What is the key to overcoming discouragement?

We never ought to be discouraged, because the Lord we trust in never fails, nor can. It is just in 2 Timothy, when all was in ruin and declension, that Paul looks for his dear son to be strong in the faith: there never is so good a time for it, because it is needed, and the Lord always meets need.

What then is our remedy? Our Lord tells us—“to pray and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). We must keep up our link with God. Prayer is the antidote to fainting. Do we faint? We do not pray. Do we pray? We do not faint. Prayer, linking up with God and heaven, is our great resource.

This exhortation gathers great force when it is remembered that it proceeds from the Psalmist's own experience. Having found for himself that the Lord may be trusted at all times, that none that wait for Him are ever ashamed, he says in effect, "Never give up your confidence in Jehovah; He will never disappoint your expectations. He may test you, keep you waiting, pass you through many sorrows and trials, but He will never forget you or give you up. Always, therefore, hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever." This is a very blessed exhortation, and one which we also, dear Christian reader, would do well to lay to heart. For we are often beset with difficulties and temptations, and, like Peter, when we see that the wind is boisterous we begin to sink. Here there is the sure and efficacious antidote to all fear and unbelief: Hope in the Lord, and never cease to hope in Him, whatever the gloomy appearances of present circumstances. For He abides faithful, He cannot deny Himself, and He has said concerning Israel, "The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee. neither shall My covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy upon thee." All that He is, therefore, presses the exhortation upon us to hope in Him henceforth and for ever.

Past experiences throng in; to intensify the bitterness. We are made to realize the gladness with which some at least of this people; exiled for so many generations, will return to set up again; as in Ezra's time, their altar to the God of their fathers; under the protection of that covenant with Gentile power (Dan. 9:27) so soon to be broken; and the altar itself devoted to the "abomination" of worse than heathen idolatry. That gleam of sunshine has in this psalm been already swallowed up in the blackness of a tempestuous eclipse. It abides as a memory of distress; "how I passed along with the multitude; how I went on with them to the house of God; with the voice of singing and praise — a multitude keeping festival." And yet the soul cannot let it go as a mere transient vision: faith stirred by it lays hold with its resolute will of this past; to recall it, and make it abiding; the soul rebukes its own despondency: "Why art thou cast down? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God." Yes; here is what is permanent, what is eternal: hope in God, even though thou canst not find Him; though clouds are round about Him, and thou canst not come unto His seat; though His ways are in deepest mystery; though even thou couldst not find a promise that thou couldst claim undoubtedly. He Himself is promise! In His own all-pitying love — in the goodness of His nature, passing all that we can tell or think; — in Himself thou canst find refuge; a door wide open; and strong fortress walls that close around the one who has fled to Him. Can He say; you have trusted Me too much? Nay, He cannot. Here is His word at last that applies; if nothing else does: "Blessed are all they who put their trust in Him."

There is no condition in which the Christian can find himself in which he may not count upon God. Is he crushed beneath the pressure of trial from external circumstances? Let him bring God's omnipotent power to bear upon these things. Is the heart oppressed by the burden of personal infirmity? — truly a heavy burden! Let him draw upon the exhaustless springs of Divine compassion and mercy. Is the soul filled with horror, by the sense of sin and guilt? Let him have recourse to the boundless grace of God, and the infinitely-precious blood of Christ. In a word, whatever be the burden, the trial, the sorrow, or the need, God is more than equal to all, and it is the province of faith to use Him. "David encouraged himself in the Lord his God" when everything around was dark and depressing.

As Christ’s return draws near, we are also to be marked by assembling together. There is often much said about the individual path today; but, my beloved brethren, the more you are right individually the more you will seek to gather together with the saints of God, with those who have redemption in Christ. If you are getting slack about assembling with those that love our Lord Jesus Christ now, let me say, you are not only disloyal to Christ to whom you belong, but you are in for trouble if you go on. Pull up, and say, “I am going that road no longer,” and get into touch with those that love the Lord, and call on Him out of a pure heart; encouraging one another as they see the day of His coming draw near. There is a blessed word about our gracious God Himself. It says this “He is the God of all encouragement.” He does not discourage anyone who seeks to do His will. This is cheering for those who desire to be God-like, who seek to encourage those who love our Lord Jesus Christ. If ever there was a day when encouragers were needed it is today. So many are discouraged; and we need to be in the spirit and power of that word. Our God is the God of all encouragement. As we see the day approaching, assembling together and encouraging one another are also present practical effects of the blessed hope.

The Lord, I have no doubt, is working, but as I have said, He will keep us humble. As to -, I enter into your sorrow. Have you a prayer-meeting? The great remedy for such a state of things is spiritual life, not complaints: one great means is common prayer, and the individual prayer of faith.

Is there not an important lesson for each of us to learn through the misfortunes, disappointments and trials of this life? One person works hard to pass an examination and yet fails. Another tends a loved one with great devotion, and yet this loved one is taken away by the Lord. Still another tries to bring a soul to Christ, but Satan seems to hold that soul still more firmly in his shackles. What is to be done? We must not yield to depression but rather pour out our supplications before God as the Psalmist did — and then rely on His grace. He will not fail to reveal Himself still more to the soul that seeks after Him, and He will carry the matter to its conclusion.

We are told that they who wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength. How often we have experienced this. Moments of depression come, weakness asserts itself, circumstances seem too difficult for us to grapple with. In our feebleness we wait on the Lord, we bring our depression and feebleness into His presence, and they pass away, they cannot remain in such an atmosphere. We rise up from our knees, our strength is renewed, not perhaps physically, but spiritually, though even a cheerful mind is good medicine for a sick body.

If, on the other hand, you receive the truth of your own perfect impotence, and come thus to the end of your own strength, it will bring rest to your soul, because, together with that, you will understand, that your help, strength, and succour come from without, and not from within, — from Christ, in a word, and not from yourselves. Oh, the unspeakable blessedness of such a discovery! Ceasing henceforward to struggle, you will know what it is to rest in Another, and be able to take up the song of David, "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" For if, on the one side, you have come to know that you are without strength, you will rejoice, on the other, to learn that His strength is made perfect in weakness.