Trusting God's Healing for Child's Mental Health
The concept of trusting God for a child's mental health is rooted in the broader biblical understanding of God's care for children and the role of faith in addressing human needs. Scripture presents children as gifts from God, capable of glorifying Him and deserving of instruction in His ways [3]. From childhood, individuals are encouraged to know the holy writings, which are able to make them wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus [2].
The Bible emphasizes the importance of children's spiritual development, noting that Jesus himself "was growing, and was becoming strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him" [1]. This growth in spirit and wisdom is seen as a divine favor [12]. Children are to be brought to Christ, instructed in God's ways, and judiciously trained [3]. They are called to obey and fear God, remember Him, and attend to parental teaching [3].
In instances of affliction, the Bible records Christ's direct intervention in healing children. Matthew Henry notes a miraculous cure of a child "lunatic and vexed with a devil" immediately after Christ's transfiguration, highlighting Christ's continued accessibility and readiness to help those in need [5]. Similarly, Christ's triumph over death is illustrated in the raising of Jairus's daughter, demonstrating His power over physical and spiritual ailments [11]. These accounts suggest that Christ's glory does not diminish His concern for human suffering [5].
Theological traditions have explored the nature of divine intervention and human responsibility. Charles Hodge, in his Systematic Theology, discusses the "Augustinian doctrine of efficacious grace," where regeneration is understood as "the effect of the mighty power of God" [4]. This perspective suggests that God's power is actively involved in spiritual transformation. Hodge also references Delitzsch's "Biblical Psychology," which connects the new spiritual life of the redeemed to the "divine human archetype, the person of the Redeemer," emphasizing that humanity was originally constituted in God's image [6]. This implies a restoration of the whole person, including mental and spiritual faculties, through Christ.
The role of the Holy Spirit is central to this understanding. While some might suggest the Spirit merely provides the Word and leaves individuals to use or neglect it, Hodge clarifies that the Spirit actively "inclines them to use it" and "opens their hearts" [9]. John Calvin, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, similarly speaks of believers being "renewed by that regeneration into the righteousness of God" through the blessing of Christ, becoming "new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him" [13]. This renewal encompasses the mind and spirit.
Trusting God in the context of mental health involves a reliance on God's peace, which "brings God’s peace" to those who live a life of trusting God [8, 10]. This peace is not merely an absence of conflict but a divine presence that guards hearts and minds [8, 10]. The patristic writer Augustine, in a letter to Boniface, considered how God could communicate through an infant, suggesting that even in undeveloped reason, God could make manifest something for people to heed [7]. This highlights a belief in God's capacity to work through and within the human mind, even in its nascent or struggling states. The promise of God's presence and guidance extends to children, who are encouraged to remember God from their youth [3].
Sources
- Luke “The child was growing, and was becoming strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. -- Luke 2:40”
- II Timothy “II Timothy 3:15 (LEB) — and that from childhood you have known the holy writings that are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Children — Christ was an example to -- Lu 2:51; Joh 19:26,27. Are a gift from God -- Ge 33:5; Ps 127:3. Are capable of glorifying God -- Ps 8:2; 148:12,13; Mt 21:15,16. Should be Brought to Christ. -- Mr 10:13-16. Brought early to the house of God. -- 1Sa 1:24. Instructed in the ways of God. -- De 31:12,13; Pr 22:6. Judiciously trained. -- Pr 22:15; 29:17; Eph 6:4. Should Obey God. -- De 30:2. Fear God. -- Pr 24:21. Remember God. -- Ec 12:1. Attend to parental teaching. -- Pr 1:8,9. Honour parents. -- Ex 20:12; Heb 12:9. Fear parents. -- Le 19:3. Obey parents. -- Pr ”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 140: § 5. Proof of the Doctrine. Common Consent. 1. The first argument in proof of the Augustinian doctrine of efficacious grace, is drawn from common consent. All the great truths of the Bible are impressed on the convictions of the people of God; and find expression in unmistakable language. This is done in despite of the theologians, who often ignore or reject these truths in their formal teachings. There are in fact but two views on this subject. According to the one, regeneration is the effect of the mighty power of God; according to the”
- Matthew (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Matthew 17:14: We have here the miraculous cure of a child that was lunatic and vexed with a devil. Observe, I. A melancholy representation of the case of this child, made to Christ by the afflicted father. This was immediately upon his coming down from the mountain where he was transfigured. Note, Christ's glories do not make him unmindful of us and of our wants and miseries. Christ, when he came down from the mount, where had conversation with Moses and Elias, did not take state upon him, but was as easy of access, as ready to poor beggars, and as familiar with the multitude”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 5: the cause. Doctrine of Delitzsch. Delitzsch devotes one division of his “Biblical Psychology” to the subject of regeneration. He begins the discussion with a discourse on Christ’s person. “When we wish to consider the new spiritual life of the redeemed man, we proceed from the divine human archetype, the person of the Redeemer.” 53 53 A System of Biblical Psychology, by Franz Delitzsch, D. D., translated by R. R. Wallis, Ph. D.; Edinburgh, 1867, p. 381. Man was, as to his spirit and soul, originally constituted in the image of God; the spi”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 1: Augustine — Confessions, Letters — TO BONIFACE, HIS COLLEAGUE IN THE EPISCOPAL OFFICE, AUGUSTIN SENDS GREETING IN THE LORD. (part 5): voice was uttered by an 1 irrational animal, and this was to be ascribed to i a divine miracle, not to faculties belonging to the 1 ass, the Almighty could, in like manner, through 1 the spirit of an infant (in which reason was not 1 absent, but only slumbering undeveloped), make i manifest by a motion of its body something to i which those who had sinned against both their t own souls and their children behoved to give heed. But since a child canno”
- Phil (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Phil 4:7: 4:7 The life of trusting God (4:6) brings God’s peace (see also Isa 26:3; John 14:27; Col 3:15).”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 54: its power to corrode the stomach, and left them to men to use or to abuse as they saw fit. Beyond giving them their properties, He has nothing to do with the effects which they produce. So the Spirit has nothing to do with the conviction, conversion, or sanctification of the people of God, or with illuminating, consoling, or guiding them, beyond once for all giving his Word divine power. There it is: men may use or neglect it as they please. The Spirit does not incline them to use it. He does not open their hearts, as He opened the heart ”
- Philippians (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Philippians 4:7: 4:7 The life of trusting God (4:6) brings God’s peace (see also Isa 26:3; John 14:27; Col 3:15).”
- Mark (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Mark 5:35: Diseases and deaths came into the world by the sin and disobedience of the first Adam; but by the grace of the second Adam both are conquered. Christ, having healed an incurable disease, here goes on to triumph over death, as in the beginning of the chapter he had triumphed over an outrageous devil. I. The melancholy news is brought to Jairus, that his daughter is dead, and therefore, if Christ be as other physicians, he comes too late. While there is life, there is hope, and room for the use of means; but when life is gone, it is past recall; Why troublest thou the”
- Luke (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Luke 2:40: His mental development kept pace with His bodily, and "the grace of God," the divine favor, rested manifestly and increasingly upon Him. See Luk 2:52.”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 58: the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Again, “Be renewed in the spirit of your minds” and “put ye on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Again, “Put ye on 516 the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” 310 310 2 Cor. 3:18 ; Eph. 4:23, 24 ; Col. 3:10 ; 2 Cor. 4:16 . Accordingly through the blessing of Christ we are renewed by that regeneration into the righteousness of God from which we had falle”