Life just seems hopeless and you feel stuck with no way out. You feel discouraged, trapped, and, to be honest, afraid. You're afraid things might never change and you’re wasting your life. 

What causes depression? The causes are many and varied. By definition, depression is a sense of hopelessness, of feeling trapped with no escape. It can be caused by the death of a dream. It can come on the heels of your greatest triumph (remember Alexander the Great who wept because there were no other worlds to conquer?) It can be caused by feeling overwhelmed by too many demands and too little time.

How do you deal with it? Here are five basic biblical principles drawn from the quintessential example of depression in the workplace, the prophet Elijah.

1. Resist the urge to withdraw and isolate yourself. After his greatest triumph of defeating the prophets of Baal, Elijah ran in fear from the evil Queen Jezebel. He sent away his best friend and ran into the wilderness alone (1 Kings 19:3,4). Resist the feeling that you need to pull back from everything and everyone. You need others. Now is not the time to jettison relationships with family and friends. You need them.
2. Maintain the basic necessities of life: eat, drink, sleep, exercise, hygiene. Don't overdo or medicate yourself with any of them but stay on a regular healthy schedule. Elijah was awakened twice lest he die from starvation and dehydration. Twice God provided him with hot baked bread and a jug of water (1 Kings 19:5-8).
3. Stop "awfulizing." It's not as awful as you're making it out to be. It's not the end of the world. The worst case scenario seldom occurs so stop telling yourself that it will. You're seeing life through the filter of your negative emotions. Elijah was awfulizing when he declared that he was the only one left who worshiped God (1 Kings 19: 10). God clues him in to the reality that He has 7,000 others among His people who don't worship Baal (1 Kings 19:18).
4. Trust God. We often panic and feel like we have to kick doors open ourselves. However, God knows us and what we need better than we do. We simply need to trust Him. God showed Elijah his power through a mountain-destroying wind, an earth-shattering earthquake, fire cascading from heaven, and a still, small voice. God was in the voice (1 Kings 19:11-13). God is powerful. He can protect us, provide for us, and lead us if we trust Him.
5. Finally, get out of yourself. The tendency with depression is to become very self-focused. The solution is to get out of yourself and start serving others. God called Elijah to get back into ministry as a prophet and start anointing people again (1 Kings 19:15-17).

Depression does not have to win. There is a way to deal with it but it will require you to take action. You won't feel like it. Rise above your feelings and act anyway. Don't let your feelings master you. You do not need to be their slave.

God will provide a “way of escape” (1 Corinthian 10:13),

Irv