Is Depression A Lack of Faith?

by Edward Fudge

A READER in Texas writes, “Am I saved if I trust in Jesus even though sometimes I get depressed and start having doubts about my faith in anything? I have come to realize that my depression is physically based but manifests itself in mental negativity. I don’t know if I get depressed because of my lack of faith, or if my faith gets lacking because I get depressed.”

You seem to be sorting through this quite well. Depression is often physical in origin, whether from hormone imbalance, chemical irregularity, or mere exhaustion and fatigue. We are psycho-somatic creatures —our emotional, spiritual, and physical aspects are by design all intertwined.

Depression itself is not wrong or immoral, although it is something the devil likes to lay on us to make us miserable and to rob our joy (see John 10:9-10). We may remember that “God is greater than our hearts” or emotions and that he “knows all things”—including our relationship with him (1 John 3:20). God’s love is an objective reality. It is grounded in his own nature and he has demonstrated it to us in Jesus Christ (see John 3:16). It does not depend on our subjective feelings.

Having faith does not mean always having an optimistic attitude or feeling “bubbly.” It allows us to tell God exactly how we feel and what we think, to explain any situation to him as we see it, and to register our complaints and requests and arguments. But it means, after doing all those things, that we finally say to God, “I place myself and all my circumstances in your hands. You are my Creator and Savior. I commit myself to follow you—with gratitude and with ultimate confidence that you are there and will do what is right” (Hebrews 11:6).

The late Chinese evangelist Watchman Nee illustrated this with a parable. Fact, Faith, and Feeling were walking along the top of a stone wall. Faith looked at Fact, Feeling followed Faith, and all went well. Then Faith took his eyes off Fact and turned to look at Feeling, at which point he fell off the wall.

God’s truth in Christ, the gospel message, and realities revealed by Scripture are “fact.” Our practical reliance on those realities constitutes “faith.” Unless we are ill, our “feelings” usually follow our “faith.” Keep your eyes on Jesus—and on the God who showed us in Jesus that he is for us and that he is always faithful.