By Chris WittsTuesday 9 Apr 2024Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 1 minute
Subscribe to Morning Devotions podcast
Transcript:
Everyone will have their share of discouragement at some point in their lifetime. If you haven’t, you’re very lucky. The dictionary says discouragement is a feeling of despair in the face of obstacles or a state of distraught – loss of sense, of enthusiasm, drive or courage. Have you ever felt like that? I guess you probably have. Millions of people have.
The experiences of discouragement
If you’ve been criticized harshly by someone you don’t respect, it can be difficult to bounce back from that. Discouragement. It happens in all areas of life. For example, an employee puts his best out to ensure that his department achieves success, however he is only met with a damaging response from his boss. He doesn’t get a good appraisal at all.
Or a woman’s marriage. Her dreams end when her husband is unfaithful to her, and she feels this confusion, pangs of discouragement or a couple suffer their second miscarriage trying to create a family. So these people and many others deal with discourage in different ways, and some may become so discouraged that they can actually attempt suicide. That is a dreadful thing.
So discouraged people experience sleeplessness, their mind and soul is full of worry, or they’re restless. They’re absent minded. They can’t settle, complacency, loss of interest, for example, in eating, even though you may not have eaten for hours. And then there’s the negative thoughts. The ultimate of this as I’ve just said, are the thoughts of suicide.
The actions to take in response to discouragement
But I want to say today that there are some positive things you can do. You can get better organised. Now that sounds simple. Something I need to work out. But whether it concerns our time or where we live, our clutter and our disorganisation can produce confusion and stress and discourage us from fulfilling our duties. We don’t want to tackle hard things because our room or our house can be in a mess. So better organisation. Why not have a realistic schedule and don’t surround yourself with clutter? Well, the Bible, I think, has a good message. It says to live one day at a time. In fact, sometimes you’ve got to live one moment at a time.
It’s worthwhile to make plans for the future. You can see that in Luke 14, but none of us know, as James talks about in the New Testament what the future might bring. So focus on trusting God today for the grace to deal with what comes and as we organise our lives. So at the start of every day, talk to your Heavenly Father and trust him because He really is much wiser than you.
Have you got encouraging friends around you? Seek them out. We need to make friends who will accept us to be a strength. During the Boer War, a man was actually court martialed for discouraging soldiers who were defending a town and the tribunal back then judged that as a crime to speak disheartening words at such a crucial time.
When Israel camped on the borders of the promised land, they sent in two spies to check out the territory, and the 12 men came back with a mixed report, and two of them – Caleb and Joshua – they encouraged the nation to trust in God and to move forward, to conquer the land. But the others saw only the obstacles and the dangers.
They went on to say things like – “The people are greater. They’re taller than us. The cities are great, they’re fortified up to heaven.” That was a discouraging message. So who needs friends with a discouraging message like that? And none of the men except Caleb and Joshua ever actually saw the promised land? And so when we’re going through difficulties or facing challenges, we need people around us.
What about our thought life? Promoting a wholesome thought life. It’s easy to be depressed as you watch the news. It can affect how you feel. But the Bible says, whatever things are true and noble and whatever things are just pure or lovely. Whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there’s anything praiseworthy, think about those things – that’s Philippians 4:8. There are many good books, novels that can help you, and remember that sometimes great achievements come in spite of great handicaps for those who remain close to God. God is there. The Lord is good. He’s a stronghold. In the day of trouble. He knows who trust him. That’s from the Old Testament as well.
Let’s Pray
Heavenly Father, we want to thank you today that discouragement is not the last word. You can encourage us, so please encourage me today in your name Lord Jesus, Amen.