“Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; (19) To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.  (20)  Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield. (21) For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. (22) Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.”  (Psalms 33:18-22)

Webster defines depression: “#4) A sinking of the spirits; dejection; a state of sadness; want of courage or animation; as depression of the mind.”

The NIH (National Health Institute) defines depression: “Depression (major depressive disorder or clinical depression) is a common but serious mood disorder. It causes severe symptoms that affect how you feel, think, and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, or working….”

The Bible defines depression as “unbelief” by implication; that is, when one walks by sight and not by faith; or to say that one is disobedient in trusting the promises of God; or to say that one leans to his own understanding instead of leaning on the wisdom of God. See Prov. 3:5-6; especially Prov. 3:5b: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”

When a child of God tries to determine his own direction in life’s decisions; leaning upon his own intellect or his own decision making process; when in fact he cannot see the future as God sees his future, nor is he as wise as God – he is on sinking sand. A man who leans to his own wisdom, and maybe his past experience, sees only through the eyes of self and sees what is best for him – not considering how his decisions may affect others, or even affect himself for the present and for the future. This self-decision making process, without seeking God’s Wisdom, is a prime ingredient of depression when failure or defeat comes because of self’s own decision making process.

What is so strange is that when failure comes, the child of God in many cases does not see his own mistakes, but charges God. The familiar statements are:

Why, God, did this happen to me? You know that I love you God; You know that I attend regularly to church services; I tithe (most of the time); I do this and that as a public service to the poor and indigent; and yet God, look at me now. I have completely failed; of which there seems to be no remedy to salvage anything. I am in deep trouble and You could have stopped me and caused me to go another way. God, I thought You were a God of Love. I thought You were looking out for me.

From this point of thought forward; the failed child of God is mad at God and everyone around him – when the fault is really his for not including God in the decision-making process. When a child of God turns from God and blames God for his undesirable condition, and turns from his friends and from his own immediately family, he is headed for depression and denial of the real facts. Lying is bad; but what is worse is when a child of God lies to himself as to the real problem; which is himself.

The child of God does not have to be in a state of depression. The answer, or solution, to depression is found in the text verses of this devotion:

• Always remember, God’s eye is upon you, His child; “(18) Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;”
• Always remember, God’s purpose of keeping His eye upon you; “(19) To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.”
• Always remember, God’s solution is to wait for Him and to trust Him, “(20-21) Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield. (21) For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.”
• Always remember, God commands us to pray and seek His wisdom, “(22) “Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.”

Depression will not ever be in the child of God’s spirit, if the child of God would apply (Ps. 33:18-22) before he ever makes a decision in his life. (Also, see Prov. 3:5-6.) Then, “our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name” (Psa. 33:21). Therefore, there is no depression, only Joy in Him; because we trusted in God, and not in our own intellect or power, to make life’s decisions; and we had success, not failure.