Why We Don’t Lose Heart

Why We Don’t Lose Heart

— Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Paul can’t see the way he used to (and there were no glasses).

He can’t hear the way he used to (and there were no hearing aids).

He doesn’t recover from beatings the way he used to (and there were no antibiotics).

His strength, walking from town to town, doesn’t hold up the way it used to.

He sees the wrinkles in his face and neck.

His memory is not as good.

And he admits that this is a threat to his faith and joy and courage.

But he does not lose heart. Why?

He doesn’t lose heart because his inner man is being renewed. How?

The renewing of his heart comes from something very strange:

it comes from looking at what he can’t see.

— So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

This is Paul’s way of not losing heart: looking at what he cannot see.

What, then, did he see when he looked?

A few verses later in , he says, “We walk by faith, not by sight.”

This doesn’t mean that he leaps into the dark without evidence of what’s there.

It means that for now the most precious and important realities in the world are beyond our physical senses.

We “look” at these unseen things through the gospel.

We strengthen our hearts —

We renew our courage —

by fixing our gaze on the invisible, objective truth that we see

in the testimony of those who saw Christ face to face.

— For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

“The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

We see this as it shines in our heart through the gospel.

We became Christians when this happened — whether we understood this or not.

And with Paul we need to go on seeing with the eyes of the heart,

so that we not lose heart.

Models for Combating Discouragement

— My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever.

Literally the verb is simply fail, not “may fail.”

This God-besotted psalmist, Asaph, says, “My flesh and my heart fail!” I am despondent! I am discouraged!

But then immediately he fires a broadside against his despondency: “But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

The psalmist does not yield to discouragement. He battles unbelief with counterattack.

In essence, he says, “In myself I feel very weak and helpless and unable to cope. My body is shot, and my heart is almost dead. But whatever the reason for this despondency, I will not yield. I will trust God and not myself. He is my strength and my portion.”

The Bible is replete with instances of saints struggling with sunken spirits. says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.” This is a clear admission that the soul of the saint sometimes needs to be revived. And if it needs to be revived, in a sense it was “dead.” That’s the way it felt.

David says the same thing in , “He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.” The soul of the “man after [God’s] own heart” () needs to be restored. It was dying of thirst and ready to fall exhausted, but God led the soul to water and gave it life again.

God has put these testimonies in the Bible so that we might use them to fight the unbelief of despondency. And we fight with the blast of faith in God’s promises: “God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” We preach that to ourselves. And we thrust it into Satan’s face. And we believe it.

Six Ways Jesus Fought Depression

— Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.

The Bible gives us an amazing glimpse into the soul of Jesus the night before he was crucified. Watch and learn from the way Jesus fought his strategic battle against despondency or depression.

He chose some close friends to be with him. “Taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee” ().

He opened his soul to them. He said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death” ().

He asked for their intercession and partnership in the battle. “Remain here, and watch with me” ().

He poured out his heart to his Father in prayer. “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” ().

He rested his soul in the sovereign wisdom of God. “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” ().

He fixed his eye on the glorious future grace that awaited him on the other side of the cross. “For the joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” ().

When something drops into your life that seems to threaten your future, remember this:

The first shock waves of the bomb in your heart, like the ones Jesus felt in Gethsemane, are not sin.

The real danger is yielding to them. Giving in.

Putting up no spiritual fight.

And the root of that sinful surrender is unbelief —

a failure to fight for faith in future grace.

A failure to cherish all that God promises to be for us in Jesus.

In Gethsemane Jesus shows us another way. Not painless, and not passive. Follow him.

Find your trusted spiritual friends.

Open your soul to them.

Open your soul to them.

Ask them to watch with you and pray.

Ask them to watch with you and pray.

Pour out your soul to the Father.

Pour out your soul to the Father.

Rest in the sovereign wisdom of God.

Rest in the sovereign wisdom of God.

And fix your eyes on the joy set before you in the precious and magnificent promises of God.

And fix your eyes on the joy set before you in the precious and magnificent promises of God.