Lloyd-Jones titles chapter 4 of his book, Spiritual Depression, “Men as Trees, Walking.” He calls our attention to Mark 8:22-26, an account of Jesus healing a blind man in two “attempts.” I put the word “attempts” in quotation marks because Lloyd-Jones argues that the first attempt, which resulted in the blind man seeing of sorts (men walking as though trees), was not successful at producing perfectly restored sight. Lloyd-Jones argues that this miracle was a parable of sorts. He says it’s placed here in Mark’s gospel as a lesson to the disciples, “to enable the disciples to see themselves as they were” (p. 39). Lloyd-Jones contends that the disciples were beginning to see Jesus, but they were not yet seeing as fully as they ought. They were in process. Their understanding was not yet whole. They were, like the man in Mark 8, blind and not blind.
In this sermon/chapter, Lloyd-Jones describes the problem this way:
I am concerned about these Christians who are disquieted and unhappy and miserable because of this lack of clarity. It is almost impossible to define them. You sometimes talk to this type and you think: “This man is a Christian.” And then you meet him again and you are thrown into doubt at once, and you say: “Surely he cannot be a Christian if he can say a thing like that or do such a thing as that.” Whenever you meet this man you get a different impression; and you never quite know whether he is a Christian or not. You are not happy in saying either that he does see of that he does not see. Furthermore, the difficulty is that not only do others feel like this about these people, they feel it about themselves. Let me pay them that tribute, they are unhappy because they are not clear about themselves. … [T]hey are as troubles about themselves as other Christians are about them; they feel they are, and they feel they are not Christians. They seem to know enough about Christianity to spoil their enjoyment of the world, and yet they do not know enough to feel happy about themselves. They are “neither hot nor cold.”
What do such people “see”? Lloyd-Jones offers some thoughts:
1. ”Very often they are clear that there is something wrong with them as they are. They are unhappy about themselves.”
2. ”They may see the excellencies of the Christian life…. They say: ‘There is no question at all about it, the Christian life is the life, if only everyone lived like that!”
3. ”They may have come to see that Jesus Christ is the only hope, that Jesus Christ is somehow the Saviour. …They have felt that he could help them, they have come to see that christianity is the only hope for the world, and in some way they see and know that his Person Jesus can help them.”
4. ”These people have seen that they cannot save themselves. They have tried so often, but they are dissatisfied; and as they see the true nature of the Christian quality of life, they see that man cannot lift himself up to that. They see that they cannot save themselves.”
But the problem is what they do not see. Have you ever had an evangelistic conversation with someone who showed pretty clear understanding of themselves as sinners, saw clearly that Jesus was the Savior, and knew they couldn’t save themselves, but remained outside the faith? If you have, then you know how debilitating that can be to an evangelist–especially if you’re prone to “pushing” people to “make a decision.” All the facts are on the table, and the sinner has consented to them all. He may even express a desire to be saved, but he never “crosses the line.” He never moves from life to death.
Now, I know the theological explanations for this. But think for a moment about the experience of it all. Think not only of how helpless and baffled the evangelist can be in those situations. Think also of the real depression and despair of the sinner in such a case. They know they’re wrong and in need, but they still don’t see the kingdom of God’s dear Son. There you both sit–staring at each other as if to say, “I see what’s needed but I have no idea how to get there.” Then simultaneously you knowingly nod and say, “I know.” No one is happy with this kind of “knowledge.”
Lloyd-Jones offers a few things that the person does not yet see clearly. These may be helpful to us in our evangelism and counseling with such persons.
1. ”First of all they have no clear understanding of certain principles. …They do not see how [Jesus] is the Savior. They are not clear, for instance, about the death of Christ and its absolute necessity. Neither are they clear about the doctrine of the rebirth.”
2. ”The second thing they do not see clearly is that their heart is not fully engaged. Though they are able to see many things, they do not really find their happiness in Christianity and in the Christian position. Somehow or another they are not moved by it, they do not find real joy in it. …They are not happy; they still seem to find their joy, as far they have any, somewhere else; their heart is not fully engaged.”
3. ”The third thing that is true about the people under discussion is that their will is divided. They are rebellious, they do not see why a man, because he calls himself a ‘Christian,’ has got to do certain things and stop doing others. They think that is being narrow. Yet they denounce the old life and embrace the Christian life in general. They acknowledge Christ as Savior and yet when it comes to the question of the application of His teaching through the will, there is confusion and they are not clear about it. They are always arguing about this, always asking if it is right for them to do this and that.
Next, the Doctor comes to what he sees are the causes of this condition:
1. ”There is no doubt but that sometimes the responsibility is entirely that of the evangelist concerned when they were first awakened. Evangelists are often the cause of the trouble. In their anxiety to report results they produce this very condition.”
2. ”These people generally object to clear-cut definitions; they dislike clarity and certainty. …I think they object to clarity of thought and definition because of its demands. The most comfortable type of religion is always a vague religion, nebulous and uncertain, cluttered up with forms and ritual. …These people say: ‘You are being too precise, you are being too legalistic. No, no, I do not like this. I believe in Christianity, but you are being too rigid and too narrow in your conceptions.” …If you start your Christian life and experience by saying that you do not want an exact focus or a precise definition in your picture, you probably will not have it!
3. ”The real trouble with these people is that they never fully accept the teaching and the authority of the Scriptures. I suppose that ultimately is the whole cause of the trouble. They do not come to the Bible and submit themselves utterly and absolutely to it. If only we came to the Scriptures as little children and took them at their face value and allowed them to speak to us, this sort of trouble would never arise. These people will not do that.”
4. ”Yet another cause of this condition is that almost invariably its victims are not interested in doctrine. …They say they are not interested in doctrine, that they like Bible expositions but do not like doctrine. They claim to believe the doctrines which are in the Bible and which come out of the Bible, but (it is almost incredible but it is true) they draw this fatal contrast between Biblical exposition and doctrine. …But it is not difficult to understand their position. It is the doctrine that hurts, it is the doctrine that focuses things. …[B]ut doctrine speaks to us and insists upon a decision. This is truth, and it examines us and tries us and forces us to examine ourselves. So, if we start by objecting to doctrine as such, it is not surprising that we do not see clearly. The whole purpose of all the creeds drawn up by the Christian Church, together with every confession of faith on doctrine and dogma was to enable people to see and to think clearly.”
5. ”The last explanation of this condition I would say is that many people do not take the doctrines of the scripture in their right order.”
Imagine if you will a ladder. At the top of the ladder is Delight. That’s the aim, and the half-seeing Christian cannot seem to find their way to it. The rung just below Delight is Doctrine, clearly defined and taken in proper order. Doctrine leads to delight. But one rung below Delight is Authority. We want climb to a joyful embrace of Doctrine which leads to Delight unless we bring ourselves fully and happily under the authority of the word of God. The rung below Authority is marked Definition. We must love clear Definition if we’re ever going to live under the ruling authority of the Bible. Love for gray when we need black-and-white only results in “men walking as trees.” The bottom rung is the Evangelist, who must do the work of evangelism having already climbed this ladder from Definition to Authority to Doctrine on to Delight.
Here’s the problem: The person struggling with this form of spiritual depression stands at the bottom of the ladder looking up to delight but never putting his foot above the bottom rung.
Lloyd-Jones offers his perspective on the cure:
1. ”The first principle is evident: above everything else avoid making a premature claim that your blindness is cured. …How many are doing that at the present time (and are pressed to do so), proclaiming they see, when it is so patent to many that they do not see very clearly and are really still in a state of confusion.”
2. “The second thing is the exact opposite of the first. The temptation to the first is to run and to proclaim they can see, befre they see clearly; but the tempation to the second is to feel absolutely helpless and to say: ‘There is no point in going on’. In their confusion they become desperate and ask: ‘Why cannot I see? The whole thing is hopeless.’ They stop reading their Bible, they stop praying. The devil has discouraged many with lies. Do not listen to him.
3. ”What then is the cure? What is the right way? It is to be honest and to answer of Lord’s question truthfully and honestly.”
4. ”The last step is to submit yourself to Him, to submit yourself utterly to Him…. Stop asking questions. Start with the promises in their right order. Say: ‘I want the truth whatever it costs me.’ Bind yourself to it, submit yourself to it, come in utter submission as a little child and plead with Him to give you clear sight, perfect vision, and to make you whole.”
What do you think of Lloyd-Jones analysis and cure? For my money, I think he’s spot on. And I say that as someone with a background in psychology who feels a certain amount of discomfort with what feels like too much psychological language and psychological concepts in a couple places. But try as I might, I can’t deny the logic of Lloyd-Jones’ perspective here. And, ultimately, I’m glad because I do think what he outlines offers real help to real people experiencing spiritual depression for precisely the reasons he outlines.
It’s undeniable that a commitment to ambiguity, denial of plain truth, of doctrinal obfuscation leads to real psychological disintegration. The nature of truth is that it integrates reality into a whole. It explains the parts. Truth offers a coherent explanation for the facts as they really are. That’s why denying the truth–in whatever form the denial takes–ultimately hurts the person in denial. The delusions that support every form of denial ultimately breaks down under the relentless assertions of Reality. We can’t carry on denials and delusions forever; at some point, truth conquers. And conquering truth hurts as Lloyd-Jones pointed out.
The only remedy is a commitment to certainty wherever it takes you, followed by a complete submission to the only infallible source of truth–the scripture, which requires an attempt at synthesizing the Bible’s teaching (doctrine) in proper order, which leads to delight. The truth shall set you free–free, in this case, from spiritual depression and free to delight in the riches of Christ.
This chapter reminds me of just how much of our disciple-making, friendship, pastoral counseling, preaching, etc. depends on insisting on clarity. The challenge for us is that we live in a day that disdains clarity and resists it because with clarity comes obligation, demand, inconvenience, change, evaluation, critique, obedience, and a host of other costs to our comfort, our delusions, and our neat little worlds fabricated from the shards of reality and imagination. Truth is iconoclastic, and the most frequently smashed icon is self. But if we would be joyful in the Christian life, we must have no other gods before the only true God. He’s clear about that. We’d better be clear about it, too.
