Spiritual Depression and the Psalms
With the shelter in place order extended until 5/31, we could be in for some hard times. Obviously, being able to stay at home is a great blessing. We’re loving our neighbors and healthcare workers. We’re keeping ourselves and our families safe. We are blessed if we’ve been protected from sickness. But in this case the medicine has serious side effects.
As I’ve talked to people about their experience after a little more than a month and a half, the majority have said that the measures we’ve taken to prevent the spread of Covid-19 have affected them greatly. People have told me they’ve experienced:
- Sluggishness, difficulty getting motivated
- Restlessness, anxiety, trouble sleeping
- A vague sense of guilt about not doing enough and fatigue from doing too much (probably for ministry workers in particular)
- Loneliness
- Boredom
- A struggle to focus, concentrate on work or school
- Depression
- Physical fatigue
- Mood Swings
- Irritability
Getting hit by a cluster of these symptoms can be debilitating. Life becomes like walking through a bog or quicksand. Regular activities feel impossible. And this is assuming we haven’t lost our job or had loved ones get seriously ill.
This is what we’re up against, and if you haven’t already experienced these symptoms to varying degrees, you probably will. And if these things are affecting us physically and emotionally, surely it has an impact on us spiritually. If we’re sluggish when it comes to our responsibilities, reading the Bible consistently feels even more out of reach. We feel lonely and isolated from our friends, so there is an accompanying anger with God and resentment at allowing this pandemic.
This spiritual dryness and lethargy presents us with a great challenge. Since God is so distant, what good does Bible reading do anyway? If prayer doesn’t change how I feel, what’s the point? Why go to zoom bible study if I don’t feel I get anything out of it? Or maybe for some of us we simply can’t muster up the energy to engage with God even if we believe it’s good for us.
If this is the case, it’s so important that we know how to respond to these feelings and challenges. C.S. Lewis has a wonderful definition of faith I quoted in a previous post: “Faith…is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.” If you’re anything like me, our feelings ricochet all over the place. And one of the most challenging moods to deal with is spiritual dryness or spiritual depression.
Thankfully, God has provided us with the Psalms to show us the art of faith practiced in every conceivable situation. We see how David was able to hang on to his relationship with God through danger and betrayal, battles and heartbreak, terrible sin and joyous victories. He and the other Psalmists know the art of faith, and they show us how to hang on to God through all of life’s ups and downs.
The Psalms are a precious gift to us during this difficult time. Psalms help us express our pain and suffering when we can’t find words. The Psalms show us that God permits and even encourages brutal honesty with Him—you can find doubt, questioning, confusion, anger, depression, the whole gamut of negative emotions. But at the same time, the Psalms show us it is possible to hang on to God. They show us how to endure hardship yet hope and praise God.
I pray that God would use the Psalms to help us cling to Him. I pray that we would see the depths of His wisdom in giving us these beautiful examples of faith. I pray that during these dry seasons our roots would dig even deeper to find the streams of living water.
I’ll start with a meditation on Psalm 42 this coming Tuesday.