David, Spurgeon and Depression

At Word Alive this year, I attended an interesting session on mental health and depression. The speaker asserted that the writings of David in Psalms 6 and 88, show that he is essentially struggling with severe anxiety:

Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak;

O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled.

My soul also is greatly troubled;

But You, O Lord—how long?

…I am weary with my groaning;

All night I make my bed swim;

I drench my couch with my tears. (6, NKJV)

And

You have laid me in the lowest pit,

In darkness, in the depths.

Your wrath lies heavy upon me,

And You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah

You have [e]put away my acquaintances far from me;

You have made me an abomination to them;

I am shut up, and I cannot get out;

My eye wastes away because of affliction. (8, NKJV)

Although we cannot be certain what the writer’s troubles precisely were, we can be certain he had them. Writes C.H. Spurgeon, himself a man who struggled with the black dog:

It is all very well for those who are in robust health and full of spirits to blame those whose lives are sicklied o'er with the pale cast of melancholy...though much of the evil lies in the imagination, it is not imaginary.

Our new resurrection bodies are much feted for their absence of backache and wrinkles, but let us not neglect their contents. The mind within, the spirit and the soul, will also be forever freed from all anxious thoughts, troubled prospects and depressive tendencies. Those who suffer from internal fears and terrors have much to look forward to. In the meantime, receive the daily supplies of manna with which to sojourn on.

As your days, so shall your strength be. Deuteronomy 33:25b

Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay