For the most part, we are people who are deeply affected, emotionally, by the circumstances of our life. For this very reason, God would never base anything so important as our salvation on anything so fickle as human emotion. One minute we can feel as though we are on top of the world, and the next we can feel as though we are underneath the weight of it.
How quickly our moods can change! We may be going through the day coasting in neutral, as it were. A superior may come to us, pats us on the back and commends us for a job well done. Our emotions soar high with the knowing that we are appreciated. Later in the day, someone else verbally abuses us and indicates that we are incompetent, causing our emotions to drop to a record low in discouragement. Facing such discouragement, what do we do?
In the book of First Samuel, chapter 30, we read that David and his men returned from trying to help Achish, the king of Philistia. Upon returning to their camp, they find it had been burned. In addition, all their children, their wives, their herds and every other possession had been taken. So great was their sorrow they wept until they could weep no more.
Then to further David’s discouragement, his men began to speak of stoning him because if he had not led them away from their camp, this tragic event would not have occurred.
David could have wallowed in self-pity. He could have walked away in his discouragement as a man who had been utterly defeated. Instead, David did the only thing that could give him the strength to go forward. “David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” (v.6)
David did three specific things:
1. He inquired of the Lord for divine wisdom and guidance. “Shall I pursue after this troupe? Shall I overtake them?”
2. David fellowshipped with other believers; calling for Abiathar, the priest, to bring the ephod, which itself, was a symbol of God’s presence. There is no doubt but that David also shared with Abiathar his feelings, hurt, and discouragement.
3. David leaned hard on the promises of God, who said: “Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.”
When we are faced with discouragement, we may have a tendency to wallow in self-pity; thinking that no one else understands, for no other has suffered as much. If we would find deliverance from the oppression of discouragement, we must be willing to use the same formula as David, beginning with seeking the wisdom of God.
Salomon, in his God-given wisdom, exhorts us, saying, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3: 5- 6)
Oft repeated are the words, “God is not so concerned about our problems, as he is about how we handle our problems.” When we are discouraged, do we withdraw and feel sorry for ourselves? Or do we claim victory over the things which caused the discouragement? God is indeed able to deliver all who call upon him.
Jerry L Dunn is pastor of Oak Street Baptist Church, 605 E. Oak Street, Kingman
