Despair

[Christoffer]

How do you avoid despair?

Aggressive secularism is on the rise, so is Islam. One hears of unrighteous and unjust decisions made in politics all the time.

On the one hand, at least I get so angry with injustice, sometimes I want to punch somebody. On the other, I am filled with despair. Everything feels so desperate.

Will my kids face persecution? My wife? Will I have to see my kids suffer or will some social worker take them away to protect them from religious indoctrination? Or will my kids grow up to an increasingly Islamized society?

I fear for them, not for me.

Looking at the world it is so difficult not to be overcome with hopelessness. And anger. I can imagine so many kinds of horrible scenarios that could become reality.

How do you stay sane in a world that is crumbling?

 

[BobVigneault]

Dear Christoffer, I thank God for despair. It is the bottom line in our world that points back to him.

If you are consumed by despair then you have gotten used to looking to your wallet, your political leaders, your friends for answers and fulfillment.

You have seen the reality that lies just under the thin veneer that the world offers us as a means to try and hide despair. The despair of the world will bring about a million questions but the answer is always the same - the Gospel.

Despair is the result of sin, God sent his Son into the world at just the right time to save sinners.

Most importantly, though the despair is real and you have trained yourself to see it clearly you have failed to see the reality that transcends the despair - the sovereignty of God.

Our PB brother Chris Blum compiled a list of verses that deal with God's absolute sovereignty. Take the time to study these passages.

Before you do that read Lamentations 3. You don't know despair as Jeremiah knew it. He was absolutely convinced, based on circumstances, that he was in God's cross hairs. But in verse 21 he sets aside circumstance and emotions and fatigue and places his confidence fully in God's Word and His promises and the result is hope. Hope is the opposite of despair and whether you are Jeremiah, Job, Stephen or Christoffer, you have an endless bounty of hope IN Christ.

Praying that our Sovereign Lord will open your eyes and you see the majesty of a God whose train fills the temple.

 

[PresbyDane]

 

[ColdSilverMoon]

I like Psalm 2 and Romans 8:28-39:

Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
3 "Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us."
4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision.
5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure:
6 "Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion."
7 "I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ´You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.
8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter´s vessel.´ "
10 Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear, And rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
33 Who shall bring a charge against God´s elect? It is God who justifies.
34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

[Idelette]

Dear Christoffer, I thank God for despair. It is the bottom line in our world that points back to him.

If you are consumed by despair then you have gotten used to looking to your wallet, your political leaders, your friends for answers and fulfillment.

You have seen the reality that lies just under the thin veneer that the world offers us as a means to try and hide despair. The despair of the world will bring about a million questions but the answer is always the same - the Gospel.

Despair is the result of sin, God sent his Son into the world at just the right time to save sinners.

Most importantly, though the despair is real and you have trained yourself to see it clearly you have failed to see the reality that transcends the despair - the sovereignty of God.

Our PB brother Chris Blum compiled a list of verses that deal with God's absolute sovereignty. Take the time to study these passages.

Before you do that read Lamentations 3. You don't know despair as Jeremiah knew it. He was absolutely convinced, based on circumstances, that he was in God's cross hairs. But in verse 21 he sets aside circumstance and emotions and fatigue and places his confidence fully in God's Word and His promises and the result is hope. Hope is the opposite of despair and whether you are Jeremiah, Job, Stephen or Christoffer, you have an endless bounty of hope IN Christ.

Praying that our Sovereign Lord will open your eyes and you see the majesty of a God whose train fills the temple.

I agree with Bob! And I just wanted to add that I think sometimes as believers we tend to focus too much on our surroundings and circumstances that we often forget that believers throughout ALL history have lived in the same exact desperate situations! We see that throughout the Scriptures and history.....and yet God has always been faithful to preserve His people and use it for their good (no matter the outcome)! When we focus on the things of this earth...we will be in despair because we live in a fallen world, but when truly set our focus on Him in our daily lives, we have a reason to have great joy even in the midst of trials!

Some of my favorite Scriptures to look at:

Col 3:1-4
"Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory."

2 Corin 4: 7-11
"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you."

2 Corin 4: 16-18
"Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

 

[jambo]

Each one has a different threshold of despair. Peoples own temprament, expectation, etc or the way they deal with anxiety, failure, unemployment, discouragement, depression etc are all factors and some are better than others at dealing with such events/issues.Those who are introspective may have more of a problem than those more extroverted.

Many of the Psalms and the scriptures quoted above are all good. I find Bunyans picture of Christian and Hopeful being caught by Giant Despair and held in the dungeon of Doubting Castle a very good picture of despair, its causes and solutions.

Note they were caught when they came of the prescribed road onto By-path Meadow; the first steps of despair are taken when we lose sight of the road way ahead and are duped into taking an 'easier' path.

Giant Despair captures them and locking them in his dungeon plays and threatens them. Christian and Hopeful can see no way out. They are hemmed in by their circumstances and even Hopeful has no hope. This is another step when the walls of our circumstances appear so big and overwhelming causing us to lose hope.

Suddenly Christian realises how foolish he has been by languishing so long there without realising that ll the time the key to freedom was in his pocket. Bunyan calls this the promises of God which are of course contained within scripture. It was not long before using this scriptural key the pilgirms were back on the road with Doubting Castle and its grim inhabitant behind them.

They place a sign above the stile: "Over this stile is the way to Doubting Castle, which is kept by Giant Despair, who despises the King of the Coelestial Country and seeks to destroy his holy pilgrims"

I do not mean this to be a simplistic answer. Depression and despair are complex and sometimes have deep rooted causes. But nevertheless keeping our eyes focused on the road ahead, realising our God is bigger than our circumstances, and understanding that despair is the daughter of doubt, which in turn is the enemy of faith, we can perhaps find some help and solace in the key each of us have that opens the heaviest door out of despair: the scriptures.

 

[MrMerlin777]

Asaph knew what it was to wonder why the wicked prosper. In Psalm 73 he groans, … "Surely have I cleansed my heart in vain…" … "For all day long I have been plagued…" But, Asaph understood as he entered the sanctuary of God, the end that the wicked face.