Zack Eswine has given us a very helpful resource for those who suffer from sadness, depression, discouragement, disappointment, or bereavement (which is everyone at some time or another), in his short book,SPURGEON’S SORROWS. He uses quotations from the celebrated Victorian preacher, Charles Spurgeon to illustrate the nature of depression and its treatment. Spurgeon suffered from depression throughout his life and offers a realistic analysis and Christian response to it.
“Quite involuntarily, unhappiness of mind, depression of spirit, and sorrow of heart will come upon you. You may be without any real reason for grief, and yet may become among the most unhappy of men because, for the time, your body has conquered your soul.”
Sometimes our ordinary responsibilities make us anxious and overwhelmed. No amount of faith can banish such episodes. We may not have any strength of our own but we have Jesus, who suffered for us and with us. Spurgeon shared his battle with depression from the pulpit and found that many people who also suffered, asked for his help. He told them that trite sayings and quick fixes would not work. Most sufferers cannot be dismissed with just a word of hope and a dose of medicine, but require a long time in which to tell their griefs and to receive their comfort. No matter how much sympathy we offer, it doesn’t help. Depression is best understood as a kind of mental arthritis. The true cause may remain hidden. Our words have limits. For the sufferer causes and cures may evade you for a while. The metaphors of the psalmists (e.g. Psalm 88) describe their experience. Some preachers and strong-minded friends whose circumstances are different from ours offer bromides that do more harm than good. Better still is the realization that Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Those who suffer depression have an ally, a hero, a companion-redeemer, advocating for the mentally harassed.
Spurgeon also found help in nature, sunshine, rest, diversion, vacations, medicine and reading. He travelled to Mentone on the French Riviera for rest cures and limited the acceptance of invitations to preach he received.
He dealt with the temptation to take one’s own life in order to escape depression. By so doing we forfeit the future we could have known. We inflict terrible harm on those who love us and whom we loved. It is a temptation to control our lives and leave it – play at God.
“Death would be welcomed as a relief by those who depressed spirits make their existence a living death.. O Lord, be pleased to set free thy prisoners of hope!”
Eswine writes,
“Sorrow teaches us to resist trite views of what maturity in Jesus looks like. Faith is not frownless. Maturity is not painless. Disheveled and bedridden amid the jittery and unanswered; this is no necessary sign of wickedness. It is the presence of Jesus and not the absence of glee that designates the situation and provides our hope. Spurgeon says it this way: ‘Depression of spirit is no index of declining grace; the very loss of joy and the absence of assurance may be accompanied by the greatest advancement in the spiritual life. We do not want rain all the days of the week, and all the weeks of the year; but if rain comes sometimes, it makes the fields fertile, and fills the waterbrooks.’ Sorrows deepen our intimacy with God. Sorrows enable us to better receive blessings. Sorrows shed our pretences. Sorrow exposes and roots out our pride. Sorrow teaches us empathy for one another. Sorrows allow small kindnesses to loom large. Sorrows teach us courage for others who face trials.”
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