Feeling Discouraged. 8/9/2020
Recently I’ve been getting a little discouraged about some things that are going on. When I talk with friends, I hear the same feelings of discouragement in their voices, to some it seems as if the whole world is crashing down around their shoulders.  As I looked around and read social media, or watch TV news, it dawned on me there’s not a lot of good news being spread these days.  I’ve talked about all the anger, resentment, and just general stress we seem to be experiencing today, and there’s not much that can be done about it, so it’s natural to have these feelings.
Today I want to look at causes us to feel discouraged. How can we cope with our feelings when we are discouraged?  What can we do when our friends are discouraged to help them cope with their situations.
We often feel discouraged when we’re jealous of what others have. Psalm 73:2-3, “But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, My steps had almost slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant As I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”
We feel discouraged when we’ve been suffering (either real sickness or the pressure from society to avoid sickness covid) 1 Peter 5:8-9, “ Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.”
In addition to dealing with sickness and jealousy what about just coping with life’s overall demands?  I watch as parents try to fit a 36-hour day into 24 hours, they’re constantly rushing here or rushing there.  I see people doing their very best to find a job in an economy that seems totally out of whack and having to go to food pantries to feed their families.  People are struggling just to make ends meet.  Prices are going up, traffic is getting worse and worse, crime seems to be on the rise, and there are more and more people angry and lashing out at everyone else.  If often seems like we are either at the end of times or society is just crashing around our ears.  It often seems impossible for us to handle what seems to be crisis after crisis and yet if we truly trust and believe in God then we might be able to remember that what seems impossible for us is never impossible for God.  In fact, if we do what Psalm 55 verse 22 called us to do and have cast our cares on the Lord and have truly trusted and believed in the Lord then the words in Philippians 4:13 will make sense; “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
I can do ALL things, not I can do SOME things. Remember there is no limit to the power of God, there is no limit to the power of Jesus.  The words to the old hymn there is power in the blood are true, there is unlimited power and strength in the blood of Jesus.
The power that we can receive from God allows us to be strong,  courageous, steady, enthusiastic and confident that the presence of the Lord in our life will reflect what King David told Solomon in 1 Chronicles 28:20.  “Then David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and courageous, and act; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you until all the work or the service of the house of the Lord is finished.”  
Those words ‘until all the work or the service of the house of the Lord is finished’ pertain as much to us today as it did then.  It is through the power of God, we are able to stay focused on the task at hand and not allow ourselves to be distracted by the little bumps in the road that we encounter.  We won’t become dismayed and frustrated by everything that happens, we won’t become disheartened by our setbacks because we will know that in the end we will be successful.  Now that success may not be what some in the world call success, but it will be the success that God wants for us.