Depression in the Bible: Embracing Hope and Encouragement from Elijah

When we read the Bible, we often look at its heroes and stories with such admiration. Men and women experienced tremendous triumph, though they endured trials that tested their faith and their mental well-being. When we read through their unimaginable circumstances, we may wonder about the nature of our own strength and abilities. We also see examples of depression in the Bible.

However, the same God who worked with and through them to accomplish His greater purpose, illuminates His Word in us. He causes their stories to inspire us with hope and instruction for our lives.

When we read and study the Bible, we can find places to apply the Word to all the issues of our hearts. In fact, Scripture echoes common wants in our human experience. For example, we see the internal narrative that troubled Elijah, whose human passions, and pursuits were similar to ours (James 5:17-18).

He faced threats, intimidation, and stalking. While the Bible does not explicitly state that he suffered with depression, it does describe familiar thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that mirror the modern-day diagnosis.

Understanding Depression

We may already be well acquainted with some depressive symptoms. They can include one or combinations of the following: isolation and hopelessness, unresolved anger, and persistent sadness. It is often marked by unexplained disruptions in mood, appetite, and sleep cycles.

For those of us who have experienced depression, it can be comforting and encouraging to know that we are not alone, and that it does not have to control us or restrict us from fulfilling our destiny with God. As we learn from Bible heroes, we can glean some practical steps to influence how we navigate, manage, and even conquer in our battle with depression.

Though our experiences with depression vary, God will give us grace for the journey and equip us to stand in the battle for our minds. We are armed with the truth that Jesus has already secured every victory, forever settling the score with Satan, and paying the debt incurred by sin. He offers the best plan to hope for our todays and our tomorrows.

Depression in the Bible

Elijah’s story unfolds encouragement and a practical blueprint to help us do all that we can do, while receiving the Lord’s comfort and supernatural assistance.

Much Like Us

As a prophet, Elijah experienced the ups and downs of difficult emotions, much like us. He questioned if he was as qualified as his forefathers to take on the demonic forces that lulled God’s people into idolatry. (1 Kings 19:4)

Just before that doubt filled conversation, Elijah had been triumphant. The Lord literally rained fire from heaven at Elijah’s request to demonstrate God’s miraculous mighty power over false gods and demonic altars. Elijah experienced a surge of excitement and adrenaline as God fought on his behalf during the showdown.

However, his mood plummeted afterward when Jezebel, the evil reigning queen, threatened his life. (1 Kings 19:2) Elijah fled into the wilderness, fearful, asking God to take his life. Instead of indulging this request, God renewed Elijah’s strength with the physical rest and nourishment to sustain him for the next part of his journey.

While Elijah slept under a juniper tree, God dispatched an angel to stir him. Twice, he fed him with hot, freshly baked bread and cool water. Following the meal and the extended nap, the messenger encouraged him that he needed more rest for the journey ahead.

Because God knew the gravity of Elijah’s call and need for comprehensive rest in his body and soul, He used those moments to restore the strength depleted from his struggles in the spirit and in his own mind. Eventually, God sent Elijah on, where God would minister, again, in unlikely ways.

Dueling Duality

As we read more of Elijah’s story, we witness God counseling the prophet through one of his darkest moments. After an earthquake and tempestuous wind, God finally settles Elijah with the stillness of His Voice. This same Elijah who rained fire from heaven did not encounter God in the outward demonstrations of grandeur, but rather when all became quiet in his environment. In the secret space of his own soul, he heard God.

Here, Elijah engaged in raw conversation, baring all with the Father. In an honest conversation, he expressed the depth of his thoughts and feelings. God, in mercy and compassion, allowed Elijah to reveal his vulnerable parts, wherein, he received personalized ministry when he took time alone with God.

Elijah models that we can experience dual realities. In one sense, we feel overwhelmed by circumstances that magnify our emotions. At the same time, we may excel in certain situations, even as we nurse private pain and shame around our experience with depression.

It does not mean that God has abandoned us when we encounter low moods and distressing emotions. He is always with us, even as He was with Elijah in the fire rain and in the stillness following the windstorm.

Sit in Stillness

Like Elijah, it is easy to seek God’s presence in the showy earthquake and get lost in its tremors. The big performance does not reveal God’s sovereignty more than the stillness does. If we are honest, we sometimes crave the show and fireworks because they conform to our notions of what we think God should be.

Sometimes the lights and action camouflage thoughts and feelings that we do not want to talk with God about or acknowledge within ourselves. We may avoid where God calls to meet us in the darkness of our depression. It may seem easier to avert the intimacy and feelings of vulnerability found in the presence of His still, small voice. (1 Kings 19:12)

However, when the Lord speaks and acts, whether in the stillness or in the show, He is compassionate, desiring to restore us, not judge and humiliate us. The Holy Spirit is faithful to console and counsel us where we most need Him, if we are willing to acknowledge the darkness that depression has lorded in areas where Jesus came to be Light.

God revealed Himself to Elijah and will do the same for us. He will be the I am that He said He is, no matter what we confront.

Pause for the Practical

What we see as an end, God sees as a pause. Depression works to persuade us of finality. When we are steeped in hopelessness and despair, our eyes are riveted on our pain. In the darkness, it seems impossible to envision the light that the promise of tomorrow might hold. This is where God shows Himself again, being the Light and piercing through darkness and despair.

Although the Holy Spirit is our Comforter, His consolation sometimes comes differently than how we might have expected. Sometimes, He ministers through the practical needs.

Elijah demonstrated that we need to take space for ourselves and time with God, rest physically, and eat the kinds of life-giving spiritual and natural food that nourishes us for the next leg of the journey.

We must nurture our souls with stillness, sometimes abandoning expectations for a grand show. The most essential part is to remain open to how He wants to speak and what He most wants to say, even in the dark. God has given us all things to enjoy, not sparingly, but richly (1 Timothy 6:17-19).

Just as He refreshed Elijah with nutrition, sleep, and the rest found in empathy and comfort, He will do the same for us. He is the I AM, who always was and always will be. Whatever we need, He furnishes in the spirit, to nurture our relationship with Him. In the natural realm, He provides, already aware of what we need before we even know what to ask. (Matthew 6:32)

The Holy Spirit enables us to do what we otherwise could not. Grace packs our souls with the grit and edge needed to walk difficult paths yet endowed with His might. Our daily portion will nourish us with a strength that we cannot give ourselves. We can turn to the Spirit for guidance. With Him, we renew our minds and align our behaviors to mitigate the impact of depression in our lives.

Next Steps: Christian Counseling for Depression in California

While Elijah provides an example to better understand our experience with depression, Jesus’ sacrifice speaks of something better. The Savior offers hope of overcoming depression permanently, declaring that He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3).

He understands our past and present yet holds in His Holy and nail-scarred palms the power and authority to make all things new, including us. (Revelation 21:4-5)

That promise is not just for our eternal future, but it begins now as we heal, grow, and change. Contact us today to schedule an appointment with a Christian counselor in California for the support and encouragement to live your own story of triumph and testimony.