CUTTING DEPRESSION

“I was depressed, so I cut my hair,” Lisa said. Did that help? “I made a mess of it,” she said. “And then I had to look in the Yellow Pages to find a cheap place so I could get it fixed.” If it was only that easy to alleviate depression.

Have you noticed? Depression seems epidemic.

So much so that the World Health Organization predicts by 2030 depression will be the second leading cause of illness in the world.

What’s the answer? Can I offer you two approaches?

Here’s an idea from The Oprah Magazine. “One study suggests that exercise can be as effective as drugs in treating major depression disorders.” The Bible concurs with this. “Bodily exercise is of some value.”

The scripture continues: “But godliness has value for all things, holding promises for both the present age and the life to come.” The things of God need to be the greater focus.

David, one of the Bible’s greatest men, wrote three times in the course of less than a page: “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?” David was talking to himself, voicing his depressive state.

Each time in these three passages he answered his own question with this response: “Put your hope in God.”

He didn’t hope in family or friends to pull him out of his quandary. Not in a new haircut. Not in shopping. Not in drugs. Not in a psychiatrist. And not in himself.

His hope was in God.

God will love when no one else seems to—including ourselves. Experiences fade. God is everlasting. When human wisdom fails, God’s word, the Bible, provides the ultimate advice.

God says, “Draw near to Me and I will draw near to you.” Close to God is where true hope is discovered.