In times of widespread spiritual decline, it’s only natural to feel the numbing influence of despair creeping steadily into the heart. But this, it turns out, is the problem: despair is natural. It doesn’t proceed from faith.
Despair may best be described as the simple loss of confidence and hope — a kind of resignation that sweeps over the soul in response to some outward pressure or circumstance. Faith would have as its object the indomitable light of God’s glory in the Word and ultimately in the person of Christ. But despair can’t look past the gloom temporarily eclipsing its light, and cripples the heart with constant thoughts of trouble.
We might say despair begins where faith falters.
Feelings of despair are not unfamiliar to the saints. Among the panoply of emotions represented in Scripture, and especially in the Psalms, despair is among one of the most common. As with all sin, it is also one that must be put to death. One of the principle ways we do this is by fixing our eyes on the sure and certain promises of God. We might consider David’s words again: “Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them. For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and the people shall dwell there and possess it; the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.”
Derek Kidner comments helpfully on the note of triumph found in these verses:
“It is striking […] that what is added is not petition but praise; and praise which looks beyond the day of decline and insecurity to the full extent of God’s dominion […] and the perfecting of his people’s inheritance. The psalm is yet another reminder that the most desperate of prayers can end, and rightly so, in doxology.” (Kidner, Psalms 1 – 72, 268)
Every ship needs a heading — a chartered course, a fixed destination, an immovable point toward which it is aimed that keeps the vessel moving unswervingly in the same direction. Human beings are no different. Without a clearly defined telos we are quickly buffeted and blown off course. We become victims of the relentless assaults of despair.
Thankfully, God has given the Scriptures to guide His saints through such danger. In them, we hear the God of Jacob thunder and we are brought back to the orienting centre of all reality: “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Where is the comfort of the people of God found? According to the psalmist, it is found in the remembrance that God has purposed to be exalted in all the earth — and His purposes do not fail.
Thus, when all the world seems to give way, when the fabric of creation itself appears to be unraveling, when that which seemed to be most firm turns out to be brittle and transitory, the Church can rest secure in the knowledge that her covenant Lord will not let His promises become void: Christ will have His inheritance of nations (Ps. 2:8). He will return to be glorified in His saints and marvelled at among all who have believed (2 Thess. 1:10). He will come with His angels in the glory of His Father to repay each person according to what he has done (Matt. 16:27).
Strengthened by the Word of God, our privilege in this fallen age is to look out at the carnage of the world with resolute conviction and conquer despair with hope. For “God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it; the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.”
Come, Lord Jesus!