On Getting Out of Bed - A Review

Anyone who lives long enough will come to the day they aren’t sure if getting out of bed is worth it. Maybe it won’t be getting out of bed per se, but perhaps persisting in daily activity in the face of a difficult monotony.

Is it worth it to wash the dishes? Is it worth it to go to class? Maybe getting out to church isn’t really that important. Will anyone really miss me? Rather than face the endless list of tasks, sometimes it really feels like giving up is a better option.

Depression—whether the sort driven by temporary circumstances or true mental illness—comes for believers as often as non-believers. Sometimes Christians do not trust available resources to help themselves or others when the black dog of persistent sadness or anxiety sits on their chests.

There are, of course, some sharp divides among Christians about psychology and medical interventions for depression. Some, especially in the Nouthetic Counseling movement speak of psychological treatments as sinful. Other Christians do not raise any question about any psychological treatment whatsoever, accepting approaches to mental health that clearly contradict Scripture. We aren’t going to solve that debate here.

However, a common theme in discussions between those rival factions is the treatment of depression as if it is something “out there” and distinct from the person experiencing it. A different set of questions inhabits the mind of the individual wrestling with depression.

Alan Noble’s book, On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden and Gift of Living, is a phenomenal resource for those who struggle with depression. It is practical, not in the sense of providing seven steps to a better you, but in the sense it says the things that need to be said. It is both an encouragement to exist and an exhortation to persist in whatever activities one can manage.

Even our mere continued existence is a blessing to others in the midst of pain:

“Your existence is a testament, a living argument, an affirmation of creation itself. When you rise each day, that act is a faint but real echo of God’s ‘It is good.’ By living this life, you participate in God’s act of creation, asserting with your very existence that it is a good creation.”

The book provides a way to feel a sense of accomplishment in the mundane:

“When we act on [the goodness of creation] by rising out of bed, when we take that step to the block in radical defiance of suffering and our own anxiety and depression and hopelessness, with our heads held high, we honor God and His creation, and we testify to our family, to our neighbors, and to our friends of his goodness. This act is worship.”

And those stringing together those little “victories” by taking one step at a time is a witness to God’s faithfulness:

“Moments create momentum. When you choose to do the next thing, neither accepting nor denying the anxiety or depression you carry, you create the momentum that makes the next, next thing a bit easier to manage. And the converse is true. When you cannot do the next thing, everything becomes harder to manage.”

Noble reminds readers that neither our suffering nor even our disobedience can undermine God’s glorious plan of redemption, “because the ending is already written: you will overcome, Christ has redeemed and will glorify you, including your flawed and, in some cases, ill mind.”

One of the strong positives of Noble’s approach is that it takes the reality of anxiety and depression seriously, but it does not excuse people for ceasing to strive against it. The feelings are real, but the duty to care for your neighbor is also real. Therefore, it is a good thing to continue to do what you can. It is not ok to simply give up, even if you can’t do everything you could normally do. Having diminished capacity is no sin; not using the capacity you have for the glory of God is. Duty and grace are wound together.

This is a hopeful book. Noble reminds readers of the central purpose of our existence:

“In the end, the only reason to keep living is if you live before God for His glory. If His Word is true, then we were divinely created to glorify Him and enjoy Him always. And our creation was a fundamentally good act––good and prodigal. Neither earned nor necessary but a gracious gift. And when we live in gratitude, recognizing and delighting in this life, we honor God.”

On Getting Out of Bed is an encouraging book. It is the sort of book that Christians should read to better understand the struggles of others, but also to have a better theology of suffering and hope before their own day of struggle arises. It can be a help in a time of struggle, but the best treatments are often taken in advance. There is a persistent theme of hope throughout the book. The message is that the fight is hard but worth it.

This book, which is Noble’s third, is the best of them so far. The social commentary he offers in Disruptive Witness and You are Not Your Own is important. The practical hope he writes about in On Getting Out of Bed is the antidote to many of the malaises that modernity has afflicted us with.

In short, this is a book that Christians should be familiar with. Pastors should have extra copies to give away. It would be a good book to study in a small group from time to time. This will likely be the best and most useful new book I encounter this year.

For many, On Getting Out of Bed may make the difference between choosing to continue and not. That is a big claim, but I believe it to be true. I believe time will show my claim to be correct.

On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden and Gift of Living

By Noble, Alan

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NOTE: I received a gratis, advanced reader copy of this volume from the publisher with no expectation of a positive review. Quotes were taken from that volume.

You Are Not Your Own - A Review

Sometimes the world is too much for us. Especially when we believe that we are our own people, destined to make our way in the world alone. Perhaps we are stardust, but as the dust of celestial bodies we have a lot to live up to. The pressure to become something and to be someone can eat our souls and sap our energy. It is this feeling that has caused many adults to burnout only a decade or so into their adulthood.

But what if we do not actually belong to ourselves?

What if we are not our own, but we belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to a faithful savior, Jesus Christ? What if he has fully paid for all our sins with his precious blood?

In fact, he has, which is what the Heidelberg Catechism reminds us of in Question 1. It is also what Alan Noble has sought to remind the world of in his latest book, You are Not Your Own: Belonging to God in an Inhuman World.

This is Noble’s second book. His previous volume, Disruptive Witness, is a call to resist the consumeristic pressures of the world and, as Christians, to live redemptively in such a way as to witness to the goodness of God and disrupt the common pattern of the world. For those wondering how to live differently in a world that won’t leave us alone, that book is a great place to start.

But even being a disruptive witness can be exhausting if we see our identity as wrapped up in that effort. If we feel we must earn favor with God by seeking to live just right in this world and make something of ourselves for Jesus, that too will wear us down and leave us bent, bleary eyed, and hopeless. We can never be enough.

One of the first things that Noble does in this book is to establish the fact that the world is not made for humans. This is why we are so uncomfortable. It’s not that we are failures, it’s that society is structured in a way that fights against human flourishing. Everything in the world tells us that we are atomized individuals, adrift in a sea of stars. We are the captains of our souls. But, as Noble points out, we are actually more like animals in the zoo. No matter how hard the zookeepers and veterinarians try, they can never truly mimic the jungle for the tiger or the savannah for the lion. The zoo is made for the humans, not for the animals.

As a result of the inhumanity of the world we seek various ways to cope. For some it is illegal drugs or excessive alcohol. For others the solution is sought in online relationships, video games, or prescription anti-depressants. An increasing number of people seek fulfillment in sexual fantasies made possible in every variety through free, always accessible pornography. Many of these forms of self-medication are not wrong in and of themselves—though some of them clearly are—but they all tend to either treat the symptom without seeking a cure or simply make the problem worse.

However, Noble reminds the reader that we are not our own and that we belong to Christ. This is our only comfort in life and death. These are theological truths that are robustly biblical, but also tested by time. They come from an era before our own, with different trials and temptations, to bear witness to the goodness of Christ in all situations.

The book does not resolve with easy solutions. The last chapter opens up with what seems a somewhat dire statement, “Life is hard and death is terrifying.” Thanks. I think.

But Noble continues to trudge toward a better solution, “The only people who don’t recognize the need for comfort as we go through life and face death are those who have so effectively numbed themselves that they no longer recognize their numbness as a form of comfort.” So it is a good thing that the sense of alienation and longing remains with us. We are not yet beyond hope.

And then the book moves to close by assuring readers that there is no simple solution that will make everything better. There is no secret key that will unlock a human shaped culture within the alienation of modernity. Rather, there is hope to be found in Christ: “Only in Christ can we find a belonging without violence or abuse, a belonging that grounds and fulfills our personhood rather than effacing it. . . . We find comfort in belonging to Christ because Christ is the only one we can belong to without harm or loss of our humanity.” That is a powerful answer.

You are Not Your Own is an example of the sort of synthetic work that needs to continue to be done. As Noble readily admits, there is nothing novel in what he writes. But he does not need to be novel. He simply needs to convey an intelligible message to those who need to hear it and be shaped by it. And he does that.

I read this book in one sitting on a plane. It washed over me like a flood of assurance and comfort. I belong to Christ. My feelings of failure and inadequacy belong to the world and not to me. Noble is right about his diagnosis of the problem and right about the solution. We need to find our belonging in Christ—the creator of everything—in this inhuman world.

This is a book I would recommend for people of every age, but especially for those about to be sent out into the world. Noble teaches undergraduates, so it has the marks of many conversations had behind an office door, with students who came for help with an essay, but needed assistance in putting life together. Would that many more young Christians would discover the central message of this volume before heading out into the world, making shipwreck of their health, their life, and perhaps their faith in attempt to become someone, do something, and belong to themselves in an inhuman world.

You Are Not Your Own: Belonging to God in an Inhuman World

By Noble, Alan

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NOTE: I was given a free copy of this volume, in part because I provided feedback on an earlier draft of the volume. However, a positive review was not guaranteed.