When the Darkness Will Not Lift: Doing What we Can While we Wait for God - and Joy »

John Piper examines depression from a spiritual perspective,
guiding and encouraging those for whom joy seems to stay out of reach.

Introduction: Faith Alone and the Fight for Joy     11
To Help Those for Whom Joy Stays Out of Reach
The Foundation of Gutsy Guilt
The Great Work of Christ Outside of Us
Confusing Justification and Sanctification Will Kill Joy
John Bunyan Sees His Righteousness in Heaven
Start with Despair in Yourself
The Darkness of Melancholy     23
The Physical Side of Spiritual Darkness
The Place of Medication in the Fight for Joy
Waiting in Darkness, We Are Not Lost and Not Alone     33
How Long, O Lord, How Long!
The Ground of Our Assurance When We Cannot See Our Faith
When a Child of God Is Persuaded That He Is Not
Fold Not the Arms of Action     45
What Matters Is Your Duty, Not Your Joy?
Duty Includes the Duty of Joy
Will You Be a Hypocrite If You Obey without Joy?
Thanksgiving with the Mouth Stirs Up Thankfulness in the Heart
Does Unconfessed Sin Clog Our Joy?     53
Confessing to God and to Man Is Sweet Freedom
Give the Devil His Due, but No More
The Devil Cannot Abide with the Light of Cherished Truth
The Darkness That Feeds on Self-Absorption     61
How Bill Leslie Became a Watered Garden and a Spring
What My Eighty-Five-Year-Old Father Said Was Missing
The Aim Is That Our Words Would Be the Overflow of Joy in Christ
Is the Cause You Live for Large Enough for Your Christ-Exalting Heart?
Loving Those Who Cannot See the Light     69
The Amazing Grace of John Newton's Care for Cowper
There Is No Wasted Work in Loving Those withoutLight
Desiring God-A Note on Resources     80