free ourselves from the control our emotions have over us.
In order to illustrate what I’ve just stated, we are going to examine the real case history of a great man that we find in the Bible.
In 1 Kings 19:1-4, we find a man by the name of Elijah. Elijah has just experienced a remarkable victory over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. But when Ahab tells Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had slain all the prophets of Baal, Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah telling him she intended to have him killed within 24 hours. What did Elijah do? He RAN! That’s right. Here we have this great man of God, who had just stood up against and defeated 450 prophets of Baal, running from this wicked woman, Jezebel! He runs into the wilderness, sits down under a juniper tree, and asks God to kill him. He has allowed his emotions to take control of his thinking, to the point he is now suicidal. Why? What happened to this great man of God, who had before demonstrated such courage and faith? Let’s diagnose the situation.
FIRST: He allowed his emotions to interpret the seriousness of the situation, instead of understanding the situation in light of what was true. What was true? God was just as capable of delivering Elijah from the hands of Jezebel, as He was to hand him the great victory over the 450 prophets of Baal. He allowed his thinking, and resulting behavior, to be ruled by his emotions, instead of what he should have known to be true. We must remember in the “dark times” what we learned in “the light.”
　
SECOND: He allowed his emotions to prevent him from seeing anything beyond himself; instead he needed to look to God for understanding.
Simply stated, Elijah lost sight of two fundamental truths that all of God’s people must learn to live by. ONE: The situation is never outside of God’s control; i.e., God was certainly capable of helping him. TWO: God is always going to act in our best interest. God’s working in our lives will ALWAYS be motivated by His perfect love for us, no matter how it feels while we are going through it.
The problem we have is, what we feel is in our best interest (our emotions), and what actually is in our best interest (what is true based on God‘s perspective), many times conflict with one another. And it is at these times we must discipline ourselves to shift our focus from what we are FEELING to what is actually TRUE. When our focus is on what is true, we are enabled to rise above how we feel.
The questions is not, “HOW DO I FEEL ABOUT MY SITUATION?” The questions is, “WHAT DO I NOW DO IN VIEW OF MY SITUATION?”
So, simply stated, we must learn how to change our way of THINKING. The Bible calls it “renewing the mind” (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:23). Instead of allowing our emotions, and resulting feelings, drive our thinking, we must focus our thoughts on WHAT IS TRUE. And there are four Biblical truths that we must bring into focus as a means to prevent difficulties, disappointments, and trials from turning into depression.
The FIRST Biblical truth we will discuss, that we must learn to apply to change our way of thinking, is that YOU OWN NOTHING! That’s right, you don’t own one thing; not even your life! Understand, most depression comes as a result of a sense of loss. It can be a loss of health, death of a loved one, loss of a relationship, loss of finances, loss of career, etc.
Any sense of loss can become a “trigger” for depression. But the truth is, YOU CAN’T LOSE WHAT YOU DON’T OWN! And the truth is, YOU DON’T OWN A THING! Your LIFE isn’t yours. Your SOUL isn’t yours. Your TIME isn’t yours. Your SPOUSE isn’t yours. Your CHILDREN aren’t yours. Your PROPERTY isn’t yours. Your MONEY isn’t yours. Your HEALTH isn’t yours. It is all in God’s hands and control because it all belongs to God! You simply have been granted stewardship over these things for just a short period of time.
This is a reality that we must learn to mentally condition ourselves to accept. And the logic that necessarily follows this truth is that you cannot lose what you do not own. As God’s people, our attitudes about life MUST conform to Scripture. When Job had lost it all; I mean absolutely everything; his attitude was fully expressed by his statement, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).
Until we learn to develop a REAL godly outlook on life (not the outlook of most professing Christians in America today), our mental health will continue to suffer. It has been said, “We are either in the midst of a trial, coming out of a trial, or heading into a trial.” LIFE HAPPENS. And it “happens” to all of us. That’s not even in question. The question is, “How are we to react when it does happen?”
The “key” to good mental health, and gaining the victory over depression, comes from learning how to properly interpret the events of our life. And this first step in the transforming of our mind comes when we begin to accept the reality that God is the creator and owner of ALL things. And as a result, He has the right to give, and take, as it pleases Him.
Let’s look to a couple of places in Scripture that speak to what I’ve just stated. In Romans 11:33-36, the Bible says, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor? Or who hast first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.”
Colossians 1:16 says, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and for him.” You see, God owns it all. And He doesn’t owe us anything.
EVERYTHING was created by Him and for Him. Whatever blessings we receive at the hand of God are undeserved and unmerited. Everything we have and enjoy, temporal and eternal, flows from the grace and mercy of Almighty God.
And even though it is quite true that it is not easy to adopt this attitude about our life and our “losses” in life, it is necessary; it is Biblical. This renewing of our mind is the essential first step in learning how to gain permanent victory over depression and to maintain a mentally healthy perspective about our life. This is the cornerstone from which every other attitude about our life must be measured.
　
“Part 3” will soon follow.
A man once wrote, “I write this will all reverence: God Himself cannot deliver a person who is not in trouble. Therefore, it is to some advantage to be in distress, because God can then deliver you. Even Jesus Christ, the Healer of me, cannot heal a person who is not sick. Therefore, sickness is not an adversity for us, but rather an advantageous opportunity for Christ to heal us. The point is, my reader, your adversity may prove your advantage by offering occasion for the display of divine grace.”
On an another occasion, this same man said, “I often feel very grateful to God that I have undergone fearful depression. I know the borders of despair and the horrible brink of that gulf of darkness into which my feet have almost gone. But hundreds of times I have been able to give a helpful grip to brethren and sisters who have come into that same condition, which grip I could never have given if I had not known their despondency. So I believe that the darkest and most dreadful experience of a child of God will help him to be a fisher of men if he will but follow Christ.”
Who wrote and said these things?
Charles Spurgeon!
When observing depression in the life of its “victims,” whether they be Biblical characters like Job, Elijah, Jonah, or Kind David; historical figures like Abraham Lincoln; great Christian leaders like Charles H. Spurgeon; or people like you and me; you’ll observe two learned behaviors manifested in nearly every case.
FIRST: They allow their emotions to interpret the seriousness of their situation, which provides fertile ground for depression to set in.
SECOND: They allow their emotions to prevent them from seeing anything beyond themselves, which gives root for depression to take control of their life.
It must be understood that your emotions do not tell you what is true. They simply tell you how you feel about your situation. And for those of us who battle depression, we must learn how to free ourselves from the control our emotions have over us.
In order to illustrate what I’ve just stated, we are going to examine the real case history of a great man that we find in the Bible.
In 1 Kings 19:1-4, we find a man by the name of Elijah. Elijah has just experienced a remarkable victory over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. But when Ahab tells Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had slain all the prophets of Baal, Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah telling him she intended to have him killed within 24 hours. What did Elijah do? He RAN! That’s right. Here we have this great man of God, who had just stood up against and defeated 450 prophets of Baal, running from this wicked woman, Jezebel! He runs into the wilderness, sits down under a juniper tree, and asks God to kill him. He has allowed his emotions to take control of his thinking, to the point he is now suicidal. Why? What happened to this great man of God, who had before demonstrated such courage and faith? Let’s diagnose the situation.
FIRST: He allowed his emotions to interpret the seriousness of the situation, instead of understanding the situation in light of what was true. What was true? God was just as capable of delivering Elijah from the hands of Jezebel, as He was to hand him the great victory over the 450 prophets of Baal. He allowed his thinking, and resulting behavior, to be ruled by his emotions, instead of what he should have known to be true. We must remember in the “dark times” what we learned in “the light.”
　
SECOND: He allowed his emotions to prevent him from seeing anything beyond himself; instead he needed to look to God for understanding.
Simply stated, Elijah lost sight of two fundamental truths that all of God’s people must learn to live by. ONE: The situation is never outside of God’s control; i.e., God was certainly capable of helping him. TWO: God is always going to act in our best interest. God’s working in our lives will ALWAYS be motivated by His perfect love for us, no matter how it feels while we are going through it.
The problem we have is, what we feel is in our best interest (our emotions), and what actually is in our best interest (what is true based on God‘s perspective), many times conflict with one another. And it is at these times we must discipline ourselves to shift our focus from what we are FEELING to what is actually TRUE. When our focus is on what is true, we are enabled to rise above how we feel.
Gaining The Victory
YES, you can gain the victory over depression. Even though we can’t always control how we feel when life presents us with a difficult trial, we can determine how we behave. Not choice of feelings, but choice of behavior.
The questions is not, “HOW DO I FEEL ABOUT MY SITUATION?” The questions is, “WHAT DO I NOW DO IN VIEW OF MY SITUATION?”
So, simply stated, we must learn how to change our way of THINKING. The Bible calls it “renewing the mind” (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:23). Instead of allowing our emotions, and resulting feelings, drive our thinking, we must focus our thoughts on WHAT IS TRUE. And there are four Biblical truths that we must bring into focus as a means to prevent difficulties, disappointments, and trials from turning into depression.
The FIRST Biblical truth we will discuss, that we must learn to apply to change our way of thinking, is that YOU OWN NOTHING! That’s right, you don’t own one thing; not even your life! Understand, most depression comes as a result of a sense of loss. It can be a loss of health, death of a loved one, loss of a relationship, loss of finances, loss of career, etc.
Any sense of loss can become a “trigger” for depression. But the truth is, YOU CAN’T LOSE WHAT YOU DON’T OWN! And the truth is, YOU DON’T OWN A THING! Your LIFE isn’t yours. Your SOUL isn’t yours. Your TIME isn’t yours. Your SPOUSE isn’t yours. Your CHILDREN aren’t yours. Your PROPERTY isn’t yours. Your MONEY isn’t yours. Your HEALTH isn’t yours. It is all in God’s hands and control because it all belongs to God! You simply have been granted stewardship over these things for just a short period of time.
This is a reality that we must learn to mentally condition ourselves to accept. And the logic that necessarily follows this truth is that you cannot lose what you do not own. As God’s people, our attitudes about life MUST conform to Scripture. When Job had lost it all; I mean absolutely everything; his attitude was fully expressed by his statement, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).
Until we learn to develop a REAL godly outlook on life (not the outlook of most professing Christians in America today), our mental health will continue to suffer. It has been said, “We are either in the midst of a trial, coming out of a trial, or heading into a trial.” LIFE HAPPENS. And it “happens” to all of us. That’s not even in question. The question is, “How are we to react when it does happen?”
The “key” to good mental health, and gaining the victory over depression, comes from learning how to properly interpret the events of our life. And this first step in the transforming of our mind comes when we begin to accept the reality that God is the creator and owner of ALL things. And as a result, He has the right to give, and take, as it pleases Him.
Let’s look to a couple of places in Scripture that speak to what I’ve just stated. In Romans 11:33-36, the Bible says, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor? Or who hast first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.”
Colossians 1:16 says, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and for him.” You see, God owns it all. And He doesn’t owe us anything.
EVERYTHING was created by Him and for Him. Whatever blessings we receive at the hand of God are undeserved and unmerited. Everything we have and enjoy, temporal and eternal, flows from the grace and mercy of Almighty God.
And even though it is quite true that it is not easy to adopt this attitude about our life and our “losses” in life, it is necessary; it is Biblical. This renewing of our mind is the essential first step in learning how to gain permanent victory over depression and to maintain a mentally healthy perspective about our life. This is the cornerstone from which every other attitude about our life must be measured.
　
“Part 3” will soon follow.