God is never discouraged. That may seem like an obvious statement—few people would argue that God has lost hope or is wringing his hands over any of the things that stress us out. But think about the disconnect in our logic. If we believe God is never discouraged about our lives, and if we then get discouraged over whatever is going on our lives, then we are rather boldly saying that we disagree with God.
Does that sound harsh? Perhaps, but it’s meant to be encouraging. If we are discouraged in places where God sees hope, then we are seeing things from the wrong perspective or believing some lie. We can take comfort in the fact that if we saw correctly and knew the truth, we would not be discouraged at all.
That means we can go ahead and choose not to be discouraged—to admit we don’t see the whole picture and agree with God that the whole picture is good. We can affirm that hope is realistic even when we don’t see it. He is not “the God of hope” for nothing. We can live with expectation of God’s goodness in every area of our lives.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)
