Christians can get locked into the mentality that faith should always trump discouragement, and that anytime a Christian is struggling mentally or emotionally they must be lacking the appropriate level of trust in God. In their view, Christians should not get discouraged. The truth is that the probability that a child of God will experience periods of discouragement is just one mishap or disappointment away. Rather than pretend that Christians are immune to discouragement, let’s consider what help the Bible offers to Christians when they become discouraged. The Bible is a fountain of knowledge for life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; Rom. 15:4), even regarding discouragement.
To begin, it would be helpful to consider some causes of discouragement. Given that discouragement is diminished confidence and enthusiasm, or a sense of dispiritedness, there are quite a few biblical examples to consider. Moses’ dispirited, “Who am I?” speaks to his lack of confidence regarding the perceived enormity of the leadership burden that God was requiring of him (Ex. 3:11). David experienced daily sorrow and anxiety when dealing with King Saul (Ps. 13:2). What about Peter and his denial of Jesus that resulted in bitter weeping (Matt. 26:75)? Also consider Elijah’s rapid descent from his victory over the false prophets to sitting under the broom tree and begging for death (1 Kings 19:4). Just reading Jeremiah’s lament is enough to make anyone’s heart heavy (Lam. 3:1-20). This is just a sampling of examples of biblical people who are known for their faith; yet they also wrestled with discouragement. The reality is, just as they were not defined by their bout with discouragement, neither must we be defined by ours. Similarly, the authenticity of our faith should not be doubted merely because we have experienced discouragement. Truth be told, these individuals did not remain in their discouraged states. Eventually, their trust and confidence in God brought them through those dark times. The same can be true for us. There are some biblical truths and principles to which we can turn to chart our course out of discouraging storms of life. Following are some passages that might be helpful to you in those dark days.
In Philippians 4:8, Paul wrote, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” In the counseling world, there is a particular therapy modality known as Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). This therapeutic framework emphasizes the connection between a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. In other words, the way we think about our experiences paves the way for feelings and behaviors. If we frame our experiences negatively, then our feelings and behaviors will likely be negatively skewed. For individuals who have a negative view of God, their adverse experiences will likely lead them to blame God and assess that He does not love them. I love this passage because it challenges us to frame our experiences correctly. Christians know that God loves them (and all people for that matter) so our experiences should not lead to beliefs and feelings to the contrary. This may not completely satisfy our desire to understand why bad things have happened to us, but Philippians 4:8 thinking will certainly keep us from assigning the wrong meaning to our experience and will be less likely to fuel distorted thoughts, feelings, and resultant behaviors.
If we retrace our steps through the discouraging experiences of the aforementioned individuals, we can see evidence where the individual or God corrected distorted thinking. God told Moses, “I will certainly be with you” very similar to the admonition in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” David was encouraged by Jonathan when he assured David that Saul would not prevent David from being king (1 Sam. 23:17). This reminds us that sometimes our encouragement through discouragement comes from our contemporaries (1 Thess. 5:11; Gal. 6:2). Jesus reassured Peter of His confidence in him when He told him to “feed my sheep” and “follow me” (John 21:15-19). God helped Elijah out of his discouragement by not letting him sit in the cave and simmer in his stinking thinking. Finally, what about Jeremiah’s resolute thought correction? Perhaps his renewed frame of thinking could help us overcome our discouragement. Jeremiah reframed his experience and concluded, “This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:21-23).