I have run out of courage… not energy, not willpower, just courage. I have become discouraged.
The dictionary says it’s when you have become deprived of courage and turned from gaining hope and faith to losing hope and faith. Dispirited.
It’s subtle and it’s gradual and then all of a sudden it’s there, and you wonder… why bother? It really doesn’t make a difference whether I stay or go.
This state of discouragement is probably the enemy’s best weapon to make an effective Christian, ineffective and blunt.
King David was probably the biblical figure that speaks the most about discouragement (and rightly so…) but he is also the one I turn to when trying to get out of my funk. Because David was a warrior in being and remained one at heart and knew that certain weapons are good for certain types of combat. There was a time for a slingshot and a time for a short sword and sometimes you need a spear or even a bow.
As a weapons master, he went to the strongest weapon of all to turn fear into Faith, anxiety into peace and discouragement into Courage: Worship
“I will worship you, Yahweh, with extended hands as my whole heart erupts with praise! I will tell everyone everywhere about your wonderful works! I will be glad and shout in triumph. I will sing praise to your exalted name, O Most High.”
(Psalms 9:1–2 TPT)
Just a side note on something that caught my eye. There is a note in the Bible that says this psalm was set to music and the Hebrew name of the tune: “The death of a son”
In sadness and discouragement, David turned to His weapon. Yahweh. The one that said to Moses in Exodus, tell them “I Am” sent you.
The thing is that English cannot properly translate that… I Am. We think of it as Similar to “I exist”. But it is so much more. In Hebrew it is actually a verb. An action
I Am, here, creating, being, influencing, shaping… present.
God is not saying “I exist”.
God is saying, I Am Present, here, next to you, with you…
David doesn’t call on God to please come. He worships the One that is Present and Powerful and ALREADY by his side!
There is a story about a military leader in the desert, caught by his enemies out in the open, his words his men: “this is great news! Now they have nowhere to hide!”
I think this is how it feels like when you face troubles with God next to you… they have nowhere to hide! Worship the king of Glory!
