Friday, December 19, 2008

Joy in the Face of Discouragement (Number 13 in a series)

“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.” Psalm 42:5 (KJV)

No job today. No interviews lined up. The want ads are lean pickings. Sometimes it’s hard not to give in to discouragement, but then I remember what I’ve learned about it.

Discouragement is a powerful tool in the hands of the enemy. He uses it to take our eyes off of our hope, our destination. With discouragement, he seeks to undermine our faith. Feeling as though God has deserted you? That’s discouragement at work.

There are other faces to discouragement: fear and anxiety, depression, hopelessness, discontent. Each of these is a guise in which discouragement may come to call.

Right now, I’ve been out of work for more than two months. Am I feeling happy about that? No. Am I discouraged about my prospects? NO. When discouragement tries to rear its head, I claim the promise of II Timothy 1:7: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (KJV).”

I count on God’s goodness to get me through the times when Satan uses my diminishing bank account to try to get me down. And I focus on the birds of the air and lilies of the field (Matthew 6) when I send off another job application that gets no reply. While I do what I can about my situation, I rely on God’s planning to provide the final resolution. Although I can’t solve it on my own, with God’s help I can get through.

When discouragement seeks to divert your attention from God’s goodness, remember Satan seeks to drag you down. God will lift you up. Turn your situations over to Him, hang on, and rejoice! He loves you too much to let you go!

© Mary Beth Magee 2008

1 comment:

Ruthieonart said...

Thank you. I needed to hear that.