What does the Bible say about pessimism?

Let no one say that I am in the least pessimistic. Neither pessimism nor optimism has any place in the things of God. What we have to do with is the truth. That there is no hope for an amendment of Christendom causes no depression upon the spirit of anyone who knows the truth. Nothing in the way of evil that has ever entered into the profession of Christianity has the slightest power to frustrate or even to retard the accomplishment of the purposes of God. As in silent majesty the sun traverses his pathway of glory across the face of heaven, dispensing light and blessing, unaffected by the storms and tempests of this nether world, so does the living God move onward in the fulfilment of His counsels, undeterred alike by the failure of His people or by the rage of His enemies. It has always been, and ever will be, failure on the part of the creature who is placed upon the footing of responsibility to maintain anything for God; but this only makes room for the blessed God to bring in that which He had in His heart to accomplish before the world was.

And what rest and peace it gives to the heart to know this! Our confidence in man, in ourselves, is long-lived; but God is a patient teacher, and in the end brings us to see that there is no good in the flesh, so that we cease to be astonished at its faithlessness; we are led to expect nothing from it, and to have our whole confidence in God. Neither optimism nor pessimism has any place in our thoughts; we look neither at the dark side nor at the bright side of man’s earthly exploits, but on the living God and know that “Deep in unfathomable mines Of never-failing skill, He treasures up His bright designs, And works His sovereign will.”

I am not, dear brother, a pessimist, because I may say, since my conversion, I never had a thought of any good in man or myself, while fully admitting amiable and nice natural characters, as I think the Lord did. But He did not trust it: He knew that all true good was beyond and behind. I fear rather drawing the line too sharp and too hard, for there is not a good, but a moral, nature in man. Hence we are born of water as well as of the Spirit: the word is the instrument, but all good is of God. When He loved the young man, He said, "None is good save one, that is God." But I am not disheartened, though I may be cast down, because behind all there is God, One who never fails; and if He be for us, who can be against us? Only we have to know our own nothingness, and wait patiently for Him.

On the whole, Rabshakeh is preferable to Thersites; Rabshakeh was coarse and abusive, but he was an open enemy and kept outside the wall. But let us be assured of this, that neither Shimei, Thersites, nor Rabshakeh, have breath enough, albeit they speak great swelling words, to blow out the light that God's love has kindled. It shall continue to burn — though perhaps feebly — through all the dark long night, till the dawn shall appear and the bright and morning star shall arise. We oscillate between optimisim and pessimism. Truth is neither the one nor the other. It is neither true that "whatever is is right" nor that "whatever is is wrong." There is much that exists that is right, and much that is wrong; and bright above all, "White-handed Hope, the hovering angel, girt with golden wings."

"There are many who say, 'Who will show us any good?" (v. 6). People uselessly look for some good in the promises of political candidates, for their hopes are always cast down to the ground. Many have become disillusioned and see no prospect of better times. Who is it they trust? If only men, of course they will be disappointed. But sadly, they look no higher! The psalmist is not so pessimistic. He looks up with the simple prayer, "Lord, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us." Is there any doubt that God will answer the simplicity of faith that so depends on Him?

He tells us further that experience works hope — not in this world, but in God. Experience in this world frequently works cynicism; very frequently it works a lot of sarcasm; it works, according to the Psalmist, the idea that all men are liars; we trust nobody. But Christian experience works hope. Why? Oh, because we have God before us; we begin to learn how God can extricate us from the muddles into which we get; we begin to learn how He can make things work together for good to those who love Him, and our very tribulations thus teach us what God is for us. We learn lessons here that we will never learn above.

If we were left without a revelation of a God of love, and of One whose purposes will stand for ever, we should be pessimists indeed. In despair we should cry, “Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor. 15:32). We should live in the present and shut our eyes to the blank future that lies ahead.

And well may the world despair! Were it not that the heart perverts the head, and we are slow indeed to look the inevitable in the face, the end would long since have been reached. As it is, the language is read backward, and men still hope! Nay, the spirit of hope which breathes in Christianity has formed strange alliance with the optimism of the world, and brought into it an air of piety and faith that makes despair of the world a heresy. But for this the spirit of hope, which is truly Christian, has been separated from its embodiment in Scripture, the true and glorious hope of the coming king! Were it not for this, David and David's house must indeed inevitably follow Saul's into the gulf of ruin. Not David, but David's Seed is the hope of men: and this is what Shimei's curse at bottom points to: truly all would be under it, only that in self-despair is faith found, and the divine remedy for this and every other ill.

And at His feet the soul grows bolder: "Consider, — answer me, Jehovah, my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep — death." Aye, the despair of all else shows that faith is about to revive; despair of all else absolutely makes God the one grand resource. We grasp with one hand some unbreakable holdfast, and with the other some poor weed or fragile thread that could not support one for a moment; and then, when this has snapped, we cry, "Oh, the holdfast has given way," when all that is needed is to put both hands upon it! This is now the lesson; and immediately the soul gets the right argument, not with itself but with God: "Lighten mine eyes," it says: "Lord, Thou knowest, Thou art the light of them: yea, the light of life itself; if Thou art not with me, it is only death."

Hence is the believer entitled and emboldened to think it every sort of joy whensoever he falls into varied trials, as indeed they may be of all kinds. It is not that Christians are exempt from sorrow — far from it, or that we should not feel the sorrow, any more than forget God's grace. Thus the trial throws us back on Him without Whom not a sparrow falls on the ground and by Whom the very hairs of our head are all numbered. Affliction comes not forth of the dust, nor does trouble spring out of the ground. All is under His hand Who has made us His for glory, and meanwhile puts our faith to the test in this present evil age, habituating us not only to patience but to endurance.

We come now to relationship to the scene around, a world which is against God, therefore against us, and which is going on to judgment at His hands. God reigns of necessity, for no opposition can displace Him; and the righteous, as those in harmony with the government of God, have the happiness of this. Yet, spite of all, the Lord's words remain: "In the world ye shall have tribulation." That is fully realized here: the very character which is acceptable to God, and bringing blessing from His hand, nevertheless being that which may, and naturally will, bring in the trial. Faith is continually needed for the realization that, after all, God reigns, and that nothing escapes from His control. The very need of patience, as another apostle has told us, is that which works in us a spirit of quiet subjection to Another's will, and which leads into the experience of how good is that will. And thus, instead of despair in looking around upon a scene of conflict and evil, it works in us hope.