Overcoming Depression (Part Seven): Lethargy

Another symptom that often accompanies depression is the feeling of extreme lethargy ("exhaustion" and "listlessness" are other descriptive words). When this happens you feel like doing nothing. Coupled with the feelings of sadness you long for a warm, dark place to curl up and sleep for a few days.

Do you often feel drained like that? One could argue that depression causes the lethargy, but the same argument works the other way. The feelings of depression may simply mean you have not been sleeping as you ought. One solution may be as simple as finding that missing shut-eye (see another part of this series on insomnia). But that is not simple for many people.

It is good to ask yourself if it is possible to remain joyful and glorify God even when you are tired. For a believer that is a great step toward living out God’s purpose for suffering Christians:

These [trials] have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:7

Because I am not qualified to make medical diagnoses, I often say, “I think you need to see a doctor about that.” But as long as you can’t get in to see a physician for at least a few minutes, let’s bring in some more questions.

Are you avoiding anything or anyone? Think hard. Unpleasant tasks put off can soon become large, haunting tasks. When you think something will be unpleasant, it is easy to convince yourself that you should avoid that activity at any cost. This may be something as complex as the need to confront a spouse or child for a horrible sin or it may be something as simple as cleaning the bathroom, paying the bills or writing an overdue paper (or blog article). In either case your heart seeks a way to duck responsibility and drowsiness is a readily-available escape. Proverbs outlines the symptoms of sloth, the sin few dare admit:

A lazy man does not roast his prey, but the precious possession of a man is diligence. Proverbs 12:27

Laziness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle man will suffer hunger. Proverbs 19:15

The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside; I will be killed in the streets!” Proverbs 22:13

I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment; thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man. Proverbs 24:30-34

It is humbling to consider that your depression may just be the result of laziness, but there is hope in that confession. It classes you with those for whom Christ died: sinners. We have a proven cure for sinners.

Another question is related to the first: Could there be some other sin in your life that you are refusing to acknowledge? Listen to David’s testimony about a time in his life when he refused to turn from secret sin:

When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Psalm 32:3-4

You may already know of a sin you are harboring, but even if nothing comes readily to mind you are not excused. The sons of Adam like to forget what makes the conscience sting. Humbly ask a close friend or your spouse to list some areas of your life that might fit this category. Promise not to get angry and mean it.

Look at this difficult moment in your life as an opportunity to live out a very good plan. Whether your fatigue is the result of a physical condition, personal sin or a combination of the two, you have a responsibility to respond in a way that glorifies God. Don’t waste this hard time.

Ten articles in this series:

1  2  3  4  5  6  8  9  10

Laziness is Lovelessness

I have observed, as one who has had to periodically review resumes and job applications, that people like to list this as one of their weaknesses: “I tend to be a workaholic.” I have yet to see someone list as a weakness: “I tend to be lazy.” Confessing that you sometimes work too much appears to be less objectionable to a prospective employer than the appearance that you sometimes work too little.

Why is that?

You may have seen the picture this summer of Democratic Connecticut legislators playing solitaire and surfing the Web while a Republican colleague argued against their budget proposal. Or you may have heard about some investigators in a suspected drug dealer’s house in central Florida who were secretly recorded playing Wii bowling on the suspect’s big screen TV during the raid.

I think stuff like this makes the news because coming down hard on people who are doing something other than their work takes attention away from the times when you and I do the same thing. Be careful if you think you cannot be likewise accused. When we think of sloth we tend to picture some overweight, poorly-kept fellow lying on a couch eating chips while his wife works and then comes home to wait on him and their children. Instead we should confess that sloth is doing what you want to do instead of what you should be doing. It is doing something good at the expense of something better. It is looking for excuses to get out of responsibility.

Consider a relevant story from Scripture:

Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me." But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her." Luke 10:38-42

We need people who work like Martha, but we should never have the attitude of Martha. She thought Mary was being lazy. But Jesus told Martha that she was the one who had chosen the wrong activity. Proverbs paints for us humorous pictures of a man turning on his bed like a door on its hinges, of someone too lazy to lift food to his mouth and of someone who makes up excuses to escape work like, “There is a lion in the streets.”

But the real issue of the heart is not only inactivity but also busyness that lets us escape more important business. If my treasure and identity is found in achieving in my workplace I will work very hard there—even doing more than I have to do because it pleases me. But some of the very best workers in the public eye look at home and in church like the fellow whose handful of food is to heavy to hoist to his mouth.

The Christian work ethic does make people refuse to join the crowd doing things for personal benefit while they are “on the clock,” but it also challenges them to go home and be a servant at the end of the day. It moves men to listen to their wives and spend time with their children. It motivates church members to invest their time and talent in others. It calls believers to get up a little earlier or eat one less bowl of cereal so they have time to sit at Jesus’ feet.