When We're Despondent...
"I was despondent.
They dug a pit ahead of
me, but they fell into it!"
Psalm 57: 6
In his book, A Spiritual Clinic, J. Oswald Sanders
devotes a chapter to despondency with
Christians.
“Who among us has not experienced that nameless
feeling of misery and hopelessness?” he wrote.
Sanders points out such biblical heroes as Moses
and Elijah had moments of great discouragement.
For Moses, God prescribed help of seventy elders;
for Elijah, a time of withdrawal in a solitary place
where the Lord met him.
“God prescribes individually each of His patients.
God delights to restore each depressed soul to a
sphere of increased usefulness,” said Sanders.
When we face daunting
challenges, remember
God is always with us. He gives us wisdom and
courage. He deals with us
individually,
prescribing what is best.
Ask the Lord to show you the next step
for restoration and increased usefulness.
He doesn’t want you to live despondent
when His joy can be your strength
(Nehemiah 8:10).
"It's
not without its comfort that the two men
who conversed with the Lord on the Mount
of Transfiguration broke
under the strain of
their ministry and prayed that they might
die."
J. Oswald Sanders