Unfortunately, despair is a feeling that most of us will feel at some time in our life. Perhaps you have lost a loved one, are wandering the wilderness, or feel like life is a struggle. We can fall into despair or shift our mindset and rejoice in our trials. It is possible to find comfort in despair!
Finding Comfort in Despair
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.James 1:2
James tells us that we WILL meet trials. When we do, we should count it all joy. He continues to tell us to ask God for what we need and that we should have faith and not doubt.
Counting it all joy is a mindset shift. Our default is to have a pity party, get angry, or get jealous. How often do you count it all joy when something challenging happens?
Mindset Shift
Fill your mind with things of God. Secular movies and songs seep into your brain, giving you a message that is the opposite of “counting it all joy.” Instead of filling your mind with things that ultimately bring you down, fill your mind with things that lift you. Crank up the worship music. Remind yourself of the God that you love and who loves you!
Spend time connecting with God. Read your Bible. Take comfort in the stories from the past. Learn about the character of God and how He interacts with His children. Read the Psalms. Discover the hearts of those that have gone before you.
Spend Time with God
Pray! Talk to God. He is always listening to you! Go to Him and share your heart. He is the comforter. He is also the one that will give you blessings beyond anything you could imagine.
How is your prayer life? Do you rejoice and pray in all things? Is God your last resort when things are falling apart? Prayer is one of our connections with a God that loves us. It is a tool to grow our relationship with Him. Prayer is also a gateway to hope.
Philippians 4:6 tells us not to be anxious about anything but instead take everything to God, our praises, and our requests. Prayer gives us an outlet to praise God for all He has given us and allows us to bring Him our sorrows and needs. Hope comes in knowing that God hears us.
Examples from the Bible Finding Comfort in Despair
Abraham and Sarah
In Genesis 15, God came to Abraham in a vision and told him that his reward would be very great. Like many of us, Abraham questioned God and reminded Him that he was still childless. Like any good father, God tells him that He will give him a son and make his offspring as numerous as the stars in the sky.
Imagine this moment! God is promising you that He will give you what your heart desires. You are talking with God, and yet you still question His goodness. God then reassures you, and you believe him. Genesis 15:6 says that God counted Abraham’s belief as righteousness.
Time passes, and Abraham and Sarah haven’t had a child yet. At this point, they struggle to trust God with His promise and decide to take things into their own hands. Sarah offers Abraham her servant so that he can have a son. This ultimately caused strife in their relationships.
When Abraham was 99, God came to him again, telling him that He would keep his promise to give him a son and a nation. It is easy for us to think, “If God would just talk to me, then I would believe.” God talked to Abraham and Sarah, and they still struggled to believe His promises. But, they TALKED to God.
Job
Job is a faithful servant of God. God has blessed him abundantly. Satan talks with God and says that Job is only faithful because of the blessings he has received. God permits Satan to take from Job, knowing that Job will remain faithful. Satan takes his livestock, his children, and his health.
Job’s friends and wife tell him to curse God for this incredible loss. Job chooses to continue to trust God and obey Him. He also continues to talk to God. He talks to God, asking for mercy and trying to understand what is happening.
God then eventually restores Job’s life greater than what he had before. Amid Job’s suffering, Job continued to talk to God, and he decided to trust God. Trust didn’t come easy for him, especially with everyone telling him that he was in the wrong, God was punishing him, or that he should curse God. Job chose to keep his faith in God and obey him no matter what God gave or took away from him.
Jesus
Shortly before Jesus’ crucifixion, Jesus went to pray in Gethsemane. He asked his disciples to keep watch, and he went to pray. Jesus prayed so fervently, knowing what would come, that he started bleeding. Have you ever prayed to the point of blood? Jesus prayed that God would remove this cup from him, but ultimately he would go forward if it was the will of God.
Jesus is our example of how we should live and show faith. God did not remove the cup from Jesus, and he was crucified. That being said, Jesus took comfort in talking to the Father. He went to him with his fears and concerns. We should go to God with our fears, desires, and struggles.
God does not promise to take away our hardships, but he promises to go with us. What comfort we have knowing that we are not alone, no matter how challenging life becomes.
Ready for more support? Head to the resource library and print our Comfort in Despair verses to keep with you.
