Mental illness is a potentially divisive topic in faith circles.
But, coming to Christian faith in my adult years, this has always perplexed me. Why on earth do we spiritualise something that’s far too complex to be spiritualised away? Why do we think as Christians that every malady has an inherently spiritual cause to it? Like, “It’s an attack of the enemy, man!” It can be, but that’s not all it can be.
I believe in the amalgamation of faith, prayer, psychology, integrated and multipronged approaches to mental health, together with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Wisdom, all wisdom I contend, is of God. So, when I trained in counselling at a secular university, I saw God in it. Every step of the way. Every day. Woven within the fabric of lectures, assignments, tutorials, campus meetings, supervision, contemplation, reflection... absolutely throughout.
Indeed, in my journey God used a secular university, a secular lecturer, a secular therapist, and a secular book, all to speak into my life in a profoundly helpful albeit challenging way... in a way only God could.
Before I did my counselling training, I had already had solid degree-level groundings in behavioural psychology (science), theology and Bible (divinity). I’ve seen God work through both Christian and secular methods. I’ve seen God work through those who don’t practice faith or even believe in God.
Back to depression. This life involves far more factors that intrude on our spirituality than merely spiritual forces. Our spiritual domain is all of us, yet the forces that descend are more than in the spiritual realm. They happen most commonly in the practical here-and-now, in the fractious rub of life.
We find ourselves in situations, for instance, that overwhelm us, in our thinking, or by our felt experience.
We find ourselves in relationships that confound our sensibilities. These leave us perplexed, sometimes indefinitely.
We find ourselves in places that trigger us; that push us to limits that we previously hadn’t recognised were even possible.
We find ourselves in loss. Before we know it, we’re suffering at a deeper level than we could have previously imagined. It would be a brave and probably foolish person who would tell someone grieving the loss of a loved one they could be “healed” through deliverance ministry. To accept the loss, fine, but not to “get over it.” Grieving is a process.
We find ourselves responding to any number of situations or dynamics in ways that surprise us. How many times does life leave us floored?
The nature of spiritual attack is, however, how many of these dynamics pile onto each other to push us beyond our limit. Yes, that’s right. Even as Christians we’re pushed beyond our limit. That’s another thing I could be called a heretic for. (But before you do, I’d commend you to make a solid academic study of 1 Corinthians 10:13.)
But each of these things—that as humans we are pushed beyond our limit, and the idea that as Christians, depression is not to be explained away as merely spiritual—are ordinary as plain explicabilities of life.
What true faith does is it ACCEPTS life when life is unfathomable.
True faith doesn’t fob the realities of life off.
True faith wrestles with common living realities.
If it’s a fact that up to 50 percent of pastors have experienced (or do experience) depression, can we really say that it’s all spiritual? It’s part of the answer, sure. But not the whole kit and kaboodle.
Depression is not usually something that can be addressed by laying hands on someone alone, although it does work on occasion, and we should still pray in faith per James 5:13f. True depression is usually far more complex in its causation than a one-size-fits-all solution.
Let’s not consign God to the spiritual box. Let’s not forget who owns ALL the wisdom.
Photo by Rosie Fraser on Unsplash
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