Depression: Will it always be this way?

Gods heart break with ours

“If things stay the way they are today…” “If I’m always going to feel this lonely, this sad, this empty, this hopeless… …. then I might as well give up.”

The question we are desperate to have answered when struggling through depression or thoughts of giving up is, “when will this end?” Will it always be this way?

First, if you feel like giving up, we want you to know you’re not crazy or a bad Christian. Every person on Earth seeks to find a release from the pain, because of the simple fact that it hurts. No one wants to keep hurting indefinitely.

In each of those statements you read, it starts with a conditional statement (If ___, then ___.)

But…

• What if that’s not the way things are always going to be?
• What if one day soon all the pain you’re feeling will have a purpose?
• What if a year from now, two years from now, you’re at the best place you’ve ever been?
• What if you stick this through and your dreams come to life?
• What if things don’t always stay this bad?

Every day may seem like you’re walking through fire, stuck in a storm, or drowning in the ocean. God reminds us that when these things happen “you won’t be burned” by the fire and you won’t be “overwhelmed” by the weight of the rivers bearing down on you. It’s not an “if this happens” statement in the Scriptures, but a when.

The thing about a fire is that it will burn out. A storm will always pass, and a river always finds a shore. You may see nothing but the fire, but God is with you in the midst of it. You may only see the storm that’s been raging indefinitely—it feels like maybe this is all there is and all there’ll ever be.

But what you’ve forgotten is that behind the biggest cloud, the wildest storm, the darkest day is a blue sky.

For a season, you might be in the middle of this storm, but it will pass. Zoom out from your life, see the blue skies, and remember that it’s coming. Set your focus on the clear days to come. Remind yourself you haven’t been abandoned in the storm.

God’s forecast says clear skies ahead. Hold fast.

Gods heart break with ours

In the Christian world, we often talk about God’s power, His character, and His commands. We’re very familiar with hearing about what God wants from us, how He wants us to live, and who He wants us to be. However, despite the fact we are made in His image, we forget He is also an emotionally complex God.

He does not experience emotions the same way we do, because He is not limited as we are and has not experienced the brokenness of sin. But the Bible refers to many instances where God felt everything from compassion to rage, joy to grief, amusement to jealousy.

So, perhaps you’ve never asked yourself how He feels specifically about YOU.

You may instantly respond with the automatic answer of love, and that would be true. But what else?

How do you think He feels about your hurt, and the situations that led to it? Knowing that He sees every action and every thought you’ve ever had.

Also, how do you think He felt about you in your darkest moments of sin, past or present? What do you think God feels toward you right now?

Most of the time when we are struggling through depression, we either feel that God doesn’t care about our hurt, or that He does to a point but cares more about the “lesson” He’s trying to teach us. With either perspective, we rob Him of His compassionate heart and, His powerful emotional connection to us.

It’s difficult to understand what emotion looks like on an invisible, perfect, and all-powerful Being, which is why we look at Jesus – God in the flesh – to give us a portrait of our Maker.

One of the first and most beautiful descriptions of Jesus called Him “a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.” Two lines further, we see why – “he took up our pain and bore our sorrow.”

This isn’t a God who tells us to grin and bear it because He has a plan. This is a God whose heart breaks with ours, a God who does not stand above us shaking His head at our mess, but enters into the mud and heaviness with us. How could real, unconditional love do anything less?

So go ahead. Ask God how He feels about you and what you’re going through, and know that His response will be tender because His heart does break with ours.