Madness
Why are you in despair, my soul? And why are you restless within me? Wait for God, for I will again praise Him For thehelp of His presence, my God. Psalm 42:11 NASB
Despair – There is no word for “doubt” in biblical Hebrew, but there is a word for “despair.” It’s šāḥaḥ. Well, kind of. It’s not quite “despair.” “This verb is used seventeen times in the ot, eleven times in the Qal; four times in the Niphal; and two times in the Hiphil. Eight of the seventeen times it is parallel with šāpel also meaning “to be/become low, be abased.”[1] For a people who experienced the horror of slavery, “to bow down” might easily be understood as “despair.” After all, what hope do slaves really have? If God hadn’t intervened, would there even be an Israel?
We might think that šāḥaḥ is entirely negative. As Heschel writes, “For it is surely not the will of God that man lead a tortured life.”[2] But despair seems to have a hidden benefit. Perhaps it’s a “dark” benefit, but there’s something about the experience of despair that often leads out of the tunnel. Heschel reminds us:
Do creative insights ever come about under conditions of ‘normal’ life? Is the psychological framework from which they emerge a test of their validity? It would have been abnormal if a life possessed of such unbearable tensions had remained normal. And it required extraordinary strength not to subside into total mental derangement. Is melancholy always a symptom of madness, or can it be a sign of deep anxiety about the madness that has overtaken the so-called normal society? “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?” (Psalm 42:11).[3]
Have you discovered insights that accompany the dark night of the soul? Do your most profound thoughts arise when you think you’re at a complete dead end? And what of the “lonely man of faith” experience? Aren’t we more likely to witness the presence of God when we walk through the thick darkness of the valley of death? What would “the Lord is my shepherd” mean if life were always “normal”? Can we really know the true power of salvation if we’ve never been at the bottom of the pit? There’s a reason that God instructed Israel to annually commemorate liberation from Egypt. If you forget suffering, comfort doesn’t mean much.
Personally, I find that my best thoughts often come during my deepest struggles. I don’t know why the intellectual chemistry works that way, but despair seems to trigger awareness and discernment that is murky when life is routine. Perhaps my desire to escape the darkness is counterproductive. Maybe a life of ease really leads to spiritual lethargy.
Topical Index: despair, šāḥaḥ, bow down, insight, lethargy, Psalm 42:11
[1] Hamilton, V. P. (1999). 2361 שָׁחַח. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(electronic ed., p. 915). Moody Press.
[2] Abraham Heschel, A Passion for Truth, p. 205.
[3] Ibid., p. 206.
