Discouragement Defeated, Victory Assured

I don’t know about you but I get discouraged very easily, and so far this month, discouragement has been hitting me hard in multiple ways.  I won’t go into all the details, but all I can say is that the biggest discouragement has been the world screaming out that I need to be in control for my child to be happy, healthy, and whole.  And needless to say, this is all a bit overwhelming for my weak and timid soul and limited and failing fleshly being.

The Peace & Courage of David on the Run

Well, on Thursday, January 9, after a most distressing Monday, which I spoke about in my last post, the Lord greatly encouraged me once again through His Word.  Psalm 3 was part of my devotional reading that morning, and wow, if we think we have troubles, we should only consider King David’s great troubles.

As he wrote this amazing psalm to the Lord, he was running for his life from his own son Absalom.  Such conflict, rejection, and heartache to have your son trying to kill you but such hope, peace, and trust in God displayed in the midst of it all!  Listen in as I share his heart to God’s, and eventually to our hearts, by God’s providence.

2  Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.”  

Isn’t it amazing how we can behold the majesty of creation but then deny there is a God, let alone a Creator?!  (Photo from Flickr/blmiers2)

Isn’t that the truth?!  In our society that screams out, “There is no God!” or at least that He is not good or all-powerful, there’s no doubt that they are saying there’s no way He’ll deliver you or me.  And sadly, you yourself may be thinking and feeling that way as well right about now due to your many or deep troubles.

It is so easy to let discouragement settle into our hearts as we set our eyes on physical limitations instead of on supernatural spiritual truths or realities, such as conveyed in God’s great and precious promises from the Bible.

Thereby, we fall into Satan’s original trip for Eve of doubting God’s love, faithfulness, power, wisdom, and provision for us.  Such doubting is sin, believe it or not, and sin always leads us down dark, winding pathways to depression and defeat which often take over our hearts, minds, and words so that we turn to our own foolish devices.  After all, we think we cannot trust God, but unknowingly, our devices will only bring us more sorrow and death.

3  But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.  

Did you know that the Lord’s faithfulness is His shield or protection for us?  In Psalm 91:4, it says, “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”  And when someone has been faithful to you, that usually means they’ve been trustworthy and constant in their good character and deeds towards you like a faithful marriage partner or a faithful parent.  They are committed to you no matter what, and so there is a lot of security and safety in that, just like in a shield.

Now hasn’t the Lord been so good, gracious, and faithful to you throughout your life?  I know the Lord has been so to me.  I could list off blessing after blessing such as God undeservedly giving me godly parents; a loving, humble husband; a beautiful home; food to eat every day; an able body and one that can heal itself when I burn a thumb or bruise my leg; and so much more!  Yes, I wish there were things that were different, but I need to rejoice in all that I do have and trust God that He will only continue to give me good things as He sees fit.

I hope you can list off many blessings in your life as well and thereby count on God’s faithfulness to carry you through your troubles and the rest of your life.  He says He will never leave or forsake you, so take courage and trust Him!

 4  I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain.

Have you been calling and not heard an answer yet?  I understand, but often times God is working on an answer but is just not ready to reveal it.  He loves to have us “wait” as well because waiting always shows where our trust really is, and if He is worthy enough to wait on.

And waiting in periods of silence is good because it teaches us so many things about ourselves and God, if you’re willing to learn that is.  I know there have so many things in my own life even that I’ve had to wait long and hard for in God answering, such as for a husband, but looking back now, I’m so glad God did not answer right away because I would have missed out on so many blessings along the way.

“He [God] grants sleep to those he loves” (Psa. 127:2). (Photo from Flickr/Cornell2010)

5  I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.

You may think that you just naturally fall asleep and wake up every morning on your own, but no, it is God’s great mercy and sustaining power that gives you those blessings each day.

So if you could not think earlier on of any ways He has been faithful to you, now you have a way because the fact that you are still alive today is because of God’s great faithfulness.

6  I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.  

Wow, now that is a lot of enemies and something none of us probably will ever experience.  In light of this then, our struggles are so minor that we have nothing to fear.

I wonder where David got such confidence from though?!  Perhaps it came from experiencing God’s sustaining grace and deliverance throughout his many struggles, especially during his years of fleeing for his life from King Saul before he became king.

Or perhaps at one point he got a glimpse of God’s insurmountable number of angelic horses and chariots of fire surrounding him, as Elijah’s servant did in 2 Kings 6:17.  After all, the Bible says that “the chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands” (Psa. 68:17).

Oh, may our spiritual experiences or senses exceed our physical ones so that we’d have the grace to trust God more and not fear!  For as Elijah assured his servant, “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:16).

7  Arise, Lord!  Deliver me, my God!  Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.  From the Lord comes deliverance.  May your blessing be on your people. 

“He [God] determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.” (Psa. 147:4-5) (Photo from Flickr/John Lemieux)

Such confidence or bold faith in first of all calling, or almost commanding, the Lord to action and then in proclaiming His deliverance yet unseen or experienced!  The Lord must love David’s words though because He loves to be trusted and praised for His goodness and might, just like any of us would.

For “a good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Luke 6:45).

Go ahead then and declare the Lord’s goodness to Him and others, along with His victory for you!  God, of course, already knows His almighty power, but He needs or desires to hear you believe it and declare it. He wants to see you demonstrate your faith, and one of the most significant ways we do that is through our words.

Conclusion

So when you are at the end of depending on your own resources for help, like Hannah facing agonizing barrenness or David facing an insurmountable giant named Goliath, why not cry out to Jehovah Sabaoth, the LORD of Hosts, for your deliverance.  Humbly but confidently, both Hannah and David did, and guess what, Jehovah Sabaoth came through mightily for them.  After all, this name does mean that God has all the hosts of heaven and earth at His command, and on top of that, the Bible declares,  “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah” (Psa. 46:7).

Yes, this same LORD of Hosts who delivered Hannah and David from their humanly-impossible situations, is with YOU still today for “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).  Below is another song from David Wesley which I love and have repeatedly played and sung lately.  With such a loving God on our side, and a God of angel armies at that, discouragement has to be defeated and victory assured!  Praise the Lord!

 “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Rom. 8:37)