Depression in the Bible

After Mount Carmel, Jezebel threatens Elijah's life, and he flees to the wilderness in despair. God ministers to him with food and rest, then speaks to him not in wind, earthquake, or fire, but in a still small voice. Elisha is called as Elijah's successor.

The Teacher declares everything is meaningless—a chasing after the wind. Generations come and go but the earth endures. There is nothing new under the sun. Increasing wisdom brings increasing sorrow.

Even Moses and Samuel couldn't intercede for this people. Jeremiah's personal anguish deepens — he wishes he'd never been born. Yet God's words were his joy and delight when he found them. God promises to make Jeremiah a fortified wall of bronze.

After being beaten and put in stocks by the priest Pashhur, Jeremiah pours out one of Scripture's most anguished laments. He curses the day of his birth yet cannot stop prophesying — God's word is like fire shut up in his bones.

Job breaks his silence and curses the day of his birth. He longs for death and questions why life is given to those in misery. This raw lament opens the poetic dialogue section of the book.

Job responds to Eliphaz, defending the depth of his anguish. He compares his friends to unreliable seasonal streams and asks them to show him where he has sinned rather than offering empty comfort.

Job addresses God directly, describing life as hard service and his nights as filled with restlessness. He questions why God watches him so closely and asks to be left alone in his misery.

Job pours out his complaint to God, questioning why God formed him only to destroy him. He asks God to remember that he was made from clay and pleads for a brief respite before death.

Job describes his broken spirit and fading hope. He challenges God to provide a pledge for him since no one else will stand as his guarantor. He sees only the grave ahead.

Job describes his present humiliation. Those he once helped now mock him. His body is wracked with pain and God seems to have become cruel. He cries out but receives no answer.

One of the shortest and most honest lament psalms. David asks "How long?" four times, wrestling with God's seeming forgetfulness. Yet he chooses to trust in unfailing love and ends with a song of praise.