Breaking The Bonds of Depression (Part 1)

Breaking The Bonds of Depression (Part 1)

Psalm 42:5 "Why are you downcast, o my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God."

Being depressed is like being lost deep in the woods.  When you’re lost deep in those woods, it might take you some time just to realize that you’re lost.  For a while, it’s easy to convince yourself that you’ve just wandered off the path and hat you’ll find your way back any moment now.  Then night falls, again and again, and you still have no idea where you are, and although it’s agonizing to admit, you begin to realize that you’ve disoriented yourself so far off the beaten path, so deep into the thick of the woods, that you can’t even tell which direction the sun rises or sets from anymore.  You’re not choosing to be where you are, but you can’t see a way out.  That’s how depression feels to people when they are struggling with it.

Depression is one of the most helpless and tiring emotional experiences a person can live through.  Sometimes it’s feeling totally disoriented, sometimes it’s feeling completely hopeless, and sometimes it’s feeling absolutely nothing at all.  There are times when depression can leave you feeling dead inside, incapable of moving and doing the things you used to enjoy.  No one chooses to be depressed, and no one can turn it off or on in an instant whenever they feel like it.  It’s a state of mind that must be coped with and healed one step at a time.

Heartbreak can trigger depression, but depression is something altogether different.  Depression isn’t rational or emotional. It isn’t a straightforward response to a tough situation. Depression just is!  It lingers, and it’s hard to wrap your mind around if you haven’t experienced it.

Some people imply that they know what it’s like to be depressed simply because they have gone through a divorce, lost a job, or lost a loved one.  While these tough life situations can lead to depression, they don’t create depression by default.  In most cases these experiences carry with them strong emotional feelings.  Depression, on the other hand, is often flat, hollow, and insufferable. It literally saps a person of emotion, hope and reason.

You don’t feel like you.  You don’t even feel human.  You’re disheartened, paranoid, humorless, lifeless, desperate and demanding. No reassurance is ever enough.  You’re frightened, you’re frightening, and you’re “not at all like yourself but will be better soon,” but you know you won’t.

Depression is the physical and emotional result of hopelessness. We live in a world devoid of hope, and depression is the emotional product of that reality. The only thing that will actually change one’s life sufficiently to destroy the cause, mechanics, and effects of depression is God’s hope and His word of hope. The answer is to get God’s hope back inside of you.

Hope will let you again see the ‘future positive possibility’ of your life. Without seeing it you will have no motivation or strength. The good Word of God, and the good word of others to you, can change the outlook and condition of your heart. Fight for God’s outlook with all you have. Fight it with the Word of God. Anyone who is among the living has hope.