Praising God In Discouragement

Discouragement is as common to the human experience as birth and death. All of us know what it is to suffer loss, disappointment, and heartache. Some pains are temporary and relatively minor, others are lifelong and heart-stabbing.How should we handle these inevitable seasons of discouragement that come into our lives? In the 42nd psalm, David models for us the way to battle our way out of pits of despair: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” (5). And among the weapons in his arsenal is this perhaps-surprising confidence: “I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.”How can David be so certain that all this pain will result in his praising God and God delivering him? Well, it has to do with the nature of all pain, and with the nature of God.