-June 30, 2023-
Good morning, happy Friday,
“My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, the grave is ready for me.”
(Job 17:1).
Is it possible for a believer in Jesus Christ to despair? Yes, it is! We have so many examples in Scripture and all around us today. The most important thing is to recognize it, seek the Lord’s help through godly counsel, and the promises and principles His Word. We can’t climb out of the dark pit of despair until we remember the Lord’s loving care. One of the best remedies for despair is to thank the Lord for who He is and what He has done for us.
There are degrees and stages of despair: discouragement, despondency, and depression. Job went through all these stages but clung to the Lord who brought him through it. So many times we think it can’t happen to us. We see in our text just how low he went: his spirit was broken, his days seemed extinguished, and he was ready to die. He was in a very dark place.
The word despair is defined as, “the complete loss or absence of hope.” Job was not alone in his despair. We see Elijah, David, Hannah, and Paul all went through it. In each case the Lord intervened. In our society today, mental health issues are more common than we may think. The ultimate extreme is suicide. As God’s children we should never lose hope because our hope is in Jesus Christ.
1 Kings 19:4 says of Elijah, “But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough! Now, Lord, for I am no better than my fathers!’” We see how the Lord provided him with food, drink, and rest, all vital ingredients in our recovery. He spoke to him in a “still small voice.” The Lord asked him a very probing question, “What are you doing here?” He had just enjoyed a huge victory over the prophets of Baal. But when the wicked Queen Jezebel threatened his life, he fled in fear. God promised him victory and told him, “Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all those who have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:18).
We always come through the other side stronger, with greater faith, and more dependent on the Lord. The Lord knows we are human, mortal, finite, and weak. He loves us and draws us closer to Himself. Psalm 103:13-14 says, “As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him, for He remembers that we are dust.”
The great apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:8-10, “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we have the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will deliver us.”
May the Lord help us to seek Him, walk close with Him, cling to Him, and rely on Him no matter what we are going through. Through prayer and the Word, through others who care, and His abundant promises we will overcome despair.
Have a blessed day with the Lord by our side. Stay safe and healthy spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally in Christ.
Leaning on the everlasting arms,
Dean
Dean Allen's Daily Devotional 