Does God Care about our Mental Health?

By Leslie Peacock, LPC, MAC, Director of Counseling
 
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. We hear a lot about mental health on the news, with our family and friends, and even at church. Mental health is everywhere, but what is it and how does it relate to our relationship with God?

Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being, and it affects how we think, feel, act, handle stress, make choices, and relate to others.
The Bible doesn’t refer to mental health directly but indirectly, relating to our hearts and minds, our brokenness, and finding hope in suffering:

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Prov. 4:23).

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Rom. 12:2).

Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matt. 6:34).

“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline” (2 Tim. 1:7).

Even though the Bible acknowledges our suffering, mental health struggles can still be a stigmatized subject, and those of us who have depression, chronic anxiety, or a compulsive disorder may feel isolated and misunderstood.

Charles Spurgeon once said, “The mind can descend far lower than the body, for in it there are bottomless pits. The flesh can only bear a certain number of wounds and no more, but the soul can bleed in ten thousand ways, and die over and over again each hour.”For many of us, mental health issues may feel like a bottomless pit, but God offers us encouragement to persevere in our struggles and find hope, healing, and connection.
 
Mental illness is not your fault

Mental illness is a result of the fall, but it isn’t a punishment for our sins. Consider the man born blind in John 9:1-3: “As [Jesus] walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.’”

Sin can exacerbate mental illness and stir up depression or anxiety.  And our mental health struggles can lead us into sin when we refuse to fight them. But we aren’t defined by our sin or our mental health issues. Bringing our struggles into the light helps to heal them as King David reminds us, “The Lord my God illumines my darkness” (Ps. 18:28).

John Newton reminds us how to draw near to God in our pain in a letter he wrote exhorting a friend to persevere:"All shall work together for good; everything is needful that [God] sends; nothing can be needful that [God] withholds…you have need of patience, and if you ask, the Lord will give it. But there can be no settled peace till our will is in a measure subdued. Hide yourself under the shadow of [God’s] wings; rely upon [God’s] care and power; look upon him as a physician who has graciously undertaken to heal your soul of the worst sicknesses, sin. Yield to his prescriptions, and fight against every thought that would represent it as desirable to be permitted to choose for yourself. When you cannot see your way, be satisfied that [God] is your leader. When your spirit is overwhelmed within you, [God[] knows your path: he will not leave you to sink. [God] has appointed seasons of refreshment, and you shall find that he does not forget you. Above all, keep close to the throne of grace. If we seem to get no good by attempting to draw near him, we may be sure we shall get none by keeping away from him."

God sees you and is with you

You are not alone in your struggles. God sees you and grieves with you in your pain. Remember in John 11 when Jesus wept with Lazarus’s family even knowing the resurrecting work he was about to do? He grieved alongside a grieving family. God also restores us in our suffering: “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand” (Ps. 40:2).

God draws near to us when we are hurting: “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Ps. 34:18).  And Jesus sends the Holy Spirit as a comforter and a counselor to help us even when we can’t form words, so we aren’t left alone: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God” (Rom. 8:26-27).

When you suffer, you are not alone

God’s people have suffered mentally, emotionally, and physically throughout the Bible. Remember Elijah during his conflict with Jezebel in 1 Kings 19? He flees to the wilderness because he wants to die. Jonah also suffered a depressed state after God spared Ninevah. King David was anxious, Jeremiah was lonely, and Job was so grieved he wished he had never been born. The Bible records Jesus’s own anguish in Matt. 27:46: “My God, my God, why have your forsaken me?”

God's Words can bring Comfort

The National Institute of Mental Health reports that 1 in 5 Americans live with a mental illness. Globally, over 970 million people live with a mental disorder. You are not alone in your struggles. James 4:8 reminds us, “Come near to God and he will come near to you.” God’s words can bring comfortThe Bible shows us a wide array of emotions. When we read Job or the Psalms of lament, which compose the largest category of the psalms, we hear words like:

“Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul” (Job 7:11).

“Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted” (Ps. 25:16).“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation” (Ps. 42:5).

“For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol” (Ps. 88:3).

We also hear of the hope God gives us in our pain:

“He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake” (Ps. 23:3).

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isa. 41:10).

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).

It’s important to remember that we have an indelible resource in Scripture to bring comfort, healing, and hope in our mental health struggles. We also need wise counsel in times of trouble too.