Fighting Discouragement

On Sunday night our pastor preached on Psalm 43, about how the Psalmist prayed during times of discouragement. It was a timely message for me, as I found myself very discouraged, not 24 hours later.

I woke up on Monday morning feeling stressed. My oldest son had overslept, so we couldn’t start school on time. I had a sore throat and the whole day was starting off on the wrong foot.

I began to feel overwhelmed. My beautiful color-coded schedule wasn’t working out the way I had hoped, and I felt there was no margin, no room for error in the day. We are trying to do so much that if everything doesn’t go according to schedule (and when does it?) the whole apple cart threatens to upset.

Usually I thrive on all of this activity, but on Monday all I felt was stress. I had been so busy with school that several household tasks had fallen by the wayside. To top it off, I found out on Tuesday that I have strep throat again.

I didn’t realize how sick I was on Monday. I just knew that I was tired, and feeling inadequate and that by lunchtime, all seemed hopeless. How could I ever accomplish all that was on my plate? I was almost convinced that cloning myself was the only workable solution.

I sensed the Lord bringing Sunday night’s sermon to my mind. I knew that I should go to my room and pray, as the Psalmist did. But I felt too busy. I was already behind on the day’s work…how could I take even more time out?

In God’s providence, my oldest son’s writing assignment on Monday was to take notes on an audio sermon. I grabbed the closest one I had at hand….a tape of the Sunday night sermon. As I sat and looked over his notes later that afternoon, I was convicted again. There it all was, in black and white, exactly what I needed to do when I am battling discouragement! I could shirk it no longer. Even if nothing else got done, I needed to pull myself together and fight this battle on my knees.

Psalm 43 is rather short; just 5 verses. The pastor shared three key points. First, in verses 1 and 2, the Psalmist prays to the Lord in the midst of his discouragement. As he pours out his heart to God, he remembers God’s character and His promises, and he prays accordingly.

I cried out to God, telling Him that I felt inadequate to do the task He has put before me, and asking Him to “equip me with everything good for doing His will” (Hebrews 13:21). I reminded Him that He promised to renew the strength of those who hope in the Lord (Isaiah 40:31) , and to give rest to the weary when they turn to Him (Matthew 11:28). I was praying His Word back to Him and asking Him to be faithful to His promises, on the basis of His faithful character.

As I prayed these prayers, my heart began to feel true comfort. Everything would be alright. “He who promised is faithful”, Hebrews 10:23. As an old song says, “He didn’t bring us this far to leave us.”

The second point of the sermon (from Psalm 43:3-4) was that the Psalmist prayed that God would guide him by the light of His Word. When we are discouraged, we often hear the voice of Satan, whispering in our ear. “You can’t do it! You’ll never be good enough. You may as well give up now.” But we need to silence that voice with God’s Word. The Psalmist prays that God would illumine His Word, and lead the Psalmist from his discouragement to a place of praise.

As I prayed for God to do that for me, He did open His Word. He brought to mind many passages where He promised to be faithful, as well as reminders to “run the race marked out for you with perseverance” (Hebrews 12:1). He also brought to mind verses that convicted me of my sin, showing me that much of my frustration and exhaustion and pain were brought on not by the task He has put before me, but by my own failure to “take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5) and by my decision to waste time when I should be “busy at home” (Titus 2:5).

In the last verse, the Psalmist preaches to himself, and we need to do the same. When I get discouraged, I tend to evaluate everything in light of my feelings. Instead, we need to discipline ourselves, that our feelings would be informed by the truth of the Word. I may feel like the situation is hopeless, but I know that “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26).

We read in Jeremiah that, “The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure,” (Jeremiah 17:9). We know how many times our feelings have deceived us, and yet we continue to trust them. When we face discouragement–or trials of any kind–we need to challenge our feelings, sinking our trust into the anchor of God’s Word.

As I cried out to God, asking Him to remember His promises and to speak to me through His Word, my discouragement lifted. I preached to myself, reminding myself that the Word shows me what is true, and my feelings can’t be trusted.

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him. Psalm 42:5