As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, While they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, With the sound of a shout of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Wait for God, for I shall still praise Him, For the salvation of His presence.
— Psalms 42:1–5 (LSB)
In a sermon preached by one of our pastors on Psalm 42, he talked about depression, its causes and cure. He defined depression as that which characterized with persistence feeling of sadness and lost of interest in activities, in extreme cases there is a suicidal thought.
Referring to books written by David Murray (Christians Get Depressed Too!) and M.L. Jones (Spiritual Depression) on depression, he gave three causes of depression: unbalanced lifestyle, physical sickness, and sometimes sin and unbelief. Workaholicism is not a virtue. Diligence, not restlessness, is what the Bible commends. Sickness affects the way we think about life and God. Sin and unbelief will snatch our hope away from God and "consume our soul." The psalmist's expression of having his tears as his food day and night is a sign that he is in no small trouble (v. 2) as one who is panting and thirsting for the living God.
For those who are familiar with the early church fathers, we know Gregory of Nazianzus who was a key figure in the Pro-Nicene debates. He was one of the Cappadocian Fathers and hailed as "The Theologian" who took the "baton of orthodoxy" from Athanasius after his death in 373 A.D. and challenged both the Eunomians (The Son was unlike the Father's substance) and Macedonians (the "Spirit fighters" denying the deity of the Holy Spirit) positions in his time. However, in Peter Gilbert's introduction to Gregory of Nazianzus' On God and Man: The Theological Poetry of St Gregory of Nazianzus, he notes that Gregory struggled with what might be called today as clinical depression. Despite his theological acumen, he speaks of going about under a "black [swart] cloud" and experiencing a loss of the sense of God's presence. Here's a passage from his theological oration on the Human Nature:
Yesterday, worn out with anxieties, away from others I was in a shady grove, my soul consumed. For how I do so love this drug for sufferings, to speak in quiet, me with my own soul…
But privately, my mind in a whirlpool spinning, I had this sort of battling round of words: Who was I? Who am I? What shall I be? I don't know clearly. Nor can I find one better stocked with wisdom. But, as through thick fog, I wander every which way, with nothing, not a dream, of the things I long for. For all of us are groundlings, vagabonds, over whom the [black] swart cloud of the fat flesh hangs…1
As for the psalmist, he didn't focus on the causes of depression alone but also on the cure. The Psalmist's first response to depression is not for his enemies to be destroyed or for the depression to go away. But to focus and long for God. Hence, we must learn to trust God even in our depression (v. 2). He sees God as a living God who is the source of life Himself, self-sufficient and independent. This is the biblical God of classical theism. The One in whom we can rely on when the "black cloud" of providence overshadows us. This is the God whom Gregory defended and praised.
But I praise the One who convicts what lurks invisible, seeing with most penetrating eyes of the Spirit. But save my old, gray head, and grant a merciful end to life, as formerly you carefully loved me, and day by day you led me to what's best, bringing me forward to better hopes; and lead me away from ill-willed, bitter cares into the fair haven of your kingdom; so that, while extolling you with the ever-living lights, I may have a portion of heavenly glory, O Lord.2
The psalmist longed for communion with God who "carefully loved him" because isolation will make his depression worse. Second, he remembers God's presence in corporate worship with God's people or when he gets along with the throng in the procession to the house of God (v. 4). Recalling God's blessing in trouble will help a troubled soul. We must fight when we are depressed. We fight to be with God's people so that we may be encouraged to combat our present distresses. Remember God's wondrous works when you are drowning in depression. Don't fail to appreciate the brethren's fellowship. Don't miss to see God's mercies in the preaching of His word. Don't. Remember that the God who has been your help in the past troubles will be your help in the present troubles.
Lastly, our pastor highlighted the fact that the Psalmist acknowledges God's sovereign love and purpose (v. 7). Note that the Psalmist didn't say "the enemies' breakers" but "Your breakers" — referring to God's hand even over His troubles. He didn't forget this, then he offered prayer "to the God of His life" (v. 8). He was troubled but he found comfort in God's sovereign love. God's absolute sovereignty is the anchor of our souls. Lean upon the truth that God controls everything. Nothing is meaningless in God's providence for our life till we "have a portion of heavenly glory."
These are the cures that we can learn from the depressed Psalmist in Psalm 42 and some lessons from one of the greatest theologians in history. In our depression, we must learn to trust God who "brings us forward to better hopes." We must preach and talk, not listen, to ourselves as the psalmist reminded himself to still praise God, and about his salvation from God. Our pastor concluded that "biblical hope is the confident assurance that God's promise will be fulfilled."
Are you depressed and troubled? Are you under the black cloud that overwhelms your soul? Hope and wait upon the Saviour and Anchor of your soul. Our soul's anchor is in seeing our God, his very essence, in the beholding Him in that beatific vision, without sin, without pain, without troubles. He who is our hope by faith will satisfy our longing by sight as we see Him face to face in Christ Jesus.
To the Triune God alone be the glory!