Struggling with Spiritual Depression
Jeremiah the weeping Prophet, by Michelangelo (1475–1564)
Are you struggling in a season of everything happening around us, and in us? I pray that Psalm 42-43 is helpful for you, as it has always been for me. You can read this as a Journal article below, or watch the sermon.
Why are You Downcast, Oh my Soul? (Psalm 42 - 43)
Christ and the Care of Our Mental Health
In recent years, conversations around mental health have become more visible in Australian society. Initiatives such as RUOK? Day encourage people to ask a simple but meaningful question: “Are you okay?” Behind that question lies an important recognition — many people are struggling silently with anxiety, depression, loneliness, exhaustion, grief, and despair.
Christians are not exempt from these realities.
The church is not a gathering of emotionally untouched people. We are not a performance venue, a lecture theatre, or merely a social club. The church is a family of redeemed sinners living in a broken world. That means Christians also experience seasons of spiritual dryness, emotional pain, confusion, and mental suffering.
Psalm 42 and 43 speak directly into that experience.
These Psalms give voice to a believer who feels spiritually exhausted and emotionally overwhelmed. They are deeply honest words from someone who knows God, yet feels distant from Him. And remarkably, these Psalms were written not for private journaling, but for public worship among the people of God.
The Bible does not ignore the inner struggles of the human soul. It speaks into them with truth, compassion, and hope.
“Why Are You Downcast, O My Soul?”
Psalm 42–43 revolves around a repeated refrain:
“Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God…”
(Psalm 42:5, 11; 43:5)
The Psalmist is speaking to himself. He is examining his heart. He is wrestling honestly with what he feels while also preaching truth back into his soul.
Throughout these Psalms, three painful experiences emerge.
“I Feel Thirsty”
The Psalm opens with one of the most well-known images in Scripture:
“As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.”
(Psalm 42:1)
This is not casual spiritual interest. This is desperation.
The Psalmist thirsts for God, yet instead of refreshment he says:
“My tears have been my food day and night.”
(Psalm 42:3)
He remembers happier days — worshipping with God’s people, singing praises together, rejoicing publicly in the presence of the Lord. But now he feels spiritually dry and emotionally overwhelmed.
One of the tragic realities of depression and spiritual discouragement is that people often withdraw from the very relationships and gatherings they most need. Isolation begins to deepen despair.
The Psalmist longs to return to worship with God’s people because he understands something important: Christianity is not merely private spirituality. God ministers to His people through the gathered church, through worship, through prayer, through hearing His Word together.
In difficult seasons, believers are often tempted to disengage from church life. Yet Psalm 42 reminds us that the gathering of God’s people is not an optional extra for healthy Christians; it is one of God’s means of sustaining weary souls.
“I Feel Forgotten”
As the Psalm continues, the emotional burden deepens.
The writer feels overwhelmed, as though drowning beneath crashing waves:
“Deep calls to deep
at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
have gone over me.”
(Psalm 42:7)
Notice carefully: the Psalmist still recognizes these as God’s waves. He does not conclude that God has disappeared. In fact, part of the agony is precisely that God seems sovereign over circumstances that feel unbearable.
Then comes the painful cry:
“I say to God, my rock:
‘Why have you forgotten me?’”
(Psalm 42:9)
This is one of the remarkable features of the Psalms. Scripture gives believers language for lament. The Bible does not pretend mature faith means emotional numbness. Faith sometimes cries out through confusion and sorrow.
Yet even here, the Psalmist continues speaking truth to himself:
“Hope in God.”
That repeated refrain matters. His circumstances have not changed, but he is fighting to place his hope outside himself.
This is crucial for all of us. Left alone, our inner thoughts can become deafening. We replay fears, failures, criticisms, and anxieties until they dominate our minds. The Psalmist shows us another way: he interrupts his despair with the promises of God.
This is not superficial positivity. It is gospel-shaped self-examination.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones once famously observed that much spiritual depression comes from “listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself.” The Psalmist refuses to let despair have the final word. He speaks truth back into his own soul.
“I Feel Rejected”
Psalm 43 continues the same struggle:
“Why have you rejected me?”
(Psalm 43:2)
The Psalmist feels abandoned, vulnerable, and surrounded by hostile voices. Yet in the midst of this darkness comes one of the most beautiful prayers in the Psalms:
“Send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me.”
(Psalm 43:3)
The writer knows he needs something outside himself to lead him back to joy and stability. He needs God’s light. He needs God’s truth.
And ultimately, Christians know that light and truth are not merely abstract ideas. They are fulfilled in a person.
Jesus Christ is the light of the world. He is the truth who leads sinners safely to God.
Christ Understands the Depths of Human Sorrow
The hope of Psalm 42–43 finds its fulfilment in Christ.
At the cross, Jesus Himself entered into the experience of abandonment, sorrow, rejection, and darkness.
In Matthew 27 we hear the mockers say of Jesus:
“He trusts in God; let God deliver him now…”
(Matthew 27:43)
Then Jesus cries out:
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
(Matthew 27:46)
Jesus knows what it is to suffer.
He knows thirst.
He knows rejection.
He knows sorrow.
He knows abandonment.
And He endured these things not merely as an example, but as our substitute.
Christ entered into suffering and judgment in order to redeem sinners and ultimately restore all things through His resurrection. Because of Jesus, suffering and despair do not have the final word.
The Christian hope is not found in pretending pain is unreal. Nor is it found in locating ultimate strength within ourselves. Our hope is found in Christ crucified and risen.
How Christ Cares for Our Mental Health
Psalm 42–43 does not offer simplistic answers to complex struggles. The Bible never reduces human suffering to a single formula. Instead, Scripture points us toward God’s gracious care through multiple means.
1. Christ Cares Through His Word
The Psalmist’s circumstances remain difficult, yet his outlook begins to change as he remembers God’s promises.
God’s Word speaks truth into confused hearts. It confronts lies with reality. It anchors weary believers in the unchanging character of God.
Christians need more than self-help strategies. We need God Himself speaking through His Word.
2. Christ Cares Through Wisdom and Medical Care
Christians should not create a false divide between spiritual care and appropriate medical treatment.
Mental illness is complex. Conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and severe anxiety can involve physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual dimensions. Medication, doctors, psychologists, and professional care are not enemies of faith. They are often expressions of God’s common grace and wisdom.
At the same time, human beings are not merely biological machines. We are spiritual creatures made in God’s image. Any approach that ignores either the spiritual or physical dimensions of humanity will ultimately be incomplete.
The Bible calls us to wisdom, humility, and compassion in caring for one another.
3. Christ Cares Through His People
The church has an essential role in caring for struggling believers.
Christ often ministers His comfort through ordinary Christians who listen, pray, encourage, and remain present with one another in suffering.
This is one reason meaningful Christian community matters so deeply. We are called to bear one another’s burdens, to weep with those who weep, and to remind one another of gospel hope when someone’s faith feels weak.
The church is not called to replace medical professionals, but neither should pastoral care be outsourced entirely to professionals. God intends His people to walk together through suffering with patience, compassion, and truth.
Hope for the Downcast Soul
John Calvin opened the Institutes of the Christian Religion by saying that true wisdom consists in “the knowledge of God and of ourselves.”
The gospel gives us freedom to be honest about both.
We can acknowledge our weakness, brokenness, and suffering without despairing, because we are fully known and fully loved by God in Christ.
That is the beginning of hope.
Psalm 42–43 does not end with all pain resolved. Instead, it ends with a repeated call:
“Hope in God.”
For Christians, that hope is not wishful thinking. It is confidence in the crucified and risen Christ who promises to bring His people safely home.
One day Christ will lead His people to the heavenly holy hill where sorrow, sickness, depression, suffering, and death will finally be no more.
Until then, weary believers continue to pray:
“Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me.”
