This is a season of discouragement. Disappointments. People who let us down. Situations that didn't pan out like we thought they would. Our own failures. Prayers that were not answered in our time or our desire. Discouragement sets in, and we feel downcast. What happened? It comes down to, quite simply, lack of hope. Hope failed, hope ceased, what we hoped for has not come...sometimes that hope suffered a complete fatality and hopelessness sets in because we realize or at least believe we can never get that person/thing back.
We all go through times of discouragement. It is universal among human beings. When we are low and others are up, it's easy to fall into the comparison trap, which makes discouragement worse.
What happens when we get fixated on our problems is that we get our eyes off Jesus, the only One who really matters. We need to remember that our "faith and hope are in God". I Peter 1:21
When we are looking to people or circumstances or things for our comfort, identity, meaning, etc....we are putting our hope in those and not in God. When we pulls those things out from under us, we realize we have been standing or depending on the wrong things.
We want comfort. Jesus wants growth. We want things to be easy. Jesus wants us to have faith and dependence in Him. We put importance in our ideals and our reputation. Our Father wants us to seek only His glory. Especially for women, relationships are what give us identity and meaning. Jesus wants us to put our relationship with Him first. We trust in our own abilities and depend on our own strength or accomplishment. Jesus wants us to depend entirely upon Him.
It is crucial to have a conscious understanding of this, because it helps us to realize God is actually FOR us. Growth, change, discomfort, pain, lack of material things, disappointments, and loss are all hard. But we MUST realize that our Father desires so much more for us than our selfish and earthly desires. He wants us to pursue Him, to hunger and thirst for Him, to desire to do His will, to live for His honor and glory, to depend entirely on Him. He wants to literally be our all in all. And He will not settle for less. When He becomes our whole object, discouragement will cease because He cannot fail or discourage us or leave us.
So when He allows things in our lives that get us really down, a good thing to ask is, "have I been seeking God with my whole heart?" Not possessions, or status, or acceptance, or praise, or meaning, or anything else. Just pursue Jesus with passion and purpose. Then we will be filled with hope. And joy. And peace. And abundant life!
"My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him." Psalm 62:5
"....we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul." Hebrews 6:18-19
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