* Maybe I need at least a short-term antidepressant.

Please note: I’m not suggested we pop pills whenever we feel down. But a judicious use of medicine may be a way of navigating dark times and making them more manageable. And we can be thankful we live in an age in which such medications are available.

Or when I feel the gray ooze of depression dampening my sense of wellbeing, I might well ask:

* Have I been keeping Sabbath like I should?

* Have I been angry with someone or something for way too long?

* Am I harboring bitterness against someone so that its acid impact is being felt not just by that other person but by me?

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* Have I dealt appropriately with failure, maybe with sin in my life?

* Have I turned away from that wrong and have I, by faith, received God’s forgiveness?

Or maybe when the cloud of depression interrupts my usually sunny disposition, I may well ask myself:

* In my walk with God and my service to the Lord, am I depending too much on good feelings?

* Am I serving the Lord mostly out of my human enthusiasm and excitement?

* Do I love Jesus because He makes me feel so good?

* Do I worship in the community of God’s People primarily because of all the good feelings worship brings me?

Evelyn Underhill, early twentieth century author on the spiritual life, wrote to a person much distressed by spiritual dryness. Her diagnosis is that this person is much too inclined to make feeling the test of religion. According to Underhill, to feel devout and fervent, and aware of God’s presence all the time is beyond our control. Yet, we can give ourselves without reserve to God and keep our wills directed toward Him. “Everyone goes through ‘dry’ times,” she writes. “It all lies in how we take them-with patience, or with restlessness.”

Maybe depression is a signal of something to which we should pay attention. And it may be that paying attention to what our depression points will begin to lift the cloud from our emotional life. Wrote Elizabeth Sherrill about one of her bouts with depression:

“A crisis, when it shows us our need for help, can be good news.”

Depression may be for us a signal of something to which we should pay attention.

It was for Elijah. God’s servant was worn out. So God put him to sleep. Then, Elijah ate food, which was also something he needed. Elijah slept some more. And there was more healthy eating when he woke up the second time. It’s amazing what sound sleep and good food can do for some depression.

But the Elijah story continues. God led Elijah to a kind of prayer retreat. In a solitary and holy place, Elijah sought to hear the voice of God. A great and powerful wind swept the mountain where Elijah was on retreat. But the Lord did not speak through the wind. Then there came an earthquake. Surely God speaks through earthquakes! Not this time! After the earthquake a fire blazed over the mountain. But God didn’t speak through the fire. After all of this drama, there came a gentle whisper. And, the story says, “When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.”