Wisely Navigating Depression and Anxiety
Speaker: Jon Stricklin Series: Men's Breakfast Series: Living in God's Wisdom
Jon Stricklin began our 2025 series, “Biblical Wisdom for Godly Living” by teaching on depression and anxiety.
“Wisdom” represents the skills integral to living God’s way and for His glory in our everyday lives, so that we may be “equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16). Wisdom comes from God’s word.
Depression is a “stubborn darkness” and a debilitating mood, which can hamper our ability to handle life and responsibilities. The following wisdom applies regarding depression:
- It is not sinful to be depressed due to unfavorable circumstances in our lives.
- There are many examples of men of God who had episodes of depression, including David (Psalm 42:5), Moses (Numbers 11:10-15), Jonah (Jonah 4:8) and Paul (2 Cor 7:6).
- The misery of depression can be used by God to humble us and show us His grace.
- Depression becomes sin when it is used to justify neglect of the application of biblical principles.
Anxiety represents fear, causing significant debilitation in our lives, about what could possibly happen in the future. The following wisdom applies to anxiety:
- As with depression, it is not sinful per se to be anxious. Timothy and Paul had a “genuine concern” (which could be translated “anxiety”) for the welfare of the church of Phillipi (Phil 2:20).
- Our own sin can result in anxiety about potential consequences, just as Adam and Eve hid from the Lord in Genesis 3:10.
- We sin when, as a result of our anxiety, we choose to fail to trust in the Lord’s provision, just as the disciples did in Matthew 8:26
How do we address depression and anxiety? It is not by avoiding reading the word, neglecting prayer, and isolating ourselves from others, which is sin and can exacerbate our misery. Instead, the proper wise biblical response to depression and anxiety is to:
- Read the word of God, in particular, Psalms and 2 Corinthians
- Diligently pray and abide in Christ (John 15:4-7)
- Seek fellowship with other believers to stimulate good works (Hebrews 10:24)
- Preach the gospel to yourself every day
- Study God’s nature and attributes, so you can be assured that He is sovereign over all that we are depressed or anxious about, and that He is working all things together for good for those that are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28).