How do we live with discouragement? When people look at you, they see courage, but you know it is nothing but a stiff upper lip. The last thing you want to do is burden your loved ones more than necessary, so you keep your disappointment as hidden as possible.
The problem is that every setback brings you a little lower. It has become so much of a pattern that when you see a little light at the end of the tunnel, you refuse to let it lift your spirit because it has let you down so many times.
You know you must fight, but your strength to do so has been beaten lifeless by the enemy. You had the courage once, but it has been taken from you. So what do you do now? Do you allow despair to take over? Do you resign yourself to it? The answer must be “no,” but what do you do?
At this point, you find your will exhausted, which is probably a good thing because perhaps the battle is not yours to fight. Or maybe you have been fighting the wrong battle. First, we must begin to realize that, in at least one sense, discouragement is not always the enemy. Maybe, just maybe, it is a tool in the hands of our loving God to do us good. Bear with me for a minute.
Our God is sovereign. He is not like the rest of us, merely doing the best he can to manage the chaos of this world. He is in complete control of it. His absolute sovereignty becomes clear when we ask two questions about any hardship. One, did God know this would happen, and two, could he have stopped it? If we answer “no” to either of these questions, we are in trouble because God has ceased to be God, and something else is mastering him. This, of course, can never be because there is nothing beyond God’s knowledge or power. Being God means he knew you would face this and that you would respond to this trouble with discouragement, so dismay was part of his plan. I know this is the hardest part of the pill to swallow, so let me elaborate for a minute because the payoff will be worth it, and without this pill, experiencing disappointment will be unbearable.
The most significant objection to the idea that our discouragement was part of God’s plan is that discouragement is often a sin. If God’s plan for us was to reach a point of discouragement, doesn’t that mean God is causing us to sin?
The problem is that this way of thinking is too simplistic. The disconnect is in failing to realize that we are already sinful. The fact that the Lord allows us to face situations that draw our dross to the surface in no way makes him the author of our sin. This understanding lines up perfectly with scripture. We are responsible for our sin, and God is entirely sovereign. We cannot deny either of these truths if we wish to remain biblical.
If you are God’s child, and he has brought you to a low point, he’s doing it because he loves you. There is something he wants to do with this discouragement in your life, and ultimately, like all dross drawn to the surface, he will wipe it away.
The first thing we need to do when discouragement hits is to ask ourselves why we are demoralized. Discouragement is almost always tied to the things of the world. Our hearts cling to earthly pleasures, and temporal treasures falter when hardship hits. Dismay almost always involves the removal of some earthly pleasure. Often, we have errantly placed our hope and trust in some aspects of the world.
Homes, cars, jobs, human relationships, health, quality of life, or even mortal life itself; discouragement is always the result of losing, or the threat of losing, one or more of these. But even as these false hopes begin to show weakness, God has not failed us. If we know God has not failed us and are still dismayed, it should indicate that we have misplaced our hope.
This revelation of misplaced hope may be the first blessing the Lord is bringing to us. He will use it to set us more firmly upon the rock of Christ Jesus. When we find ourselves discouraged, we are not to resign ourselves to it. We are to change the way we see it. Instead of trying to will our way out of it, we should ask the Lord what blessing he is giving us through it. The most significant benefit will always be increased faith.
Scripture tells us, “In this, you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials (1 Pet. 1:6).” There are two things we need to see in this verse to help us. First, we must realize that these various trials happen after we are children of God. That is what “in this, you greatly rejoice” means. We rejoice in the gospel. This verse is talking to believers, and the trial is happening to Christians. The second point is that it says you have been “grieved” by the trials. One version says “distressed,” and another refers to it as “heaviness.” The point of all these synonyms is that you will feel these trials. These are not merely outward trials you will float through on a spiritual cloud. They are trials that will hurt your heart and bring you low. Dare I say “discourage” you. And as the passage indicates, if they hit us, they are necessary.
There is a reason for this adversity. It is not pointless. The passage continues, “so that the tested genuineness of your faith may be tested,” and that faith is worth more than gold. It is worth more than any earthly possession because faith is our trust in God, and he is purifying it. This results in God’s praise and glory (1 Pet. 1:7).
Even when our health fails, and we find our quality of life slipping, we must remember that even though the outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. This continued renewal in the face of hardship is why we do not lose heart (2 Cor. 4:17).
How do we not lose heart? The scripture tells us, “by looking not to the things that are seen, but the things that are not seen.” For the things that are not seen are eternal, and everything else is passing (2 Cor. 4:18). If the things of Earth are not letting you down yet, they will.
How do you live with discouragement? You allow it to do the work God intended when he sent it to you. You let it turn your eyes away from this world, begin looking toward home, and be renewed spiritually. All of this will end in God’s glory, which is man’s chief end. Glorifying God is where our true enjoyment will be found, and that enjoyment is eternal with a weight of glory that cannot compare to the heaviness you are facing now. Let the dross rise to the surface, look to the things unseen, and your loving Father will begin to wipe it away even as the trial remains.
-D. Eaton
The Fight of Faith 