Charles Spurgeon’s periodic bouts with depression are almost legendary. Less clear would be the cause or source of his struggles. Some would go so far as to label him clinically depressed and attribute the problem to certain undefined chemical imbalances. We likely will never know for sure. But there is much that we can learn from this great man’s battles with despondency. Those who wish to delve more deeply into Spurgeon’s own experience should consult Zach Eswine’s book, Spurgeon’s Sorrows: Realistic Hope for those who Suffer from Depression (Christian Focus, 2014). Continue reading . . . 

Charles Spurgeon’s periodic bouts with depression are almost legendary. Less clear would be the cause or source of his struggles. Some would go so far as to label him clinically depressed and attribute the problem to certain undefined chemical imbalances. We likely will never know for sure. But there is much that we can learn from this great man’s battles with despondency. Those who wish to delve more deeply into Spurgeon’s own experience should consult Zach Eswine’s book, Spurgeon’s Sorrows: Realistic Hope for those who Suffer from Depression (Christian Focus, 2014).

But my concern here is with Spurgeon’s own counsel. In an article he wrote titled, “The Causes of Apparent Desertion” (in The Spurgeon Reader, edited by Tom Nettles), Spurgeon spoke of the many reasons why we go through times when God seems distant and disengaged from us. One of those reasons, says Spurgeon, is the mystery of God’s sovereignty. He explains:

“That all men may see that their best pleasures flow from the river of God, and are only to be found in him, and only to be obtained through his divine grace, he is pleased at certain times to dry up the springs, to close the fountain, and suspend the flowing of the stream; so that even the best of men languish, and all the godly of the earth do mourn.”

Here we see something that few of us instinctively embrace. Spurgeon’s point is that God will on occasion withdraw our sensible awareness of his love and presence in order that we might more clearly acknowledge that our “best pleasures” flow from God alone. Otherwise our sinful tendency is to take for granted his goodness and to presume upon his mercy. He continues:

“Lest the green fir-tree should exalt itself by reason of its fruitfulness, as if it did garnish itself with beauty, the God of our salvation allows a withering and a blight to seize upon it that it may believe the sacred declaration, ‘From me is thy fault found.’ God’s own glory is sometimes his own motive for action, and truly it is a reason so great and good that he who mocks at it must be a stranger to God, and cannot be truly humbled before him. It may be that the sole cause of our sad condition lies in the absolute will of God; if so, let us bend our heads in silence, and let him do what seemeth him good. Unhappy is our lot when our best Beloved is absent; but he shall do as he pleases, and we will sigh for his return; but we will not chide him for his absence: ‘What if God will use his absoluteness and prerogative in his dealing with his child, and proceed therein according to no ruled case or precedent? This he may do, and who shall cry, ‘What doest thou?’’

We often assume that if we could only know why God seems distant and why the clouds of despondency won’t disperse that we could bear up under the weight of it more readily and willingly. But Spurgeon suggests that God may choose to leave us in this condition (temporarily) “according to no ruled case or precedent.” In other words, we may never know why and we may never find precedent for our own experience in Scripture. He concludes with this:

“We think, however, that this case is but of rare occurrence, and we would, under every withdrawal, exhort the believer to look for some other cause, and only resort to this explanation when he can truly say, as in God’s sight, that with diligent searching he cannot discover another. Then let him remember that such trouble shall be richly recompensed even in this life, as Job’s poverty was fully restored by his double wealth” (4).

When all is said and done, suggests Spurgeon, we may rightly conclude that this explanation for our depression is “of rare occurrence.” Before concluding that we suffer by virtue of a mysterious act of divine sovereignty, we should explore other causes for why the cloud will not lift.

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