People in the Bible who struggled with depression.

No matter what you’re struggling with, it’s easy to feel like you’re the only one. Maybe you know someone who struggles with depression. Maybe you are battling it yourself or have felt depressed for a season in the past. The fact is, God knows more about depression, anxiety, despair, and sadness more than anyone else, any psychiatrist, counselor, pastor, or friend. God provides a framework we can use to approach the subject. Here are a handful of people who knew God intimately, saw Him move powerfully, wrote books in the Bible, were even king, and still battled depression.

1. Job

The story starts with Job—a rich, healthy, blessed man who was “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.” But in one day, Job’s life falls apart.

Foreigners killed his servants and stole all of his livelihood. Then a great wind comes up and pulls down the house on his family, killing his seven sons and three daughters. And to top things off, Job ends up with boils all over his body.

Job 30:16-20 (NLV)

16 “Now my soul is poured out within me. Days of trouble have taken hold of me. 17 Night cuts into my bones with pain. The pain keeps on and takes no rest. 18 My clothing is torn by a strong power. It pulls against me like the top of my coat. 19 God has thrown me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes. 20 I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me. I stand up, and You turn away from me.

He says, “Depression haunts me day and night, my bones are filled with pain, which gnaws at me relentlessly. With a strong hand, God grabs my shirt. He grips me by the collar of my coat. He has thrown me into the mud. I’m nothing more than dust and ashes….I cry to you, O God, but you don’t answer. I stand before you, but you don’t even look.”

You might relate to Job if you feel constant sadness. It may seem as if every day is filled with depression, or you may even believe God is absent.

2. Elijah

Elijah saw God do the most incredible things (like send fire down from heaven to win a bet against false prophets). You’d think after seeing God move in extreme ways, he’d be on a constant Jesus-high, right? Well, he later becomes overwhelmed with fear, unsure that God is going to act in the way that he wants him to. He’s afraid for his life and begins to experience suffering. In the midst of that suffering, Elijah finds himself reaching the point of, “I don’t want to live anymore.”

1 Kings 19:4 (NLV)

4 But he himself traveled for a day into the desert. He came and sat down under a juniper tree. There he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough now, O Lord. Take my life. For I am not better than my fathers.”

He cries out, “I have had enough, LORD…Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.” You may relate to Elijah if you’ve ever thought, “I am all alone. I can’t take it anymore. I don’t want to live anymore. There’s no point.”

3. David

David wrote most of the Psalms, and was maybe the most emotional man in the Bible—up and down, up, and down. One minute he’s going off praising God, and the next he’s like, “Where are you, God?!” He feels like God has turned his back on him, and claims that his life is full of depression and sadness.

Psalm 6:5-7 (NLV)

5 No one remembers You when he is dead. Who gives You praise from the grave? 6 I am tired of crying inside myself. All night long my pillow is wet with tears. I flood my bed with them. 7 My eye has grown weak with sorrow. It has grown old because of all who hate me.

David’s words ring, “I am worn out from sobbing. All night I flood my bed with weeping, drenching it with my tears. My vision is blurred by grief...”

He becomes overwhelmed with sadness and unable to sleep. And yet God calls him “a man after his own heart”. You may relate to David if you’ve ever just felt exhausted from grief, or like you can’t even sleep.

4. Heman son of Korah

This one’s a guy most of you probably haven’t heard of. Heman wrote Psalm 88. In this Psalm, Heman cries out that God has abandoned and betrayed him.

Psalm 88:5-7 (NLV)

⁵ I am left among the dead, like those who have been killed and lie in the grave, whom You remember no more. They are cut off from Your help. ⁶ You have put me in the deepest hole, in a dark and deep place. ⁷ Your anger has rested upon me. And You have troubled me with all Your waves.

“I am forgotten, cut off from your care. You have thrown me into the lowest pit, into the darkest depths. Your anger weighs me down; with wave after wave, you have engulfed me.”

He does what so many of us do when we’re in a bad place—he turns and points the finger at God. He feels like he’s already in the lowest place, and it’s like one wave after another just keeps hitting him. Do you know what he means? He ends the Psalm by saying, “Darkness is my closest friend.” You may relate to Heman if you’ve ever felt alone, angry at God, or stuck in darkness.

5. Jeremiah

Jeremiah was another major prophet. He had a lifelong battle with sadness and wrote an entire book of his sorrow called Lamentations.

Lamentations means; the passionate expression of grief or sorrow; weeping.  The Bible telling of the anguish of Judah after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC.

So this is the Lamentations of Jeremiah, the Cries of Sorrows from Jeremiah.

Lamentations 2:10 (NLV)

¹⁰ The leaders of the people of Zion sit quietly on the ground. They have thrown dust on their heads, and have dressed themselves in cloth made from hair. The pure young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.

He says, “I have cried until the tears no longer come; my heart is broken.”

Jeremiah writes in the Bible that he’s cried so much that there’s nothing left to come out. Sound familiar? You may relate to Jeremiah if you’ve ever thought, “I’ve cried so much that I ran out of tears…I feel so heartbroken.”

6. Naomi

Naomi’s future looked bleak. Her husband had died. So had her two sons, leaving no one to provide for her. She was stranded in a foreign land with no clear sense of how she was going to survive. Naomi’s story is found in the book of Ruth. At the center of the story is the bond between Naomi and Ruth, her daughter-in-law, who is also widowed. Yet even that bond is not enough to lift the spirits of Naomi. Her bitterness and despair poured out of her. 

Ruth 1:20-21(NLV) (Mara means "bitter")

20 She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara. For the All-powerful has brought much trouble to me. 21 I went out full. But the Lord has made me return empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has spoken against me. The All-powerful has allowed me to suffer.”

When Naomi and Ruth return to Naomi’s hometown, the women recognize Naomi and greet her by name. But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”

Even Jesus Himself was deeply anguished over what lay before Him.

He knew what was coming. He knew that God had called him to a journey of great suffering, he knew what must happen in order for us to live truly free. Our Savior and Lord was willing to pay the price on our behalf, but it wasn’t an easy road. Isaiah prophesied that Christ would be "a man of sorrows, and familiar with grief."  

We can be assured, that in whatever we face, Jesus understands our weakness and suffering, our greatest times of temptation and despair, because He too traveled that road, yet without sin. In the garden, through the night, Jesus prayed, all alone, calling out to His Father, asking Him for another way:

Mark 14:34-36 (TLB)

“And He said to them, 'My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.' And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by. And He was saying, 'Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.'" 

Luke 22:44 (NKJV)

44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

The greatest thing about these stories, about these struggles with depression is that God was with them though all the pain agony.

 Psalm 34:18 (NIV)

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”  

He is there though the good days and in the dark days. He didn’t condemn you for your questions and pain. He didn’t tell you to just tough it out. He reached down to their deepest pit of suffering, and lifted you out. He showed compassion. He offered mercy. He brings hope. He instilled purpose. He gave victory. He is the Healer, the Redeemer, the Restorer, a friend, and Loving Father. He will never waste the seasons of suffering we face, but will use it, in some way, to bring good, to instill purpose, to help others, and to make us stronger. 

If you find yourself in dark places, know that you’re not alone. Not ever! God doesn’t want you to experience depression, but He also understands what you’re walking through. He is merciful, gracious, and understanding with what you're going through. Even in depression, Jesus is your healer and hope in the darkness. Cry out to God in prayer when you’re feeling depressed and focus on the truth in his Word. He will work all things together for good.

Hold on to that hope. And keep fighting depression with the help of the Holy Spirit, and His word. Your life has purpose.

God Bless, Israel