Light In The Darkness: King Saul Struggles with Bipolar Disorder
Our next worship series delves into places in Scripture that reveal surprising instances of mental illness. Like physical and spiritual illness, mental illness is a real struggle for many and is more common than we might realize. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, nearly one in five adults struggle with mental illness in the United States, and our understanding of it continues to grow and evolve. We should not be surprised to find it within Scripture, even if it is not in the same clinical terms we know now. Our hope is to gain insight and become more conscientious of mental illness, so that we can all gain greater mental health. This week we begin with King Saul. The first king of Israel, Saul showed tremendous promise, but soon his struggles with depression and anger caused his reign to unravel. Join us as we discover that a lack of understanding can cause harm through stigma and further suffering. With so many feeling the effects of isolation and quarantine, now more than ever we need to seek wisdom and be part of God’s healing. Associated Scripture: 1 Samuel 16:14-23.