Overcoming Discouragement – Part 1

Introduction

Many people feel, discouraged, hopeless, or defeated. They think they have failed at life, or that life has failed them. They may be sure they are destined to live an unsuccessful, miserable life.

There are lots of reasons people feel this way. They might have been unable to get (or keep) a good job, or they were rejected by family and friends. They might live with regrets over past decisions, mistakes, or sins. Or they might simply think they are bad people and that God doesn’t love them.

Make it personal

1. Do you sometimes feel discouraged or hopeless? Briefly explain your answer.

Don’t feel condemned

Other Christians may condemn you for feeling discouraged. They may say a good Christian, you should never feel that way.

Or you might condemn yourself.

Please don’t feel condemned. Many key figures in the Bible also felt discouraged and hopeless. For example:

• Moses felt like giving up (Numbers 11:11-15).
• David was deeply discouraged and in despair (Psalm 38:6).
• Elijah felt discouraged and alone (1 Kings 19:3-4).
• Jeremiah felt defeated and alone (Jeremiah 20:14-18).

You can hear the writers’ deep sense of discouragement in the following two Psalms. (There are many more Psalms with similar passages.)

I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning. (Psalm 38:6)

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” (Psalm 42:2-3)

Make it personal

2. Have you felt condemned because you felt discouraged or hopeless, or did you think there must be something wrong with you?
3. Does reading about people in the Bible who dealt with failure, discouragement, and hopelessness help you to not feel so alone in your feelings? Explain your answer.

God’s intentions for you

Although the Bible shows us that discouragement and hopelessness are common, it doesn’t stop there. It also shows us that God wants to help us, and that as we turn to him, he offers us:

• Abundant life (John 10:10)
• Peace (John 14:27)
• Joy (John 15:11)

As you take steps to overcome discouragement and hopelessness, God will be there to help. I love these encouraging verses:

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. (Psalm 42:5-6)

[God] is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. (Ephesians 3:20)

Let God help you climb out of the pit

If you feel discouraged or hopeless, you may feel as if you are trapped at the bottom of a deep pit. If you allow yourself any hope, it may be that God will do a miracle and lift you out of the pit. But God rarely simply lifts us out of the pit. Rather, he usually puts a ladder into the pit and then helps us climb out. As you study this book, think of each Bible-based point as a rung of a ladder. As you learn and practice these truths, you will be climbing the rungs out of the pit.

Ask God to help you climb.

Ask God to help you grow as you study this book. When you come across verses or ideas that speak to you, write them in a notebook or in the margins of your Bible. Prayerfully refer to them daily.

Don’t be overwhelmed.

Identify one or two things to work on. When these become easier, add a few more to work on.

What do you think?

4. What does “Let God help you climb out of the pit” mean?
5. If you feel discouraged or hopeless, are you willing to climb one rung at a time, or are you going to wait for God to miraculously lift you out of the pit? Explain your answer.

See a doctor if you are severely depressed

If you are battling severe depression, be sure to have a complete physical exam. There may be medical issues that need to be treated. Also seek help from a Bible-based counselor or ministry.

Identify your thought patterns

Many people develop chains of negative thoughts, with one painful thought leading to another and pulling them down into discouragement or hopelessness. Make it your goal to “catch” yourself when you start to slip into that type of thought pattern.

Here’s a typical chain of thoughts that can lead to discouragement or hopelessness:

• The chain may start when someone says something critical to you.
• That makes you think of criticisms voiced by other people.
• That triggers thoughts about how poorly you have done in your career.
• That is followed by thoughts of other failures.
• That moves you into thinking about how you have disappointed your parents.
• This leads to thoughts about what a lousy job you have done as a parent.
• If you are married, soon you start thinking about how unhappy you are in your marriage.
• Your attention then shifts into resentment about how people treat you at church.
• Eventually your thoughts turn to feeling bad about how fat or ugly you think you are.

Examining your thought patterns can be painful. However, it’s a great first step. After all, it’s hard to break a pattern without first recognizing that you have one.

A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. (Proverbs 22:3)

Make it personal

6. Describe your chain of thoughts when you feel discouraged or hopeless.
7. How can you train yourself to identify times when you start to slip into this pattern?

Memory verse

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. (Psalm 42:5-6)

Make it personal

1. Has discouragement or hopelessness been a problem for you? Explain your answer.

2. This study says many discouraged or hopeless people feel as if they are trapped at the bottom of a deep pit. Does this describe how you feel sometimes? Explain your answer.

3. What does it mean to let God help you climb out of the pit?

4. What are some of the key things you feel discouraged or hopeless about?

5. This study talked about identifying a chain of negative thoughts. What does that mean?

6. What is your typical negative chain of thoughts (one thought leading to another thought)? Make a list of the thoughts in your chain, starting with the first thought in the chain.

7. Say a prayer about the first negative thoughts on your list, asking God to help you learn how to “catch” these thoughts before they trigger the whole chain.