Do Not Lose Heart
When Spiritual Discouragement Hits
There are seasons in the Christian life when the soul feels weary, heavy, and ready to give way. The Word of God does not ignore that struggle. It speaks plainly to the discouraged heart, and it points us to the only true remedy: the sustaining grace of our God.
Proverbs tells us, “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.”(Prov. 24:10). That verse searches us. It humbles us. And yet it also describes us more often than we would like to admit. Many of us know what it is to speak courage to others and then tremble when trouble comes to our own door. Job strengthened the hands of others, yet staggered under his own sorrow. Jeremiah cried, “My joy is gone; grief is upon me; my heart is sick within me.”(Jer. 8:18). So let us be honest before God: losing heart is not a distant problem. It is a battle many of the Lord’s people know well.
God Calls Us to Courage, Not Collapse
But hear the call of God to His people: we are not summoned to collapse, but to courage. When Israel was prepared for battle, the command was, “let not your heart faint” (Deut. 20:3). Why? Because fear spreads. Discouragement weakens. A faint-hearted spirit does not stay private for long; it touches others. Yet Scripture also sets before us a better example. Gideon and his men were “exhausted yet pursuing” (Judg. 8:4). They were tired, but they did not turn back. They were worn, but they kept going. And the church at Ephesus was commended because it had labored and had not fainted (Rev. 2:3). This is the kind of steadfastness the Lord works in His people.
Our Lord Himself teaches us to “pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). Beloved, prayer is not a side matter in weary times; it is heaven’s appointed means for keeping the heart from giving way. We must not faint in ministry, for we have received mercy (2 Cor. 4:1). We must not faint under hardship, but look unto Jesus, who endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest we be wearied and faint in our minds (Heb. 12:3). We must not faint under chastening, but receive the Father’s hand with humility (Heb. 12:5). And we must not faint in ordinary obedience, because God has promised that in due season we shall reap, if we faint not (Gal. 6:9). The Christian life is not a call to ease; it is a call to endure by grace.
What to Do When You Feel Faint
Then what are we to do when the heart begins to fail? We are to run to the Lord. Our Savior is full of compassion toward the weary and scattered (Matt. 9:36). When Jonah said, “When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord” (Jonah 2:7), he showed us the right instinct of a sinking soul. When Israel was hungry, thirsty, and overwhelmed, they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them (Ps. 107:5–6). When the Psalmist confessed, “My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in your word”(Ps. 119:81), he taught us where to stand when strength is gone. So, when you are losing heart, remember the Lord, cry unto the Lord, and hope in the Word of the Lord.
The Great Promise of Isaiah 40
Nowhere does Scripture speak more tenderly to the exhausted believer than in Isaiah 40:28–31. Here the Spirit of God lifts our eyes away from our weakness and fixes them upon the greatness of our God. Verse 28 reminds us that the One we trust never grows tired: “…The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary…” Men faint. Ministers faint. Fathers and mothers faint. Even the strongest saint has his limits. But our God never weakens, never tires, never needs recovering, and never fails in His care for His people.
And because He never faints, He gives strength to those who do. Verse 29 says, “He gives power to the faint.” What a word for weary saints. God does not merely admire our need from a distance; He meets it with His own sufficiency. Verse 30 strips us of self-confidence, reminding us that even the young men shall utterly fall. Natural strength cannot carry us all the way home. But verse 31 gives us the blessed answer: “but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” The secret of enduring strength is not found in pushing harder, but in waiting humbly, trustfully, and expectantly upon the Lord.
Waiting Is Not Weakness
Let us learn, then, that waiting upon God is not weakness, but wisdom. It runs against our flesh. We want quick relief, immediate answers, and visible results. But the Lord often brings His people to the end of themselves so that they might discover afresh that their strength is not in themselves at all. And perhaps that is where some are today: tired in heart, weary in prayer, and ready to give up. Hear the Word of the Lord: do not cast away your confidence. Believe to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Say with the Psalmist, “I had fainted, unless I had believed.” And then obey the exhortation that follows: “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord” (Ps. 27:13–14 KJV).
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
