Discouragement is a tough and paralyzing place to be. Most people don’t choose to go there, but somehow through a series of events, they find themselves in a pit of discouragement!
Definition of Discouraged (According to Strong’s concordance): to waste away, to melt, vanish, drop off, melt away, to faint, grow fearful, wasted, worthless, to cause to melt.
The above definition of discouragement paints a very good picture of the condition of someone who is discouraged. Discouraged people may feel small and inferior. Another group may find themselves fearful and weak in certain situations, but all of those feelings are triggered by certain events or people that bring someone to the point of discouragement.
One feels small
“Praise the Lord of hosts, For the Lord is good, For His mercy endures forever”— and of those who will bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first,’ says the Lord. Jeremiah 33: 11b
When people are discouraged, their emotions are weak. They don’t feel courageous and can’t see themselves fighting any longer. They think that they can’t go on anymore. That’s the time when we need to bring the sacrifices of praise to God. The more discouraged we are, the more tendency to be focused on ourselves. This is when we need to do the hard work of taking our eyes off of ourselves and just look to God and praise Him for who He is.
Reminding ourselves of God’s attributes and giving Him thanks for His involvement in our lives, takes our focus off of ourselves and puts it on our mighty God! This will be a sacrifice at times. It may even feel like we are not being honest with how we feel. The truth is that God doesn’t change because we don’t feel right, so we are basically declaring His unchanging attributes whether at the moment we feel them or not.
Praise will allow us to come to a better and calmer place emotionally. It will prevent us from making rash decisions, and it will help us to avoid making ungodly vows/statements such as, “She is never going to change.”, or “I’m not going to try again.”.
I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.
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