Sin and Depression
Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it” (Gen 4:6-7).
For one\’s “countenance to fall” is used biblically to describe depression. Depression is the tendency to see things from a dark or gloomy perspective. This problem is growing dramatically in our times. It is consistently found as a root problem of those who commit serious violent crimes and mass murders. As we will see in this chapter, it also led to Cain killing his brother Abel.
Those who suffer from depression are not all potential murderers. Most people deal with this problem in a nonaggressive, internal way. However, for those who turn inward, it leads to the destruction of their own personality, and in the more extreme cases, suicide.
God gives the remedy to depression in the above verses. It is so simple that most cannot accept it. Some, including many schools of psychology, would even say that it was the Lord\’s rejection of Cain that led to his depression, but that is a superficial understanding of the problem. If the Lord had accepted Cain\’s offering, it would have hardened him in his self-righteousness. The Lord had to reject his sacrifice to correct Cain\’s perspective in a way that could lead to his salvation.
Rejection is always hard to take, but it is good for us and needful if we are doing something wrong. Rejection is a factor that can lead to the greatest breakthroughs in our lives. It is hard to find a single person in history who accomplished anything of significance who did not suffer a major rejection or failure in their lives. Rejection will either make us bitter or better, which is basically what the Lord said to Cain.
As the Lord explained to Cain, the way to be delivered from our depression is not by having someone accept us the way we are, but by someone loving us enough to correct us so that we can do what is right. With the exception of chemically induced depression, it will almost always be the result of us doing something wrong, or by failing to do what we know is right. The way out of the depression is what the Lord told Cain—start doing what is right.
Modern psychology and psychoanalysis have tried to relieve people from depression by attacking moral standards which they believe are unrealistic for people to try to live by. This is a basic attempt to change what we believe to be right and wrong. In some ways, this is understandable because religious men and women have often added to God\’s Word, and imposed a legalism that is destructive to the human personality. However, sin is sin and we can say that it is not sin, but the Lord placed a conscience in us that knows intuitively that it is. The more we try to rationalize it, the more depression will take root in our lives, just as Cain was warned. The only way out of this depression is to repent of the sin and start doing what is right.
- Jesus died for all creation. He already died for so many Moslems who are perishing without receiving His sacrifice. Bring before YHVH the Moslem brethren in your territory Many who are fasting are zealous and desire to do what is right.
- Pray that there shall occur situations where they will hear and understand this gospel of salvation and the kingdom whether from you or other media.
- Jehovah was merciful to meet Saul on the road to Damascus because of his zeal for Him though from a wrong perspective. Pray that during this season there shall be such a supernatural experience for many Moslems who seek for the LORD from a wrong perspective (Acts 9:1-9).