The Cause and Cure of Depression

Genesis 4 and Psalm 73 teach the cause and cure of depression. Misery and depression come from envy and discontent with God. Happiness is in repentance and faith in God.

The psalmist was envious of sinners, wicked people who were prospering materially when he, a godly man, was not. He was depressed until he realized his sin and trusted in God’s everlasting goodness toward him. Thus, he learned the truth with which he starts Psalm 73: “Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.”

Adam and Eve lost the happiness of paradise and fellowship with God because they sinned against God by not trusting him. Instead, they trusted in the devil, who promised happiness to them. But true happiness is found only in God.

A life without God is a life of misery and depression. The wicked try to cover up their deep depression by partying, as we read in 1 Peter 4, “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you” (1 Pet. 4:3–4). All sinners are depressed until they repent of their sins and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. He gained paradise for us by crushing the head of the devil by his atoning death on the cross.

The Adam family was driven out from the presence of God so that they may go toward the east. The cherubim guarded the tree of life with a flaming sword, which represented the wrath of God. Yet they were given hope, for we read that God himself covered them. He covered their sin by killing animals and covering this first couple with the animals’ skins. This act of God pointed to the substitutionary atonement of the Seed of the woman. So I believe that the Adam family was instructed in the right way of approaching God, which was through blood sacrifice.

We want to make three points from this passage: first, the divine sacrifice; second, the divine questioning; and, third, the divine counsel.

Divine Sacrifice

In Genesis 4 we read that Eve brought forth a son, Cain (Gen. 4:1). She thought this son was to be the Messiah promised in Genesis 3:15.¹ But Cain was not the deliverer she expected. He was not a savior; in fact, he proved to be a murderer. We can identify with parents like Eve whose high hopes for their cute children were not fulfilled; instead, their children became wicked.

Eve later bore another son, Abel. I believe that Cain and Abel learned from their parents how to worship God acceptably, that is, by way of animal sacrifice. Noah also had this knowledge (Gen. 8:20–21), as did Abraham (Gen. 22:7, 13) and others. Where did they get this knowledge of divine blood sacrifice? It could only have come through the oral tradition of God’s spoken word.

Cain was the first to bring an offering to the Lord. He did so from the fruits of the soil, for he was a farmer. Abel also brought an offering to the Lord, consisting of the fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. Abel was a keeper of flocks. Leviticus 3:16 tells us, “All the fat is the Lord’s.” Abel brought the prescribed offering to God. I believe that Cain also knew what offering he was to bring that would have been pleasing to God. But Cain had his own idea.

God’s word, not our hunches, must regulate authentic worship. Cain failed to bring the acceptable sacrifice. He was an unbeliever, an unregenerate. Hebrews 11:4 tells us that Abel by faith brought a more excellent sacrifice than Cain did. Without faith, it is impossible to please God, and faith comes, not by listening to our hunches, but by hearing the word of God.

But Cain would not hear or believe or obey the word of God. Cain was a “creative” person. He did things his way. He thought obeying God was boring. There was no excitement or originality in it. He expected God would bless him with greater blessing for his creative and artistic worship. He expected an A+, but, in reality, God gave him an F.

We see such creative worship and its consequences elsewhere in the Bible. Nadab and Abihu tried to worship in an unauthorized way, and God killed them (Lev. 10:1–2). David tried to worship in an unauthorized way, and Uzzah was killed (2 Sam. 6). King Uzziah tried this will worship, and he was cursed with leprosy (2 Chron. 26). In the church of Corinth, God killed a number of believers for worshiping with impure hearts: “For this reason many of you are weak and sick, and a number die” (1 Cor. 11:30, author’s wording).

Friends, God is not seeking our creativity. He is the Creator. He knows a few things about creativity. He is seeking people with obedient hearts who worship him in spirit and in truth. Our sacrifice of worship should be holy and acceptable to him.

So we read in Genesis 4:5 that God was pleased with Abel and with his offering. If God does not accept our person, he will not accept anything we do. But God was not pleased with Cain nor with his offering.

Cain did not believe in God as Abel did. It is possible that God approved Abel’s sacrifice of fat portions of the firstborn of his flock by sending fire from heaven to consume it, as happened in Leviticus 9:24: “Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.”

The Hebrew text says the Lord “gazed upon Abel’s sacrifice with interest” (Gen. 4:4). The Lord made his face shine upon Abel. When God smiles upon us, then we will smile. We will be happy and not depressed. Divine benediction is the cause for our happiness. The Father spoke to Jesus, “You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Divine benediction comes to those who obey him.

Today, worship of God in many churches is not well-pleasing to God because it is not in conformity with the word of God. Such churches worship for fun. They worship with their own creativity, aping the secular culture. But God will not accept their worship, and they go home like Cain—angry, sulking, pouting, depressed.

Cain was a self-righteous Pharisee. He refused to confess his sin. He needed not a Savior; therefore, he would not pray the sinner’s prayer: “Have mercy upon me, a sinner!” Philosopher Immanuel Kant praised Cain for his creativity and autonomy. Kant was an unbeliever.

An evil heart produces evil thoughts and evil deeds. Yet like many unbelievers, Cain was religious and worshiped God.

Divine Questioning

Yet God in his great mercy came to Cain to counsel him so that he might believe in him and so worship him in faith and in truth. In Romans 2:4 we read, “Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?” How many times did God bring you to his church, where God spoke to you the gospel? But Cainites never believe. They say, “God, you take sin very seriously. But normal people do not. Sin is not bad. Sin makes people happy for a while. What is wrong with feeling happy?” Yes, there is pleasure for a moment, and depression for all time. The wrath of God abides upon the wicked.

God came and questioned Cain. “Why are you angry? Why is your face fallen? Why are you depressed?” The cause of depression is guilt, and the cause of guilt is sin, which is transgression of God’s law because of our enmity toward God.

There is no pill or other chemical solution for such depression. It is deep depression. Drugs, alcohol, or sex cannot cure it. A person can indulge in such sinful behavior more and more, but it will only bring him deeper and deeper into misery. Only Christ can provide the cure, which the animal sacrifice pointed to. But Cainites refuse to believe in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and was raised from our justification.

So God asked, “Cain, why are you angry? Why are you depressed?” Then, in God’s mercy, came the divine counsel.

Divine Counsel

What is the counsel? “Do what is right, and your face will be lifted up” (see Gen. 4:6–7). “You know what is right,” God was saying to Cain. “I have revealed to you the acceptable way of approaching me, by blood sacrifice.”

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our sin depresses us. It must be atoned by another, that we may be happy forever.

David learned this lesson. In Psalm 32 he declares,

Blessed [happy] is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and nightyour hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”—and you forgave the guilt of my sin. . . . Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart! (Ps. 32:1–5, 11).

God knows how to make us confess and repent, and we will do it. So in Psalm 51 David prays,

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. . . . Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. . . . The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Ps. 51:1–4, 8, 17).

In Hebrews 9:22 we read, “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

God’s gracious counsel to Cain continued: “And if you refuse to do what is right, that is, if you reject my counsel, sin is crouching at the door of your heart. It desires to control you, but you must master it.”

Friends, the wages that sin pays out are depression and death. Don’t come and say you are having a good time in sin. You must rule sin, or you will be ruled by it. Resist the devil, or be possessed by the devil. God’s divine counsel is coming to us as it did to Cain. If you embrace it, you can be helped. Otherwise, you will go on, year after year in continuous misery because you don’t want to listen to what God is telling you

How do we do right? God told Cain, “Believe me and approach me with the prescribed sacrifice for a sinner.” Today he says, “Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, and you will be happy forever. The guilt of sin shall not depress you. (PGM) Obedience of faith in Christ is the cure of the sin that caused the depression.”

Sin, yea, the devil himself, is crouching like a lion to pounce on us and destroy us. We must resist the devil by obedient faith, as Joseph did in Egypt. He told Potiphar’s wife, “How can I do this wicked thing and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9).

Above all, we must fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. The devil tempted Jesus throughout his life. Yet Jesus always pleased his Father. The eternal Son became incarnate to do the will of God in life and by his death. It was he who taught us to pray, “Thy will be done.” He said to the devil, “It is written.” He also told the devil, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” He glorified his Father by his perfect obedience. So in Jesus’ high priestly prayer he says, “I have glorified you. I have brought you honor on earth by completing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4, author’s wording).

Sin is a formidable enemy. The devil is a roaring lion, and he is crouching at the door of our hearts. But that is not the whole story. God himself is also standing at the door of our hearts and is speaking to us. The Lord Jesus Christ, the destroyer of the devil, stands at the door and knocks (Rev. 3:20). As we listen to the gospel, Christ is knocking at the door of our hearts. Jesus is calling, telling us today, “Do the right thing and be happy. By faith in Jesus Christ, receive the gift, the free gift of salvation and be happy for time and eternity.”

Do you want to know who Christ is and what he has done? John declares, “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8). Paul writes, “Having disarmed the powers and authorities, [Christ] made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Col. 2:15).

Do you want to know who Christ is? He defeated the devil. “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity [incarnation] so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Heb. 2:14–15).

Do you want to know who Christ is, who stands at the door and knocks? Paul writes, “Being in very nature God, [he] did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:6–8). Christ died for our sins and was raised for our justification.

The paradise lost by Adam is gained by Christ, who said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6; see also Heb. 2:10; 7:25; 1 Pet. 3:18). The way back to paradise is Jesus. So do right and feel happy. the counsel is not, “Don’t worry, be happy.” Do what is right! Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be happy.

Note the order. By faith in Jesus, we must first change our behavior; then we will be happy. Happiness follows righteousness. The kingdom of God is first righteousness, that is doing what is right, which leads to peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Right conduct—doing God’s will—leads to true peace and joy. So do not put feeling first. Know what is right and do what is right. Then you will feel the joy of the Lord.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks the question, “What is the chief end of man?” The answer is, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” Glorifying God means to obey and honor God by doing his will (John 17:4; Heb. 12:2). Here again we see obedience first, followed by joy.

Happiness is the son of obedience. Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33, KJV). I remember counseling a young man to do what is right, so that he may feel happy. Like Cain, he refused to do what we counseled; he went away and got into serious trouble. Another person heard the same counsel and obeyed it. To this day she is living a happy life. Peter says, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech” (1 Pet. 3:10). So live right! Then you will live a good life. Right behavior leads to feelings of joy. That feeling of joy comes from divine benediction on your person and on your work.

Don’t give in to sin; be an overcomer. John writes, “They overcame [the devil] by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony” (Rev. 12:11). Fight, using the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph. 6:17). In Revelation 2 and 3, Jesus Christ counsels the church seven times to be an overcomer. In Christ Jesus our supreme Conqueror, we are all super-conquerors. His victory is our victory. Resist the devil by submitting to Christ, and the devil shall flee from you. Do not give place to the devil by sinning.

Friends, we are not ignorant of the devil’s strategies (2 Cor. 2:11). We must master sin by trusting in Christ and doing what is right. Do not embrace the moral relativism of the corrupt culture. There is a right way and a wrong way. God himself said so. So do what is right, as revealed in the holy Scriptures. Either you will go Christ’s way or the devil’s.

But if you do not want to do what is right, the Bible says your sin will find you out, and you will pay for your sin with pain—physical, psychological, and spiritual pain. In Numbers 32 we read, “But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the Lord, and you may be sure that your sin will find you out” (Num. 32:23). Concerning his sin with Bathsheba, David was told, “You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel” (2 Sam. 12:12). And in Leviticus 26 we read, “Then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin . . . They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees” (Lev. 26:41b, 43b). Paul writes, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his [flesh], from that [flesh] will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Gal. 6:7–8). I will not reap what you sow, nor will your father or mother. You reap what you sow.

Think God’s thoughts, do God’s thoughts, and God himself shall be with you. Paul writes, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice.” Then comes the promise: “And the God of peace will be with you” (Phil. 4:8–9). In God’s presence, there is fullness of joy.

Professor Jay Adams says that sinful handling of sin causes even greater depression. Cain refused God’s counsel that was designed to deal with his sin of unbelief. He went away and murdered his own brother. He became a person past feeling, incapable of repentance. He is like the people Paul writes about in Ephesians 4: “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more” (Eph. 4:19). Elsewhere Paul says, “Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron” (1 Tim. 4:2). These people are past feeling. They hear the word of God preached, but it doesn’t affect them. Their parents tell them the word of God, but it doesn’t do anything.

Cain became devil-controlled, as Judas did later. In John 13 we read that the devil prompted Judas (v. 2), and later on, the devil entered into him (v. 27). But look at what Judas did next. “When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse [depression] and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. ‘I have sinned,’ he said, ‘for I have betrayed innocent blood.’ ‘What is that to us?’ they replied. ‘That’s your responsibility.’ So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself” (Matt. 27:3–5). The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Many people commit suicide out of depression.

Are you feeling depressed? Let me tell you why. Dr. Adams would give this illustration when he taught his class: Suppose, instead of cleaning the house and cooking supper, you watched television for many hours. Then, all of a sudden, you feel depressed. The cure is to repent, ask the Lord to forgive you, and start cleaning and cooking. Then everything will be all right.

God asked, “Cain, why are you angry? Why are you depressed?” Cain was angry at God and angry at his righteous brother Abel. But God was saying, “Cain, your problem is not caused by God or your brother. Why don’t you look at yourself? It was you who sinned. Therefore, it is you who must repent and obey God. Don’t blame others, as your father and mother did. Confess your sins, forsake your sins, and you will find mercy.”

Cain refused God’s counsel, just as many people today refuse the godly pastoral and parental counsel that is coming to them. They think they know better. So they go away, mastered by the devil. And like Cain and Judas, they live depressed lives. While there was only one demon before, now there are eight, as we read in Matthew 12:

When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation. (Matt. 12:43–45)

What happened to the miserable Cain?

1. He was mastered by sin and the devil.
2. He was cursed by God. Previously, only the serpent and the ground had been cursed. Now Cain was cursed and cut off from God forever.
3. He murdered his brother, thus increasing his guilt and depression.
4. He was expelled from God’s presence.
5. He became restless.
6. He became a wanderer.
7. He became the father of a godless people called Cainites.

Cain went away from God, a depressed man, to live evermore in misery (Gen. 4:13–16). He went away with a long face. He went away cursing God. Yet had he obeyed God, he could have enjoyed God’s presence with a radiant face. The psalmist says, “Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame” (Ps. 34:5).

Application

1. Thank God, God brought you here by grace today, and you have heard God’s counsel.
2. Jesus Christ saves sinners, and only sinners who confess their sins. “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and [forsakes] them finds mercy” (Prov. 28:13).
3. It is my prayer that you will go out with joy, with a radiant face, blessed and not cursed.
4. It is our desire that you go out to love God’s people, not to hate them.
5. Cain could not kill God, so he killed his righteous brother. In the same way, disobedient Christians want to kill God’s righteous people.
6. To live a happy life, we must say “No” to sin and “Yes” to our Savior. “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. [This grace] teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age” (Titus 2:11–12).
7. Be imitators of God by imitating Jesus, about whom we read, “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy” (Heb. 1:9; see also 1 Pet. 2:21).
8. The paradise lost by Adam is gained for us by the second Adam, Jesus Christ, upon whom the flaming sword held out by the cherubim fell in his atoning death on the cross. The Father handed him over to death, so that in Christ we may “approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Heb. 4:16).
9. This God, our triune God, is with us forever. There is joy in serving Jesus. Therefore, let us trust and obey, there is no other way to be happy in Jesus. Let us hear and do. The first Adam sinned and brought us death. The second Adam obeyed and brought us eternal life, for he became a life-giving spirit. In the resurrection of Christ, all his people rise with him to live a new life, eternal life.

Cain went away filled with the devil. But God’s people—those who worship God in spirit and truth, who live a joyful, happy life—are filled with the Holy Spirit. May God help us, therefore, to do what is right, that we may be happy in serving Jesus.

¹Genesis 3:15 is called the proto-euangelion, the first gospel.