Discouragement can be a ruthless enemy of the soul. It can leave one feeling beaten, battered, and broken; convinced there’s no hope, and no reasonable cause to expect that anything will ever be any different. I know, because I’ve been there.
While the occasional bout of discouragement is absolutely normal, chronic discouragement and depression are not. Aside from chemical imbalance, which can be a very real problem for some folks, often the problem is a matter of failing to discipline one’s thoughts. Our feelings are directly related to what we’re thinking. This is borne out in principle in Proverbs 23:7, which says, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” However, we must realize that our thoughts about a particular situation may be inaccurate. For instance, because I think things are hopeless doesn’t mean they are. Because I think and feel that I’m a failure doesn’t mean that I am. We must be willing to challenge the validity of our mental assumptions.
One thing is for sure: When one is wallowing in discouragement and despondency, the focus of the mind is one’s self, rather than where it belongs—on God, the One with whom there is real help and peace. Consider the following:
“Discouragement is a tool of Satan. The story is told that Satan was ‘going out of business.’ All of his tools were offered for sale. They were attractively displayed on a table. What an array—hatred, envy, jealousy, deceit! One harmless-looking one, much worn, was priced higher than any of the others. ‘What is that tool?’ someone asked. ‘Discouragement,’ was the reply. ‘Why is it so expensive?’ Satan answered, ‘Because it is more useful to me than any of the others.’
Will our distress drive us to despair and discouragement or to God? May we, like David, ‘encourage ourselves in the Lord.’”1
Today, may we take to heart the truth of Psalm 42:5, which says, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.”
1Mildred Stamm, Meditation Moments, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Corporation, 1967), Devotion for May 16.