Christian leaders and discouragement

David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God. 1 Samuel 30:6

 Among the files I inherited from my father-in-law Guy Duffield, who spent 70 years in ministry, is an unpublished, mimeographed survey of seven Christian leaders, all of whom were well known in the 1950s and 1960s. Each was asked how he handled discouragement.

One of the seven who responded admitted to chronic and ongoing bouts of discouragement and deep depression. “My emotional range,” he said, “is wider than that of most people with whom I am acquainted. This means that I probably go higher spiritually than a lot of people and I also have deep depression that I hope most individuals are not called upon to endure. In other words, floodtide brings in ebb tide. Ebb tide brings low tide.”

How did he face the day when discouragement was oppressing him? “The only way, the scriptural way, and the victorious way that I have learned to handle discouragement or depression (or whatever you care to name it),” he wrote, “is to walk by faith.” He told how in times of darkness, he would turn to the pages of Scripture and fall back on the certain promises of Christ, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” and “Lo, I am with you always!”

David was tired and discouraged. With their families held prisoner by the enemy, David’s own men were in revolt and even talked of killing him. But he didn’t retreat, run or quit. The Bible says, “David encouraged himself in the Lord his God” (1 Samuel 30:6 KJV). That’s the ultimate solution. It’s the one that never fails.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:32, 33, 35, 36