Discouragement

The experience of discouragement

Job 3:20–26 NASB95

“Why is light given to him who suffers, And life to the bitter of soul, Who long for death, but there is none, And dig for it more than for hidden treasures, Who rejoice greatly, And exult when they find the grave? “Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, And whom God has hedged in? “For my groaning comes at the sight of my food, And my cries pour out like water. “For what I fear comes upon me, And what I dread befalls me. “I am not at ease, nor am I quiet, And I am not at rest, but turmoil comes.”

See also Nu 21:4–5 the Israelites in the desert; Jos 2:8–11 the Canaanites and Rahab; 1 Sa 17:10–11 the Israelites and Goliath; 2 Ki 19:26 God’s judgment on Sennacherib; Job 5:6–7; Ps 38:1–14; Pr 1:26–27 Wisdom speaks to the sinner; Ec 2:17–20 the Teacher’s disillusion; Is 21:2–4; Je 45:3 to Baruch; Eze 21:7 God’s judgment on Israel; Zec 10:2; 2 Co 1:8–9 Paul

Prayer in discouragement

Psalm 42:5–11 NASB95

Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence. O my God, my soul is in despair within me; Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me. The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, A prayer to the God of my life. I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

See also Dt 26:6–7; 2 Sa 22:7 David; 2 Ch 20:9 Jehoshaphat; Ne 9:32; Ps 31:9–12; Is 38:14 Hezekiah; Je 8:18–19; Jon 2:1–2

Endurance in discouragement

Isaiah 42:3–4 NASB95

“A bruised reed He will not break And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice. “He will not be disheartened or crushed Until He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”

See also 2 Co 6:4–10 Paul; 2 Th 1:4; Heb 10:32; Heb 12:3; Re 2:3 concerning the church at Ephesus

Discouragement through disobedience

Jeremiah 8:9 NASB95

“The wise men are put to shame, They are dismayed and caught; Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, And what kind of wisdom do they have?

See also 1 Sa 28:15–18; Job 15:24–25 Eliphaz to Job; Zep 1:17

Discouragement and discipline

Hebrews 12:5–7 NASB95

and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him; For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.” It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

See also Jdg 2:14–15; Is 26:16

Effects of discouragement

Proverbs 17:22 NASB95

A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.

See also Ex 6:9 the Israelites in Egypt; 2 Sa 4:1; Ezr 4:4 the rebuilding of the temple; Job 4:5; Pr 15:13; Pr 18:14

Resisting discouragement

Deuteronomy 1:21 NASB95

‘See, the Lord your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’

See also Jos 1:9; Jos 8:1; 1 Sa 17:32 David reassuring Saul about Goliath; 1 Ch 22:13 David to Solomon; 2 Ch 32:7 Hezekiah; Je 51:46; Lk 18:1; Jn 14:1; Ga 6:9; Eph 3:13; 2 Ti 4:5

God’s help in discouragement

Romans 8:35–39 NASB95

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

See also Dt 31:6; Dt 31:8; Dt 31:23; Jos 1:9; 1 Ch 28:20; 2 Ch 20:15; 2 Ch 20:17; Ps 34:18; Is 40:29–31; Is 61:1; Lk 4:18; Je 30:10; Jn 16:33; 2 Co 7:6 Paul

Warnings not to discourage others

The Israelites discouraged when on the point of entering the promised land

Obadiah 12 NASB95

“Do not gloat over your brother’s day, The day of his misfortune. And do not rejoice over the sons of Judah In the day of their destruction; Yes, do not boast In the day of their distress.

See also Dt 1:28 by the spies; Nu 32:7 by the Gadites and Reubenites

General warnings not to discourage others

Ps 109:16; Zec 10:2; Ac 15:19 James advises against discouraging the Gentiles; Col 3:21

The need to stand with the discouraged

Hebrews 13:3 NASB95

Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body.

See also Job 6:14; Je 8:21; Ro 12:15; Jas 1:27