A Prayer about Depression in Its Many Forms
Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
(Ps. 43:5 NIV)
Kindhearted Father, my heart goes out today and my prayers reach up on behalf of those who struggle with depression. I have friends who live all along the axis from mild melancholy to the relentless pangs of suicidal depression. Father of mercies, teach me how to love in the dark places.
Thank you for rescuing me from simplistic views of depression. It’s not as simple a condition as I used to think. I grieve the ways I used to counsel the depressed, and it saddens me to realize how much pressure I put on them to get better and “get over it.”
David asked the right question in a season of duress: “Why, my soul, are you downcast?” (Ps. 43:5 NIV). Indeed, Father, what are the various reasons for a downcast, disturbed soul, and what does hoping in you look like for each?
Father, for my friends who are depressed for no other reason than living with a graceless, gospelless heart, keep them miserable until they rest in the finished work of your Son, Jesus. May they despair of their own unrighteousness and their wannabe righteousness until they are driven to the righteousness that comes from faith in Jesus.
Father, for my friends who suffer from depression generated by anatomical anomalies, lead them to the right kind of medical care. Help us in the community of faith to be patient and understanding of the complexities involved in their care. The risk of abusing medications is always there— give us wisdom together.
Father, for my friends who suffer from depression fueled by the demonic, I really need humility and wisdom. A part of me doesn’t even want to acknowledge that this is an issue, but how can I read your Word and dismiss the demonic so lightly? His condemning, blaming, and shaming voice is enough to generate the deepest forms of despair. Yet those things don’t exhaust his evil arsenal. How are we to care for those under the spell and sway of our defeated, fury-filled foe (Rev. 12:12)?
I do and I will yet praise you, my Savior and my God. My hope is in you, Father— for me and for all of my brokenhearted friends. I pray in Jesus’ compassionate and victorious name.
Amen.