How To Handle Depression
Bob Yandian
David, unlike most kings in the Old Testament, was a man of war. Many of the kings in the Old Testament went to war but not like David. David aggressively went to war. God did not tell David not to go to war; in fact, God commanded him to go to war. Peace never comes cheaply. Until Jesus comes, the price of peace often has to be blood, and that is what happened under David's reign. David was at war during most of his lifetime, but he set up the foundation for the great reign of peace which came after him which was Solomon's reign.
The way to have peace is not to lay our weapons down and walk out there in the middle of the battlefield and say, "We have laid our weapons down, now you lay down yours." You are liable to meet a spear in the face. When Joshua conquered the nation, he would not have succeeded if he stood there and didn't do anything. God told him to go to war. God told him, "you go to war and I will be with you." God commanded it, and God condoned it.
David would go out, fight and come back to Jerusalem. He continually did this and he got criticism from the nations around him and from within his own nation. Fortunately, David was a man of tremendous spiritual strength.
Promotion does not come overnight. Many people who are promoted quickly fall apart from the criticism once they get the promotion. If you rise in the ranks of any organization or in the Kingdom of God you are going to find yourself being criticized by those around you. Those who criticize you are usually immature. Mature people understand the responsibilities of leadership and will help. Those who stand on the sidelines and criticize usually show their immaturity in the criticism.
When criticism is constructive it is important to listen to it. But, if criticism keeps coming at you and you listen to it long enough, you can open yourself up to depression. Psalm 84 is written by David and it shows where he drew his strength from.
Where Do You Draw Your Strength From?
If you draw your strength from the praise of people, you have gone to the wrong place. The praise of people will come and that is good. It is good that people praise you and pat you on the back. But don't let it go to your head. People can pat you on the back and then turn around and stab you in the back a short time later.
Since David was receiving so much criticism he had to go someplace for his strength and the place he went to naturally was the Word of God and the Spirit of God. All of his life he had practiced knowing how to stand on the Word of God and be in the Word of God when the criticism wasn't there so that when the time of criticism came he had something to draw from. Many don't go to the Word until the time of crisis comes, and that's not the way to win in this life.
You don't prepare for war when you are being attacked. you prepare for war when there is peace so that when you are attacked you will be strong.
Under criticism, depression will come. Will you know how to handle depression when it does? Where do you draw your strength? It is the teaching of the word of God that you must receive on a daily basis. Receiving the Word twice a week at church doesn't do it. Do you think you could live on two meals a week? You would get very weak. It is God's desire and God's will that you get into His Word every day, and that you come into His presence and draw strength for your daily life.
“My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” Psalm 84:2
