Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981), the evangelical preacher and author, is remembered in the UK for his debate with John Stott and for his many years of ministry at Westminster Chapel, where his preaching attracted crowds of several thousand.
Lloyd-Jones was also a medical doctor and in his book Spiritual Depression, now a classic, he tries to get to the 'causes and cures' of the condition. Originally published in 1959, it offers some helpful insight for Christians who struggle with depression today.
Here are six quotes from Lloyd-Jones' Spiritual Depression.
1. 'We must never look at any sin in our past life in any way except that which leads us to praise God and to magnify His grace in Christ Jesus.'
2. 'There is nothing more futile, when dealing with this condition, than to act on the assumption that all Christians are identical in every respect.'
3. 'Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man's treatment [in Psalm 42] was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul?" he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says, "Self, listen for moment, I will speak to you."'
4. 'Abraham had the same experience (Genesis 15).'
5. 'This other man within us, has got to be handled. Do not listen to him; turn on him; speak to him; condemn him; upbraid him; exhort him; encourage him; remind him of what you know, instead of listening placidly to him and allowing him to drag you down and depress you.'
6. 'Physical conditions play their part in all this. It is very difficult to draw the line between this and the previous cause because temperament seems to some degree to be controlled by physical conditions and there are certain people who constitutionally, almost in a physical sense, are prone to this condition. In other words, there are certain physical ailments which tend to promote depression.'
