Spiritual Depression

I got the Kindle version of Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cures by Dr. David Martyn Lloyd-Jones a few weeks ago. Looking this morning, I no longer find it available for the Kindle. I consider it a timely gift.

I’ve heard that romance novels have thrived with the advent of e-readers, because what you read on your Kindle is, in a sense, anonymous. You can’t see the book cover. I confess that when I began reading Spiritual Depression, I was glad of this anonymity. The title is revealing. I would have felt I needed to justify myself: “Oh, no, I’m not ‘depressed.’ Not me.” But having now ingested all 24 sermons in this remarkable book, I would say, “Who isn’t spiritually depressed at some point, and in some way?”

My daughters are away this weekend, and so yesterday I took advantage of the “text to speech” feature on my Kindle to listen steadily to Dr. Lloyd-Jones’ book as I puttered around the house, doing odd jobs that required only my hands. In the past when I’ve used this feature, I found the computerized voice too distracting. This time, I wasn’t distracted, but captivated. Perhaps it’s because these sermons were originally written to be spoken…? The effect was to feel my cluttered, wearied mind was bathed and ordered by the Truth of Scripture. What a blessing to get to listen uninterrupted for several hours as various questions and observations I’ve had floating around were addressed and placed in a coherent overall picture.

I think I’m going to have to read this book once a year at least as a spiritual “reset.” Maybe I’ll read a sermon a day, or a few a week. Somehow, I need to keep this influence going. Though the title might suggest a book about feelings, this is pre-eminently a book about doctrine, and Dr. Lloyd-Jones’ preaching is wise, knowledgeable, and direct as he works systematically through a series of reasons why Christians lack joy, in every case addressing the error of understanding on which the problem is based, and then clarifying the Bible’s teaching. He preaches with an authority and a courage I really appreciated; he is not afraid to say hard things, or to face difficult teachings in the Bible.

Dr. Lloyd-Jones was originally a doctor; a brief biographical video can be found here. But when he responded to the call of God to preach, he turned his desire to heal and strengthen to matters of the soul. His own story is an interesting one, for he discovered after years of being a professing Christian that he really wasn’t one at all, and he diagnosed the reason as a lack of biblical teaching in the church he grew up in. In his own preaching (his most well-known appointment was his 30-year stint at Westminster Chapel), he was very careful to make biblical exposition foremost, even to the extent of refusing to use personal anecdotes, jokes, or headlines from newspapers.

It might sound like a recipe for inaccessible teaching, but I come away from this book with the refreshed confidence that the Bible is a treasure chest — a storehouse of Truth, the source of all that we need. I’ve been rising early and reading my Bible daily for 20 years now; I wouldn’t do that if I didn’t believe it to be essential nourishment for my mind and heart. But Spiritual Depression unveiled it to me in a new way. I feel like the disciples must have felt when they saw Jesus’ glory blaze out briefly on the Mount of Transfiguration, or when the Roman soldiers fell before him when they came to get him at Gethsemene. Here I’ve been, steeping in the Word of God, for years — and suddenly its glory blazes out.

In “rightly dividing” the Bible’s teaching, Lloyd-Jones reminds us that truth does not correct or clarify or heal or change unless it is appropriated. There are many quote-worthy passages, but this is the one I’ll conclude with, because it reveals the foundational principle of all the sermons in this book:

In other words, the great antidote to spiritual depression is the knowledge of Biblical doctrine, Christian doctrine. Not having the feelings worked up in meetings, but knowing the principles of the faith, knowing and understanding the doctrines. That is the Biblical way, that is Christ’s own way as it is also the way of the apostles. The antidote to depression is to have a knowledge of Him, and you get that in His Word. You must take the trouble to learn it. It is difficult work, but you have to study it and give yourself to it. The tragedy of the hour, it seems to me, is that people are far too dependent for their happiness upon meetings. This has been the trouble for many years in the Christian Church, and that is why so many are miserable. Their knowledge of the Truth is defective. That, you remember, is what our Lord said to certain people who had suddenly believed on Him. He said: ‘If ye continue in My word then are ye My disciples indeed. And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free’ (John 8:31,32). Free from doubts or fears, free from depression, free from things that get you down. It is the truth that frees — the truth about Him, in His Person, in His work, in His offices, Christ as He is.