How to Find Hope When You're Overwhelmed with Discouragement

Jun 29

Jun 29 How to Find Hope When You're Overwhelmed with Discouragement

Devos and Studies, Psalms Devos_Studies, God's Word

The longing of a discouraged soul

All of us know life isn't all sunshine and butterflies. Low points in life impact us all. Regardless of their cause, these times reveal what we treasure most in our hearts.

What do you long for at your lowest points in life? Whatever it may be, it reveals what's become your priority. When we allow worry or fear or some selfish longing to displace the important priorities of our life, we’ll encounter low points.

When ignored, these low points will linger. If they hang around too long, low points can lead to depression in some form. Discouragement and disappointment often lead to depression because of priorities displaced in our life.

The problem with depression at any level is that we focus on ourselves and our circumstances.

I liken depression to a vortex or whirlpool. An inward self-defeating introspection just sucks us deeper into its own darkness. It also heightens the longing of our soul, although we may not realize it amid times of depression.

This may seem counterintuitive, but we need to look deeper than ourselves to understand what our soul longs for. We don’t dive deeper into depression! Rather, we need to look beyond ourselves to the Creator of our soul.

How do we break out of the vortex of depression? There are no easy answers, and degrees or states of depression vary. But two things come to mind as I read Psalms 42.

Scripture

For the choir director; a maskil by Korah’s descendants.
As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When may I come to see God’s face? My tears are my food day and night. People ask me all day long, “Where is your God?”
I will remember these things as I pour out my soul: how I used to walk with the crowd and lead it in a procession to God’s house. I sang songs of joy and thanksgiving while crowds of people celebrated a festival. [vss 1-4]
Why are you discouraged, my soul? Why are you so restless? Put your hope in God, because I will still praise him.
He is my savior and my God. My soul is discouraged. That is why I will remember you in the land of Jordan, on the peaks of Hermon, on Mount Mizar.
One deep sea calls to another at the roar of your waterspouts. All the whitecaps on your waves have swept over me. [vss 5-7]
The Lord commands his mercy during the day, and at night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life.
I will ask God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I walk around in mourning while the enemy oppresses me?” With a shattering blow to my bones, my enemies taunt me. They ask me all day long, “Where is your God?”
Why are you discouraged, my soul? Why are you so restless? Put your hope in God, because I will still praise him. He is my savior and my God. [vss 8-11]
(Psalms 42:1-11 GW ) [Context– Psalms 42 and Psalms 43]

Reflections and Insights

This psalm begins Book Two—the second collection of psalms. The Psalms are not just one book but a series of psalms collected in five groups or books. They collected the Psalms into these five books to organize them.

Psalms 43, following this psalm, is often connected to this one because of the similar refrain—

Why are you discouraged, my soul? Why are you so restless? Put your hope in God, because I will still praise him. He is my savior and my God. (Psalms 43:5 GW)

The Sons of Korah, a group of singers and musicians during King David’s reign, wrote this psalm. Was this about David when he fled from Absalom, or of Israel later when exiled to a foreign place? No one is certain.

What we know for sure is—the author is discouraged.

He says his soul longs for God in the way a thirsty deer would long for “flowing streams.” It is clear that the author looked beyond himself and his circumstances to realize the greatest need of his soul was God.

The psalmist gives insight into why his soul thirsts for God. He is not near the temple in Jerusalem. We can interpret this also as feeling far from God, making it relatable for all of us.

As he laments, “my tears are my food day and night,” others chide the author about his faith in God—“Where is your God?”

This should catch our attention. When other people know we believe in God, they observe how we handle life’s difficulties. If they see us overwhelmed with discouragement, they may well wonder the same thing—Where is your God?

But then, the psalmist recalls how it was when he trusted God before. He challenges himself to put his hope in God once again. Psychologists may call this self-talk, but it's more accurate to describe it as soul-talk.

We see the psalmist remembering how the Lord is near, even when he’s discouraged. The Lord’s mercy in the daytime and His nearness through songs and prayer at night. Even when he thinks the Lord forgot him and when his enemies taunt him, he will cry out to God.

When things seem overwhelming and hopeless, God's Spirit meets us at our lowest point. He reaches out to us. When you or I feel drowned in hopelessness, it’s time to surrender our souls to God. Right in the depth of it all.

When the sea of despair plunges you deep into its darkness, call out to God to meet you there. Then challenge your soul at its deepest core to once again trust and praise the Lord.

Digging deeper to Make it personal...

Review the Scriptures above as you consider the following questions

What do you long for most? Is it something or someone in this world, or God?
Do you get pulled into times of discouragement? if so, what tends to discourage you?
If you battle with depression, do you know how to deal with it and get help?
Are there times when it seems God has forgotten you? If so, do you reach out to God?
When discouraged, are prayer and God’s written Word your first choice or your last resort?
Are you willing to exhort yourself to trust and praise God when you get discouraged?
Are you ready to do some soul-talk as David and the Sons of Korah did?