God's Love Cures Discouragement

Week 6  Trust and Peace

Day 40

God’s Love Cures Discouragement

Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.

Harriet Beecher Stowe[i]

~~~

A

ll discouragement is of the devil is an oft-heard quote in Christian circles, and is probably accurate. Any emotion that evokes an attitude of "what's the use of trying" has to be of the enemy. 

Trusting God for the future should result in peace, but there are days when we can’t feel His presence or chart His work in our lives. A sense of futility may overwhelm the desire to seek His face, because some situations in our lives seem impossible to solve. When we give way to discouragement, we feel more like prisoners who are condemned than children who trust. We act as though the circumstances that confound us are too difficult even for the Almighty God. 

Some of us have suffered a lifetime of nearly constant discouragement over repeated failures to change some aspect of our lives over which we feel we ought to have control. When we finally release control to the Lord, we can trust His ability to sort out the tangled messes we’ve made of our lives. However, we can rest in the knowledge that even when we are deaf to His voice and blind to His presence, He is still with us. He doesn’t give up on us, even when we give up on ourselves.  

One Sunday morning during a time of discouragement and failure in my own life, the Scripture lesson at church was the story of the good shepherd. The lady who did children's time said, "When you do something wrong you are like that one lost sheep! Even though the good shepherd has 99 safe sheep, He will go after that one who is lost.  And do you know why?  It's because he loves Loves LOVES you SO much!"  When I heard those words my discouragement-hardened heart began to soften. 

We tend to think the path the Lord will show us is marked obedience and hard work, but ahead of these things comes love. It is God’s love for us and ours for Him that forms the firm path that allows us to walk in His will without stumbling. Discouragement evaporates in the light of His revealing love, and our forgiven sin then becomes a reflection of His light to lead others to the freedom we’ve found. 

Pray: Father, please grant me courage to bring my hidden sin fully into your light. Free me of the fear of showing my hidden places to You. I accept the cleansing Blood of Christ as full payment for my years of sin and failure. Please help me to abide in Your love and walk steadily forward with You. Let obedience flow from love, Your great love for me, and my grateful love for you. In Jesus’ Name I pray, amen. 

~~~

But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.

Ehphesians 5:13 NIV

---

[i] Harriet Beecher Stowe. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved July 3, 2015, from BrainyQuote.com Web site: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/h/harrietbee155746.html
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/citation/quotes/quotes/h/harrietbee155746.html#2SPVAoo335RydPtQ.99