“A man’s spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?” – Proverbs 18:14
Having struggled with depression throughout my life, I can attest to the truth of this proverb. Like most proverbs, at first glance it looks pretty obvious. Sickness is hard. Chronic illness and disability are dark and lonely roads. But your spirit is more emotionally and mentally foundational.
You’ll see people fight through disease. You can watch people endure disability. Best of all, with a physical challenge, there’s a noble call to fight through. In your battle with physical illness, the spark of hope remains inside you. You can triumph through inner strength—mind over matter. You have an opportunity to show the fortitude of your spirit in its overcoming the weakness of your flesh. But what if the sickness is in your mind?
What if your spirit itself has been trampled and disabled? Who’s left to fight that battle? Your body can be of some assistance to a crushed spirit—eating well, exercising, sleeping. But those are small comforts. And those tools still must be chosen and pursued by…your mind and spirit. When your spirit is crushed, your body doesn’t have the same capacity as your spirit to kick into gear and say, “Don’t worry, I’ll take it from here for a while, while you get healed up.”
In this past generation, we’ve done a great job of restoring nobility to someone’s struggle with a crushed spirit. Perhaps too much. More sympathy can also mean less motivation to pull out of a state of self-pity. But what’s still lacking are deep solutions. Mostly, our fix is to talk about it. That does some good, especially if it strengthens bonds of friendship; but what’s really needed when it comes to depression is hope.
Hope is the oxygen of the spirit. When hope fails in every place where you’re accustomed to looking for it, you run out of air and collapse. Depression is a stuckness, a futility. It is an emotional weariness that comes from walking in a wilderness without enough water. It is looking out as far as you can see in every direction of your life to see only cast metal skies. Not only do you not have hope, you have no hope of hope.
The Spirit in your spirit can bear it
Who can bear a crushed spirit? How can you bear it? The proverb leaves the question unanswered, but thankfully the rest of Scripture does not. Jesus says to Nicodemus, “You must be born again” (John 3:3). An amazing hope in the midst of depression—when you became a Christian, you received a new life, a new spirit inside you (Romans 8:9-11; I Corinthians 2:12).
That spirit inside you is the spark of hope that remains when every other hope dies, because in a sense, it isn’t part of you. It’s supernatural. It’s the spirit of God who remains untouched by your circumstances, desires, struggles, relationships, failures, and disappointments. It is a divine spirit living in you whose hope comes from its eternal, immutable contentment and hope in the person of God himself.
As a Christian, you have this spirit. You can feel it there, if you quiet yourself. It’s the spirit who hopes against hope in the eternal victory of Christ that he’s already won. In the hope of Heaven ahead. It’s the spirit who lives outside of time. It’s the same spirit who gives martyrs the strength to die, knowing that it’s all gain. That spirit can give you the strength to live and endure, and to even produce his fruits (Galatians 5:16-23), because his energy comes from another place. He is the new birth inside you. When you have a crushed spirit, get in the wheelchair of God’s spirit who will carry you forward.
10 comments
Norman A Campbell
Thank you, Mr. Poythress. Here’s a remarkable story, found in Boswell’s magisterial “Life of Johnson.”
A man made a fortune brewing beer. He retired to an estate somewhere. And having nothing to do, he fell into depression. A deep depression. Nothing seemed to help.
And then came kidney stones! My daughter suffered from a kidney stone some years ago. By all accounts, an agonizing ailment. And so our retired brewer went through considerable pain. He was visited by a friend who condoled with him.
“Don’t pity me!” the man exclaimed. “What I am suffering now is nothing–compared with that depression of mind from which it relieves me.”
I truly believe that (on some level, in some way) depression comes from Satan. No no–I don’t mean that people prone to this dreadful malady are demon possessed. That Satan has entered into such people and having a high old time tormenting them.
But the awfulness, the hopelessness of depression! Not the same thing (I believe) as simply a fit of the blues. Or waking up in the dumps. Or looking up at gray skies in your mental weather. No no–depression is far worse, far more debilitating. This–and I shudder to bring it up! is when people take their own lives.
“It’s like the sun wasn’t coming up anymore,” said one such victim. Who took his own life.
May the Lord reach out hands of healing to His people! Dispelling the dark night of depression in those that suffer from it. Bringing the light of His own glorious presence. “In Thy light we shall see light.”
Thank you for sharing, Mr. Poythress. May your words bring hope and healing to many!
Justin N. Poythress
Thanks so much Norman. Yes I do think it is a mask of and disguising of God’s goodness and faithfulness.
Matt Holst
I so needed this today. Thank you for the reminder that I have the Holy Spirit within me. Nothing can change that truth.
Blessings.
Justin N. Poythress
Praise God, thanks Matt!
Ann
Wow, I have never heard anyone describe so accurately what depression is and the reason depression is so hard. And you provided a solution! Thank you for sharing so well how much hope we have through the Spirit’s help!
Justin N. Poythress
Praise God! I find it very powerful in the midst of depression to know that I’m not going to find the solution by digging around internally, but it comes from God–outside of me but also inside of me!
Jeff Lynch
Thank you, Justin, for writing this. I too have struggled with depression, and have found the picture you draw to be so relatable. When experiencing an overwhelming bout of depression, it truly is so unlike any physical injuries I’ve had to endure. I so appreciate your insight that the hope we need to focus on is the sure hope that is only found in our Savior. No need to reach for our own bootstraps. Rather I cling to Christ in those darkest times.
Justin N. Poythress
Thanks, Jeff. I have found that things really start to spiral when I am putting the pressure on myself to work my way out. I just keep feeling guilty for feeling bad, leading to more depression, more guilt, etc. Jesus’ hope is inside us. That’s good news.
Jay Castelli
What a dark but truthful picture of depression you paint, Justin; but you show us we can open our spiritual eyes to see the brighter and more powerful shining of the Hope within us, within those of us who believe.
Justin N. Poythress
Thanks Jay. I find it very reassuring to know as a Christian there’s a hope that doesn’t depend on my internal ability to muster it up.