The Soul in Despair

Psalm 43 – (5) Why are you in despair, O my soul?  And why are you disturbed within me?  Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him,  The help of my countenance and my God. 

The despair of the soul is hard to put into words.  The fact is, that the soul may be in despair due to one of a number of things.  For the Christ follower, the despair of the soul is often a beautiful thing, although not necessarily to the soul in despair.  I say, “beautiful”, because of what if often reveals about a person’s desires.  When a person who has been drawn into relationship with Jesus begins to experience the changes that Jesus brings with him, it is often an agonizing process.  It is beautiful in the sense that what we are often witnessing is a soul that is in the process of releasing its tight grasp of control over its person, and the invitation to Jesus to come and take the reigns of one’s life.  Remember, there is yet the desires of the flesh or “old nature” that wars against this release of control.  This “old nature” no longer has dominion in the life of a Christian, but it seeks still to sabotage every effort at personal and spiritual renewal.

When a person goes from living in darkness to living in the light of God’s grace and love, there are many personal practices that are exposed as those things that no longer belong in the life of this “new” person.  The soul despairs of the rottenness of previous and still current behaviors, realizing that these things that were so cherished before, no longer have a place in the new administration of Christ in our lives.  So, there is this struggle that takes place because the new heart of Christ in us loathes these things while the “old nature” tenaciously clings to them.  There is a war within us and the presence of despair tells me that Christ is unseating the old powers that once reigned in our lives.  Not only are they unseated, but they are replaced with new desires and passions.  As the beauty of Christ dawns on us, we begin to see in Him all that we need to be content, all that we need to be right with God.  So despair is quite natural, or should I say spiritual, in this scenario because despair is the realization that we are not sufficient and our rottenness works against us in our efforts at self-justification.  Therefore, only Christ will do for us.

So we can say that despair is what opens our eyes to the beauty of Christ, because he alone is the goodness that makes us right with God.  He alone is the source of our hope.  When our soul is disturbed it is because more of the worldly, materialistic bent is being wrenched from our grasp by the powerful and liberating work of Christ in us.  As this is happening, it is uncomfortable to the soul.  If you are a new Christian, or you are becoming a Christian, this is not an uncommon experience.  Be encouraged, God is at work in you and as the verse above states, God is the “help of your countenance”.  What this means in common vernacular is “God is the one who lifts your face”.  In other words, God transforms the downcast soul, to the soul that realizes its position and place in Christ, “co-heirs” with Him.  So, He will lift your face, he will heal your soul, and your joy will be made full.  Hang in there.  God loves you and will not leave you in despair.

About

We are a new church plant on the west side of Atlanta in the Austell and Mableton area. At the Journey, we are trying to re-form the church around the teachings and example of Jesus Himself while building relational bridges to people in the current culture. Out with the self-righteous, judgmental attitudes and the useless religious traditionalism, and in with the fresh wind of the timeless teachings of love and forgiveness, acceptance and repentance. Come and find a home at The Journey.