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Be still and wait.
“Yes, I know. He satisfies and he is faithful. That’s incredible news, but what do I do in my depression.” David, our resident model on the chaos of human emotion, reminds us, when all feels lost and our emotional state feels permanently flatlined, he calls us to this: “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him” (Ps. 37:7a). It’s been said that all the Christian life is waiting. Marriage, children, college, career, friendships, retirement, healing, freedom and ultimately glory. We’re almost always in a state of waiting for one thing or another, it’s a universal Christian concept, so it’s no surprise that your depression will require waiting as well.
What rest this brings to our souls. Why do we be still and wait? Because he who has promised is faithful. He’s faithful to deliver and rescue, he’s faithful to act and give us the desires of our heart, he’s faithful to redeem, sustain and satisfy. He’s also faithful to his name, his glory and his handiwork—you. This removes all need to worry in anxiety, because I can trust and rest in his goodness and his faithfulness to his promises. So we can be still and wait, because our deliverance from depression doesn’t lie in our hands, but in his.
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Your depression is for your faith.
Hebrews offers another gem for depression, in fact it’s a key for the entire Christian life. The writer says “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). I’ll jump straight to the point—your depression exists for the stretching and strengthening of your faith, as does all that ails us. In your depression when you choose to be still and wait, for God to satisfy your thirsty soul, and you wait in confidence because you know He is faithful to his promises, this is called faith. The writer of Hebrews is explicit that faith is the assurance of the things we hope for, the conviction that we will receive things we can not see.Did you catch that? Being still and waiting in hope is not a meaningless command, and it’s not passive. It’s an active waiting, placing your hope intentionally in his faithfulness for the fruition of something you can yet to see.
Ultimately, this is the essence of our salvation. We do not see glory yet, nor do we see our Savior face to face, but we believe, when our lives comes to an end, we will. We believe he is faithful to our salvation. But do we believe he is faithful in lesser things like depression, sexuality or leadership? When you are still and waiting, you are placing your confidence in God’s character and faithfulness to follow through on what he’s promised, not just for your eternal security, but to do what your salvation is designed to do: restore the awe of God, and in the process, satisfy your thirsty soul.
This article originally appeared here.
