Why so discouraged?

Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and my God!

Psalms 42:11 NLT

It is so easy to get discouraged. Have you ever been talking with someone, anyone, and you are trying to explain something to them. Somewhere along the line they were given bad information but they are now convinced that the previous information is correct. Good luck changing their mind, even if you have a mountain of facts to back you up.

Or maybe you are out of work and you have been applying for job after job. Sometimes you get an interview and are told you are over or under qualified. Other times you do not even get called for an interview. I know people who have been looking for work for well over a year before they finally get a job.

There are so many other examples of things that can get us discouraged and push us to the point of wanting to just give up. 

Discouragement can cause other things too. It can make you depressed. It can cause you to withdraw from others. For some the feeling is like getting punched in the gut. Whatever it is can be unexpected and overwhelming. Thoughts become jumbled. Rational goes out the window.

So, the question then becomes, what do you do when you are discouraged? Who do you turn to? Where can you find hope?

Personally, I turn to God because He gives me hope. Proverbs 3:5 tells us not to lean on our own understanding, but that is what many of us try to do when we get discouraged. In verse 6 it goes on to say that we should “Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.” This takes us back to Psalms 42:11 where it says “I will put my hope in God! I will praise Him again— my Savior and my God!” If we put our hope in God He will guide us through and all the way through we must praise Him for what He is doing in our lives whether we understand or not.