Hope and Joy instead of Doubt and Despair

After over sixty years as a child of God, I continue to plunge into doubt and despair instead of living in hope and joy. I despair when I harbor the same sinful attitudes I struggled with in my twenties. I still become frustrated and overwhelmed when it feels like I’ve lost control. I often ask God to help me overcome temptations. But when I pray and nothing much changes, I struggle to maintain my faith. I am tempted to doubt both God’s love and his power to do what I have requested. I don’t think I’m the only one.

Revelation of God's glory in this photo of a double rainbow in Canyonlands National Park
Hope and joy in the Storms of Life
Photo by David Menne

David Felt Fear

It turns out that even some Bible heroes struggled with temptation and sin. David did, and he wrote songs about it. Psalm 18 is an example. According to the title, David wrote this Psalm after one of his narrow escapes from one of King Saul’s attempts to kill him.

David was human, just like us. Sure, he killed the giant Goliath. But he also feared for his life several times. He expressed those fears in verses 4 and 5 of the psalm. “The cords of death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me, the cords of Sheol (death and the grave) entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.” David felt like an animal caught in the cords of a snare that twists tighter and tighter as he struggles to get away. Bottom line: He feared for his life.

God Loved and Protected David

David had experienced God’s help in lots of scary situations. So, instead of giving in to his fear, he chose to

cry out to God for help (Verse 6). One time, David was hiding from King Saul in a cave. Unfortunately, the king needed to use the bathroom and sought privacy in David’s hiding place. Saul was so close to him that David was able to cut off a corner of his robe (1 Samuel 24:1-4). The only reason David escaped with his life was because God made him invisible in the darkness of the cave.

When David felt trapped and helpless, he first focused God’s power. In Psalm 18:7-15, David uses vivid images to describe the Lord’s infinite power and love toward those who find their faith wavering. He mentions how God made the mountains shake and blew away the water of the sea to expose the foundations of the earth. His words remind us that God did those very things for the Israelites when they escaped from Egypt. We can also discover what God can do for any of his children by remembering stories from Scripture. And we can use David’s writing to give us words to pray when life is overwhelming.

Pray Scripture to Renew Hope and Joy

This is how I apply this Psalm when I am distressed. “He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters” (Verse 15). This reminds me of how God grabbed hold of my heart as a child. He saved me and protected me as I grew up.  For instance, I could have drowned in an ocean of anger, selfishness, and rebellion as a teenager. Even now, God draws me out of the pits I fall into because of sins of pride, self-centeredness, and negativity.

In Christ, you can have hope and joy in the middle of a storm.
Storms of Life

“He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me” (Verse 17). God absolutely rescued me from the clutches of Satan. Now he saves me when I become overwhelmed when my computer becomes my enemy. If I remember to cry out to God in that situation, the difficulty shrinks to a manageable state. My heartbeat slows down, and I remember that I’m married to tech-savvy man who is willing to help. In this way, the enemy does not defeat me just because I hit the ‘delete’ key instead of “return”.

David continues, “They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support” (Verse 18). My enemies don’t carry guns or swords. It’s schedule interruptions, bodily weaknesses, and machines that get me down and frustrate me. When I realize I am descending into spiral of negativity, I need to stop, breathe, and pray. That’s how I lean on God’s strength instead of my own. He always supports me because he loves me and is bigger than all my various enemies.

Hope and Joy will Defeat Doubt and Despair

Because I am God’s child, he frees me from all sorts of dangers. A rotten, selfish attitude or sickness may hold me captive. I may despair over a burned casserole or a broken egg on the kitchen floor. I could also grieve with a loved one or become irate after hearing about severe domestic violence. Any of these situations and more can rob me of hope and joy. But no matter what causes my despair, God will do for me what he did for David. He tells us the results of God’s rescue plan in Psalm 18:19. “He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.”

At any moment in any stress-filled or weary day, children of God can choose to live in the broad place God has provided. We can stop living in fear and depression because God loves us. In fact, he delights in us. And, he has the power to release us from anyone or anything that threatens us. He moved heaven and earth to help the Israelites and mad David invisible. He’ll do the same for us. So, let’s stop doubting and start trusting our loving and powerful God. If we will do that, we can walk through the trials and traumas of life with hope and joy instead of doubt and despair. After all, we are children of the Creator and Ruler of everything that exists.

Note: Daniel is another Bible hero who experienced God’s deliverance. Read a story in Daniel 6.

Escape from Guilt and Shame: God’s Remedy

I wonder if even one person in all of history has arrived at adulthood without feeling guilt and shame. As humans, we seem to have a continual sense of shame hovering just below the surface of our consciousness. We might even remember the guilty feelings that descended on us when a parent or teacher said, “Shame on you!” Shame is so pervasive that whole societies are built on the concepts of honor and shame. One receives honor if he adheres to the norms; but is shamed if he does not. Feelings of guilt and shame are everywhere. Why is that so? Can I escape from those feelings?

Escape From the Land of If Only is available as an eBook, paperback book, and as a Hardback book. The cover image portrays a woman who is looking with hope up towards a source of light.
Escape From the Land of If Only
By Martha E Menne

My new book, Escape from the Land of If Only, has a chapter devoted to the subject of Guilt ad Shame. You can ORDER it on Amazon.  You can read an overview of my book right here on my website.

The Origin of Guilt and Shame

We are born in shame, but God can cancel it out.
We are born in shame, but God can cancel it out.

To answer that question, we have to go back to the very beginning of human existence. Sin, guilt, and shame are the results of Adam and Eve eating fruit from the one tree in the Garden of Eden God told them to leave alone. As soon as they took the first bite, our first parents felt guilty and ashamed. They reacted by diving into the bushes to hide from God (Genesis 3).  

Mankind has been hiding from God ever since. Even while we’re hoping he doesn’t notice that we are sinful and full of shame, we yearn for a way to get back into his good graces. We try to please him by keeping rules and thinking good thoughts. We attempt to conform our actions to the norms of society, thinking that might do the trick. But it seems like we fail more often than we succeed. Rather than getting close to God, we find ourselves in an endless cycle of disobedience, guilt and shame, confession, and resolutions to do better. But we just keep messing up. And after every offense, we suffer guilt and shame again. We are helpless and hopeless when it comes to pleasing God.

God’s Plan to Take Away our Guilt and Shame

Realizing our dilemma, God made a plan to remove our guilt and shame. And he worked out his plan throughout history. He established commandments so people would know right from wrong. But when they broke a commandment, they felt guilt and shame. So, God instituted animal sacrifices as a tangible way for them to experience his forgiveness. During the Old Testament period, God instructed his people to offer animal sacrifices to remove their guilt. But the blood of bulls and goats didn’t really cover their sin. We humans need a perfect and effective sacrifice to remove our sinfulness and free us from guilt.

God provided just such a sacrifice by sending his Son to earth in human flesh. As a man, Jesus suffered the same temptations we do. But because he was also God, he was able to resist them (Matthew 4:1-11). That’s why he could be the sacrifice that paid the death penalty we deserve because of our sin. God graciously placed our guilt and shame on Jesus as he died on the cross. He accepted the blood of his Son as the perfect and effective covering we need for our sin, guilt, and shame.

How we Benefit from God’s Plan

God made the plan and gave his Son to die as the perfect and effective sacrifice. So how do we take advantage of his plan? First, we have to agree with God that we have broken his holy standards of behavior. We have all lied, cheated, lusted, and hated, if not in overt actions at least in our minds. Then we must believe that Jesus is the sacrifice God accepts to cover our sins. His death on the cross paid our penalty. So, God can forgive all our past, present, and future sins and failures. He places them on Christ and gives us his perfection. Since Jesus paid our sin debt, we are able to come out from behind the bushes where we have been hiding in guilt and shame. In fact, he allows us into his presence so we can enjoy an intimate relationship with him.

Once God has removed our sins in response to our faith, he sees only the perfection of his Son when he looks at us. He takes away our sin, guilt, and shame and covers us with the goodness of Jesus. He promises to care for us, guide us, and transform us into godly obedient servants in his kingdom. Without Jesus, we are helpless and hopeless to take care of our guilt and shame. But God is ready to remove them and make us new. This is our hope for this life and for eternity.

Here is a link to an article about how to deal with shame biblically. https://unlockingthebible.org/2018/06/four-responses-when-ashamed/

How can I know if I am a christian? Check out this article: Salvation

Who Can I Trust?

Who can I trust? This is an image of a distrustful looking man.  The image displays the words: "Well, aren't we distrustful?"
The Damaging Consequences of Distrust

Who can I trust? Your father abused you. Someone spread a nasty rumor about you at work. Your marriage just ended in divorce. After an angry quarrel, you fear your sister will never speak to you again. These and many other traumatic events make a person wonder: ‘Can I trust anyone ever again?” 

The Damaging Consequences of Distrust

Flawed human beings may have abused you, abandoned you, or betrayed you. We recognize that as part of life, but it always hurts. The emotional pain of a broken relationship made you afraid to trust others. You wonder if your next relationship will be a dismal failure like all the rest have been. You hate being alone but the idea of giving anyone else access to your heart terrifies you. You can only recover from this kind of emotional damage by beginning to trust someone. In order to do that you will need to find an extremely trustworthy person. You need a friend who will never abandon you or betray you. 

The Perfect Trustworthiness of Jesus

No one is more trustworthy than Jesus, the perfect Son of God. He promised to never leave or forsake those who believe in him for salvation (Mark 16:7). Consider how faithful he was to his less-than-outstanding disciples. The twelve disciples were walking with Jesus on the way to Jerusalem—and the cross. But James and John wanted to advance their positions in Jesus’ kingdom. On the sly, they asked Jesus to let them be on his right and left when he became king. They even got their mother involved (Mark 10:37, 40; Matthew 20:20). Jesus didn’t kick them out for being so selfish. He didn’t even tell them to go to the end of the line as they walked along the road. He simply stated that he wasn’t in charge of the seating chart in heaven. His father was.

Jesus also refused to tell Peter to get lost after his dismal failure on the night before the crucifixion. At that time, Peter denied he knew Jesus because he feared—get this—a servant girl. But after he rose from the grave, Jesus sent an angel to invite the disciples, including Peter, to meet with him Galilee (Mark 16:7). While there, the Jesus engaged Peter in a conversation designed to make Peter realize he truly loved him (John 21:15-19). After Jesus forgave Peter, he entrusted him with the task of caring for Jesus’ followers. Peter rose to the challenge, as we see throughout the first half of the book of Acts.

Take God at His Word

Jesus could have scolded Peter, James, and John. He could have replaced them with others who would be braver and less selfish. But he didn’t because he is a trustworthy person who is loving and faithful by nature. He could not cast them out without betraying their trust and that of his Father. 

Jesus will be just as gracious to you as he was to his disciples, even though they acted like jerks. Because he is absolutely trustworthy, the Son of God who died for you will never break your heart. He will not abandon you or abuse you. Jesus’ lavish grace and compassion make it possible for you to answer the question “Can I trust anyone ever again?” You can say without hesitation, “Yes, I can trust Jesus. He won’t let me down.” 

Other Resources

Group Publishing and Christian Endeavor have used my writings for their Youth Bible Studies. Check another of my blog articles: Which Religion is True