Is Dealing With Anxiety From a Biblical Perspective Enough?
By: Benny Lim
Tags: Mental Illness, Depression, Christianity, Religion, Faith

I was only 19 years old and in my second year of college.

For someone so young, you’d think that there was no chance of having depression or anxiety, right? I mean, what would a 19-year-old kid be depressed or anxious about? All I needed to do was attend my classes in college, finish up my assignments and pass my exams.

Simple.

Nothing too stressful about all of that which could lead to depression or anxiety.

I thought so too.

But I was wrong.

For some reason, I got really depressed and aside from getting food to eat, going to the toilet or the bathroom, I locked myself up inside my room the entire time.

This lasted for months.

I grew up in a Christian family. My dad was a born again Christian. He was raised up as a Buddhist but found Christianity when he was studying in New Zealand. My mom came from a large family of strong Christian values.

Needless to say, my siblings and I were brought up with those same values.

I was taught to read the Bible the moment I started learning how to read. I think I’ve probably read the Bible from front to back at least 4 to 5 times now. From the Old Testament to the New Testament.

I obviously can’t remember everything but back then, I was pretty good at being able to tell you what verse was from what chapter of which book.

Growing up, the book of Matthew was my favourite. I just found peace whenever I read the book of Matthew.

When I was dealing with my depression, there was a chapter that I read over and over again, hoping that it would somehow help me out of the deep dark place that I was in.

Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. — Matthew 6:31–33

It basically says that I need not worry about ANYTHING.

Nothing at all.

All I needed to do was seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness first and everything will be fine. Everything that I need will be given to me.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

Well, it was definitely easier said than done.

The Bible says that if we put God first and everything else second, our life will be complete. It’ll be perfect. God will take care of everything for us and we will have nothing to worry about for the rest of our lives.

Now, tell that to someone who is on the brink of committing suicide.

Tell them to just put their trust in God and their depression will go away. That it will disappear and all will be good again.

Chances are, it won’t work.

Because, when someone is in such a dark place already, they would have tried a lot of things to get out of there. If someone is religious, the first thing they would do is turn to God.

I did that.

And it didn’t work.

I asked for God’s forgiveness because I thought I failed as a Christian. The fact that I was depressed and anxious, I felt like I failed as a Christian. That’s why I was feeling that way because I must have done something wrong and God didn’t love me anymore.

Also, where I come from, mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, OCD, etc are still taboo topics to talk about. And when someone comes out and says that they’re suffering from any of that, the most typical response that you will get is something that goes along these lines, “It’s because you’re not strong enough in your faith and do not love God enough.”

That’s why a lot of people who are suffering from depression and anxiety do not seek help.

Because rather than getting the help that they need, they are ridiculed, insulted and their faith questioned.