7 things Job can teach us about depression

Depression cannot always be traced back to personal sin. Honestly, sometimes personal sin may have something to do with it. For example, a man who suffers from depression because he ruined his family and life by cheating on his wife. But, right out of the gate the author of Job is clear about Job's uprightness. He was "blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil" (Job 1:1). Another translation makes it even clearer: "Job...was without blame. He was right and good, he feared God, and turned away from sin" (NLT). That's a good summary of how Job lived his life. And if there is any doubt about hidden sin, God himself affirms Job. "There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil" (v.8). There are a number of factors that lead to depression, such as stressful events, negative thinking, substance abuse, genetics, and brain chemistry. But Job shows us that depression isn't always a sin issue.

There isn’t a quick fix to depression. Job's story is a long and difficult. He says, “nights of misery have been assigned to me. When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’ The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn” (7:3-4). We don’t know how long Job’s misery lasted. Scholars guess it was anywhere from several months to years, but we have no sure way of knowing. No matter the time, it most certainly felt like an eternity to Job. It certainly wasn’t ended by flipping mental switch. The book doesn’t offer a simple or fast solution to depression.

Depression affects mood, mind, and body. Job is important in understanding depression because we can very clearly see the interrelation between physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Physically, he suffered with draining skin sores (known today as “Job syndrome”), itching and scabs (30:28), bad breath (19:17), fever (30:30), bodily pain (30:17), and insomnia (7:3-4). Mentally, he was drained. His friend’s constant accusations had worn him out. ““I have heard many things like these; you are miserable comforters, all of you! Will your long-winded speeches never end” (16:1-3)? Socially, he was attacked, berated and ostracized. The people he once helped now laughed at him. “Whoever heard me spoke well of me, and those who saw me commended me…But now they mock me” (29:11; 30:1). And again, “My relatives have gone away; my closest friends have forgotten me. My guests and my female servants count me a foreigner; they look on me as on a stranger” (19:14-15). And spiritually, he felt abandoned and even attacked by God. “The arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God’s terrors are marshaled against me” (6:4).

It's important to see that Job suffered in these different areas because it helps us to that no one is just a mind or just a body. Instead, we are all composed of several components (mind, body, spirit) that are interrelated. When one is affected, all are affected. Job's festering boils are amplified by his loneliness and mental anguish. They are all intertwined.

Severe depression often evokes a desire that life would end. In the U.S. someone dies by suicide every 11 minutes. Severe depression is the cause of two-thirds of those deaths. Job doesn’t attempt to take his life, but he does say on many occasions that he wishes he were dead. In other words, he had suicidal ideations. “Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?...For now I would be lying down in peace” (3:11-13). “…I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine. I despise my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone; my days have no meaning” (7:15-16). “ I wish I had died before any eye saw me” (10:18).

Depression is closely tied to suicide because it seems like the only way to end the pain. Life is dark and there doesn't seem be any way out of the darkness. It’s worth noting that Job uses the word “darkness” twice as many times as any other book of the Bible (29 times). Speaking of the day of his birth, Job said, “May gloom and utter darkness claim it once more; may a cloud settle over it; may blackness overwhelm it” (3:3-5). He also speaks of “the realm of darkness” (17:13; 18:18), says God has “shrouded my paths in darkness” (19:8), and that says that a “thick darkness…covers my face” (23:17). Darkness is lonely and painful.

Doubt and hard thoughts about God often accompany depression. Job pours out his frustrations, questions God's justice, and even accuses God of treating him like an enemy. These hard thoughts are often expressed in “why” questions:

• “Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb” (3:11)?

• “If I have sinned, what have I done to you, you who see everything we do. Why have you made me your target? Have I become a burden to you”
  (7:20)?

• "Why do you not pardon my offenses and forgive my sins” (7:21)?

• “Why do you hide your face and consider me your enemy” (13:24)?

• “Why should I not be impatient” (21:4)?

• “Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why must those who
  know him look in vain for such days” (24:1)?

We need to express pain honestly, even when it's directed at God. It's okay. God can handle it. He prefers genuine, raw emotion over false piety.

At the age of 25, Jane Marczewski was diagnosed with breast cancer. Initially, it went into remission but later returned as metastatic breast cancer, spreading to her liver, lungs, and spine. Jane she battled it for four years before her death. She was a singer and poet, who went by the name Nightbirdie. She wrote,

“I spent three months propped against the wall. On nights that I could
not sleep, I laid in the tub…I vomited until I was hollow. I rolled up under
my robe on the tile. The bathroom floor became my place to hide, where
I could scream and be ugly; where I could sob and spit and eventually
doze off, happy to be asleep, even with my head on the toilet… I am God’s
downstairs neighbor, banging on the ceiling with a broomstick. I show up
at His door every day. Sometimes with songs, sometimes with curses.
Sometimes apologies, gifts, questions, demands. Sometimes I use my
key under the mat to let myself in. Other times, I sulk outside until He
opens the door to me Himself. I have called Him a cheat and a liar,
and I meant it. I have told Him I wanted to die, and I meant it. Tears have
become the only prayer I know. Prayers roll over my nostrils and drip down
my forearms. They fall to the ground as I reach for Him. These are the
prayers I repeat night and day; sunrise, sunset....Even on days when I’m
not so sick, sometimes I go lay on the mat in the afternoon light to listen
for Him. I know it sounds crazy, and I can’t really explain it, but God is in
there—even now. I have heard it said that some people can’t see God
because they won’t look low enough, and it’s true. If you can’t see him,
look lower. God is on the bathroom floor.”

This is the heart of Job’s complaints, arguing, frustration, and anger.

For someone who is depressed, human comfort can be woefully inadequate. Job’s friends deserve all of the grief they receive. They blamed Job for his suffering and even went so far as to claim, “When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin” (8:4). That’s incredibly bad. In the end, God rebuked them for their wrong words.

This illustrates a point: too often people try to fix depression with words. “Just get out of bed.” “Why don’t you go for a walk.” “Why can’t you see the positives?” Job's friends were rightly labeled "miserable comforters," but only after they opened their mouths.

When they first arrived, they were just good friends (רֵעַ, intimate, close companions). "When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was" (2:12-13). They simply sat with him in his pain for a solid week.

But then Job said he wish he were dead, and then the friends began to argue with him. This highlights the importance of simply being present with someone in pain, rather than trying to fix their suffering or offer easy explanations. For a depressed person, this would have been the worse course of action.

God is sovereign over all circumstances, including depression. Even in his darkest moments, Job's knew his suffering was in the hands of God. In the end, God sovereignly intervened to end Job’s suffering. He can and does do that today because he is the King of the creation. Everything is under his control. You might know brothers and sisters who were miraculously healed when doctors gave a grim diagnosis. God heals because he is loving, kind, compassionate and reigns sovereignly over creation and sin. So, he does intervene directly in our world to end pain and suffering.

But God also exercises his sovereignty when he heals indirectly through doctors, hospitals, medicine, and modern advances. It doesn’t take anything away from God’s sovereignty and power when he chooses to work indirectly rather than directly. God is still the one who heals and restores, regardless of the means. He created our bodies, as well as wisdom and resources to use in caring for them. He created the mind to discover cures, make diagnoses, and provide healing treatments whatever the field of medicine may be.

One means of healing doesn’t discount the other. God uses both. It isn't wrong for Christians to seek help from mental health professionals. The Bible does not forbid Christians from taking psychotropic medicines prescribed by mental health professionals. God is the sovereign King of all that is. He still heals through miraculous direct interventions in people’s suffering, and he still works indirectly through doctors who treat, make diagnoses, and prescribe medicine. Included in those indirect means are psychologists, therapists, and other mental health professionals. We have no biblical reason to believe otherwise.