Discouraged With God

Being discouraged is part of being human. You can’t hit a curve ball. You can’t get a date. You can’t catch a break. You are discouraged.

God is not exempt from the list from of sources of human discouragement. Humans get discouraged with God. The celebrity lineup of those who became discouraged with God would include Abraham (Gen. 15:2), Moses (Exo. 5:22-23), Job, the Psalmists (i.e. Psalm 79:5), and almost every minor and major prophet from Isaiah to Obadiah. The characters of Scripture were flesh, blood, and feelings just like you and I. They experienced discouragement.

We become discouraged with God when He doesn’t meet our expectations. Moses rants, “O LORD, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and YOU HAVE NOT DELIEVERED YOUR PEOPLE AT ALL (Exodus 5:22-23).” There is a formula common to our rants, expectation + failure = why? What makes discouragement with God more painful is that we believe He should help us hit curve balls, get dates, catch breaks, and topple pharaohs. After all, isn’t He our Almighty curve ball hitting, date fetching, dispenser of the lucky break?

It is very human to be discouraged with God. It is very human to give God our demands. It is very God not to meet human expectations.

Moses could not envision deliverance without release. Job could not imagine answers given in the form of questions. Abraham could not envision being a father without a son. Yet in the end all of these men found God to be a divine paradox. There is more to deliverance than release. There are answers in questions. There is much more to being a father than simply having a child.

There is nothing human about being divine. We become discouraged with God because we are human and He is God. It is frustrating to be wrong.

God throws curve balls. Did you ever stop to think that maybe the purpose of the curve ball is not for you to hit it, but to appreciate the spin? Curve balls are a freak of nature. Maybe you would be less discouraged if you realized sometimes the purpose of life is not to hit the ball, but simply to watch God pitch.