Lesson 18: Now - How Do I Get Beyond Despair? (1)

We talked about hard questions in the last few lessons. This lesson we expand on that theme to the next level after hard questions – despair. Where does despair come from? For us despair comes mainly from three sources: sin in our lives, failure, or the lack of control over some thing or event in our lives. The question of sin may be either something we don't want to give up or something we cannot give up (addiction). In either instance we need to run to 1 John 1:9 and confess our sin to Jesus. The promise is that He will forgive us; He will forgive us every time. He will forgive us even when we don't deserve to be forgiven. In the case of addiction, outside assistance may well be needed to help you after you have acknowledged and confessed the addiction as sin. Needing help is never a sign of a lack of faith – it is only an acknowledgement that you can’t do it on your own. Get the help you need.

The question of failure may not necessarily be a question of sin. If it is, then the above paragraph is our solution. If sin is not involved, if we have done what God asked us to do and the result was not what we expected, we can still be discouraged because of failure. In this case we are listening to our own feelings for a definition of success rather than trusting God's word that says it will never return to God without accomplishing everything He sent it to do (Isaiah 55:11). Whenever we feel we are a failure or that something we have tried to accomplish is a failure, we must turn to Psalm 73:26 which says, "my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”


The third common reason for despair is because we feel that we have no control over our lives. This can be anything from our relationships to the illness or death of someone we love. We are very good at playing the "if" game whereby we imagine all the perfect situations or circumstances that would have allowed us to do or accomplish what we wished. Life, however, rarely gives us perfect circumstances and almost never gives us total control in any of our decisions. The only thing that we can control is how we see the circumstances we are in. We must see them as God sees them, and God has told us that our only responsibility is not success but seeking "first His kingdom and His righteousness" in everything that touches our lives (Matthew 6:33).

We want to look at an attitude far more relevant to the question of despair – the question of Christian works. We will study this in more detail in the next few lessons.