April 2005
When we are in the discouragement, we should have three major goals.
Discouragement Is a Part of the Game
by Dennis Peacocke
“For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself.” (2 Corinthians 1:8)
Thank God for your honesty Paul, that even you got thoroughly disgusted with the cards you were playing at times. Imagine history’s greatest Christian example saying, “Hey, enough is enough.” I rejoice in the candor of St. Paul and the courage of the scriptures’ translators to let it all hang out. Sometimes discouragement is the only human response that seems possible. Christians and non-Christians alike experience it. Sadly, too many Christian leaders don’t admit it.
The issue is not that we get discouraged. The issue is how we handle it. When we are in the discouragement we should have three major goals. Firstly, we must recognize when we are in it and not necessarily believe everything we think we see or hear. When discouraged, our eyes and ears usually see and hear things multiple times darker and worse than they really are. Disillusionment is a gift because it means we have the opportunity to actually get free of illusions. Remember, the closer we get to reality, the closer we get to God. Reality can be tough stuff until we appropriately adjust to it.
Secondly, we need to guard our big mouths. Since our words tend to set our course, what we say when we are down should be tempered with lots of self-conscious reservations. The Scripture says that we see light when we walk in the light (reality), Psalm 36:9. When it’s dark, our words tend to become dark which doesn’t help anyone and may actually spin future ditches for us to fall into. Blessed are they who keep their mouths shut and measure their words, knowing they will eat them soon enough.
Thirdly, we need to look for the necessary changes that will get rid of the smelly stuff we’re walking through. Redemptive change often wears a brown coat. The issue is really “interruption”. God uses interruptions first to club us, then re-direct us. If things go “south,” then a direction change is probably coming. The real issue is to get “interrupted” enough to actually change our paradigms, strategies, and behaviors so that when the sun is shining we don’t revert back to what got us in the stuff we just got out of! Sometimes real dark is better than just kind of dark. It makes the interruption deeper, clearer and more permanent.
Those who don’t get discouraged are either playing games with themselves or living in periodic coma. Being discouraged has lots of spiritual warfare around it to be sure, but if we see it for what it can bring to us, we come neither to fear it nor to seek it. So have a good discouragement on me and get something good out of it, and that is...
the bottom line.
