Upfront March 21, 2011 Issue

Shine the light on depression

Steve Graham, Managing Editor, Sentinel, Journal, and Herald

“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?” (Ps. 43:5, New International Version). Obviously that’s a question people have been asking for a very long time—the psalms date back thousands of years. And yet it sounds so applicable to today’s world.

Millions these days struggle to find the causes for depression and related conditions, but this search often proves illusive. Sometimes causes are thought to be psychologically driven, the results of unfortunate life circumstances, chemical imbalances in the body, hereditary conditions, or even related to the seasons and the weather. 

But while many are asking that same question the psalmist asked so long ago, far fewer seem to notice what immediately follows and answers it—a prayerful approach that very much characterizes our cover topic: “Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” This involves looking toward God and away from material causes.

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