Job lost his fortune, his family, and his health. “After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.” (Job 3:1) After the shock and the stress of his painful suffering he descends into the depths of despair. He loses hope, and questions his faith in a series of eloquent exclamations of depression:

“Why did I not die at birth?” (3:11) He has lost hope in life.

“I despise my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone; my days have no meaning.” (7:16) He has lost his sense of purpose.

“Man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.” (14:10) He has lost a sense of value.

“How long will you torment my soul?” (19:2) He has lost his belief in the goodness of God.

Loss often results in depression.

How does faith deal with depression? How does Job deal with his grief? He struggled for understanding. He demanded justification, an answer from God. He defended his faith. He reviewed the record of his life. He argued with his friends. In other words he worked through his grief.

Granger Westberg in his excellent book, Good Grief, lists for us the stages we can go through when we experience loss.

We are in a state of shock,

We express emotion,

We feel depressed and very lonely,

We may experience physical symptoms of distress,

We may become panicky,

We feel a sense of guilt about the loss,

We are filled with hostility and resentment,

We are unable to return to usual activities,

Gradually hope comes through,

We struggle to affirm reality.

All of this is the body’s response to the chaos of life. It is a form of coping, which fulfills the purpose of healing and recovery. It takes time, and requires patience and courage. C.S. Lewis wrote of his experience in a journal he kept after the loss of his wife, Joy Davidman, which he published under the title of A Grief Observed.

“I thought I could describe a state: make a map of sorrow. Sorrow, however, turns out to be not a state but a process. It needs not a map but a history, and if I don’t stop writing that history at some quite arbitrary point, there’s no reason why I should ever stop. There is something new to be chronicled every day. Grief is like a long valley, a winding valley where ever bend may reveal a totally new landscape.”

It is imperative that we work through our grief, our losses in life, and their subsequent depressions. Resolution does not come quickly or easily. Job recognized that he needed a wisdom that was not accessible to him. He cried out,

“Where can wisdom be found? Where does understanding dwell?… It cannot be bought with the finest gold, nor can its price be weighed in silver… Where then does wisdom come from? Where does understanding dwell? .. God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells…. The fear of the LORD is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.” (Job 28)

As he worked through his depression Job found flashes of wisdom breaking in on his darkness. His faith was strengthened as he found:

“God is wise in heart and mighty in strength.” (9:4) He discovered hope in the justice of God.

“Your hands shaped me and made me; will you now turn and destroy me?” (10:8) He accepted the mercy of God.

“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” (13:15) He trusted in the friendship of God.

“If a man dies, shall he live again.” (14:14) He hoped in the vindication of God. Out of the pit of depression Job expressed the conviction of faith. He expressed his deep desire

for an eternal resolution to his suffering:

“Oh, that my words were recorded,

that they were written on a scroll,

that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead,

or engraved in a rock forever!

I know that my Redeemer lives

and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.

And after my skin has been destroyed,

yet in my flesh I will see God;

I myself will see him,

with my own eyes – I, and not another.” (19:23-27)

Grief and suffering cannot be resolved in this life. Depression needs an eternal perspective. We need the personal faith that ‘knows’, is convinced of, that we are redeemed, and will live again to see the God who is incarnate, a man of sorrows acquainted with our grief (Isaiah 53:3). Jesus himself experienced depression in Gethsemane: “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” (Matthew 26:38) We need a redeemer who stands alongside us.

Faith grows toward maturity through the struggle of suffering. Many great Christians have experienced depression. Faith does not exempt us from such emotional suffering. All of us grieve at some time in our lives. Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Baptist preacher of the London Metropolitan Tabernacle (1834-1892), who preached to thousands and wrote over 200 books, said, “The strong are not always vigorous, the wise not always ready, the brave not always courageous, and the joyous not always happy.”

He himself suffered debilitating depression that often kept him from preaching. He wrote:

“Causeless depression is not to be reasoned with. If those who laugh at such melancholy did but feel the grief of it for one hour, their laughter would be sobered into compassion.”

Spurgeon found help in handling his depression in his faith in the purpose of God.

“Glory be to God for the furnace, the hammer and the fire. Heaven shall be all the fuller of bliss because we have been filled with anguish here below, and earth shall be better tilled because of our training in the school of adversity.”

Aging is a process of loss. We grieve our losses. Depression is the natural accompaniment of our final years. We must learn, as best we can, to work with it, and through it.

William Cowper, the poet, wrote the hymns: “O for a closer walk with God”, “God moves in a mysterious way”, “Sometimes a light surprises”, “Hark my soul it is the Lord.” He suffered six serious depressive breakdowns, several suicide attempts, and endured much mental pain. But good came out of the apparent evil of his distress. A peculiar quality of strength came out of his suffering. Over thirty biographies of Cowper have been published, partly because of the relationship between his illness and his immense powers of quiet, effective creation. This is part of the mystery of suffering. In a memorable passage in his famous poem, The Task, Cowper described his depression:

I was a stricken deer that left the herd

Long since; with many an arrow deep infixt

My panting side was charged when I withdrew

To seek a tranquil death in distant shades.

There was I found by one who had himself

Been hurt by th’ archers. In his side he bore

and in his hands and feet the cruel scars.

With gentle force soliciting the darts

he drew them forth, and heal’d and bade me live.

He could say, as we can, who find our healing in our Savior:

“I know that my Redeemer lives…”

A Prayer:

Lord Jesus, I believe and know that it is true, and will be true to the end of the world, that nothing great is done without suffering, without humiliation, and that all things are possible by means of it. I beg of you grace to meet suffering well. Let me bear pain, reproach, disappointment, slander, anxiety, suspense, as you would have Jesus, and as you by your own suffering have taught me, when it comes. I wish to bear insult meekly, and to return good for evil. I wish to humble myself in all things, and to be silent when I am ill-used, and to be patient, when sorrow or pain is prolonged, and all for the love of you and your cross.

(John Henry Newman)

SOUL FOOD, Volume 1, Ted Schroder, pp.76-79