Are You Depressed? Loaded Down? Overwhelmed? Overcome with Sadness? You Are Not Alone! Examples That Can Help Us!

[Bible Speaks]

Are You Depressed? Loaded Down? Overwhelmed? Overcome with Sadness?

Read about an Example in the Bible that will help you learn what Helped her Depression.

When we feel loaded down, overwhelmed, or overcome with sadness, we do well to follow Hannah’s example and speak openly to the One whom the Bible calls the “Hearer of prayer.” (Psalm 65:2) If we do so in faith, we too may find that our sadness is replaced by “the peace of God that excels all thought.”—Philippians 4:6, 7

Hannah then uttered a prayer that God deemed worthy of inclusion in his inspired Word. As you read her words recorded at 1 Samuel 2:1-10, you will find the depth of her faith conveyed in every line. She praised Jehovah for his marvelous use of power—for his unmatched ability to humble the haughty, to bless the oppressed, and to end life or even to save it from death. She praised her Father for his unique holiness, his justice, and his faithfulness. With good reason, Hannah could say: “There is no rock like our God.” Jehovah is completely reliable, unchanging, and a refuge for all the oppressed and downtrodden who turn to him for help.

Two Remarkable Prayers
 Hannah’s two prayers, recorded at 1 Samuel 1:11 and 2:1-10, contain a number of outstanding features. Consider just a few:

? Hannah addressed the first of the two prayers to “Jehovah of armies.” She is the first person in the Bible record to be quoted as using that title. It occurs a total of 285 times in the Bible and refers to God’s command over a vast array of spirit sons.

? Note that Hannah uttered the second prayer, not when her son was born, but when she and Elkanah offered him up for GodÂ’s service at Shiloh. So HannahÂ’s great joy lay, not in silencing her rival, Peninnah, but in being blessed by Jehovah.

? When Hannah said, “My horn is indeed exalted in Jehovah,” she may have had in mind the ox, a powerful beast of burden that uses its horns mightily. Hannah was, in effect, saying: ‘Jehovah, you make me strong.’—1 Samuel 2:1.

? Hannah’s words about God’s “anointed one” are considered prophetic. The expression is the same one rendered “messiah,” and Hannah is the first person in the Bible record to use it to refer to a future anointed king.—1 Samuel 2:10.

? Jesus’ mother, Mary, about 1,000 years later, echoed some of Hannah’s expressions in her own words of praise to Jehovah.—Luke 1:46-55.