I really can’t identify too much with David when he talks about how his enemies number more the hairs on his head and how they hate him. Oh, there are times I think that certain people don’t like me, but usually that is just my own insecurity more than a truth. David, after all, was hated for his zeal for the Lord. I don’t think, to my shame, that my zeal is nearly as strong as David so as to invite violent enemies and the hatred of my own brothers.
However, what I can identify with is David’s anguish and his great desire for God to save him. I think most of us can identify with David’s plea “Let not the flood waters sweep over me.” In Psalm 69 David talks about all these things; how he is hated and persecuted because of his zeal for God. The psalm is one long prayer, and in it we see how the Holy Spirit works in an anguished heart to bring it comfort.
David, as he prayed, was reminded of some compelling facts about God: 
- God’s love is abundant (vs. 13)
- God’s faithfulness is saving (vs. 13)
- God’s love is steadfast and good (vs. 16)
- God’s mercy is abundant (vs. 16)
- God’s salvation can lift us out of despair (vs. 29)
- God is pleased when we praise him in the midst of our despair (vs.31)
And my personal favorite: God hears the needy and does not despise the captive.
We all have been and will again be needy. We all have been held captive. Some are still held captive by various troubles, worries and sins. All these things can weigh heavy on a soul, but for the one who knows that God hears the needy and loves and redeems the captive there is great comfort.
I ask you today, will you love his name and dwell in his presence? It is only as we learn to abide in Christ that we learn to praise God in the midst of our suffering. But it is faith in the truth of what we have said about God today that gives us the courage to abide in him. Know, trust and abide for God hears you.
People are hurting. There is no way around this fact. People all around us are dealing with various degrees of disappointment and sorrow. How do we make sense of this in our lives? What words can we give our suffering friends to comfort them? Where can we look for hope in the midst of our despair?
The short answer to these questions is to focus our attention on God, however this might not satisfy us or our hurting friend if we do not already know why focusing on God gives comfort. We might ask, ‘what is there about God that makes thinking about Him and focusing our attention on Him a means of comfort.’
The answer to this question, the deeper and more effective answer, is found in the scripture’s description of God. We are told that God is our Father. This is a particular truth for those who trust Christ and a promised truth for those who will trust Christ. As our Father, God, who is perfect and holy in everyway, desires for us eternal joy and peace. He knows that this eternal joy and peace is found through perfect holiness. This is why we are commanded by Christ to be holy as our heavenly Father is holy. Through holiness we are guaranteed to find joy and peace.
This may seem insignificant and even trivial to some, but for the one who seriously contemplates this truth there is comfort in the midst of suffering. Of what truth am I speaking? Namely, that God, being a perfect father, knows that for most of us the only means to holiness is through discipline, and therefore, with perfect measure, He disciplines us.
This discipline can take many forms and have as its immediate cause various things. For our purposes we should let it suffice that whenever we suffer, whether because of our sin, the sin of others or the natural disappointments that are a part of life, we are being refined. The yield of this refinement, this suffering, this discipline, ultimately at God’s hands is “the peaceful fruit of righteousness” and the sharing of God’s holiness (Hebrews 12:10-11).
So, when you are looking for comfort in sorrow, when you are looking for comforting words for a friend in despair, it is, indeed, good to point your gaze to God and see Him specifically as your Father, who knows how to give good gifts to you and who knows how to bring you to perfect joy and peace for all eternity. Rejoice in His hand, which shapes you as a potter shapes his clay and know that he is shaping you to be a vessel of noble purpose and exquisite beauty. Take comfort in this as you were meant to.
What do you do when your soul is in despair, when you have lost all hope and find no reason to carry on? What do you do when you feel it would be better to quit your faith than to continue in it? I really would like to know from you your answer to these questions, so please comment.
I find it interesting that when the Psalmist described his soul as being in despair he said “Therefore, I remember you from the land of the Jordan and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.”
In his despair, when his soul was cast down within him he gazed back at the work of God during times of great despair. He remembered how God dried up the waters of the Jordan so Israel could enter the promised land after 40 years of wandering and death in the wilderness. He remembered how God had given Joshua and Israel victory over the Amorities and all the other kingdoms in the promised land. He even remembered how God had protected him from Absalom and given him rest.
In other words, David found that when his soul was in despair his best course was to think about his history with God and the manifold evidences of God’s presence and deliverance in the lives of His people. Somehow, this exercise of remembering brought David comfort in despair. He found solace in thinking about God.
My prayer is that you and I can remember to remember God when we find ourselves most troubled within our souls. How do you overcome despair or find comfort when your soul is cast down within you?
