Day 22: How Despair & Community Impact the Way We Reflect God
of The Heart of God: Through David’s Eyes
Below is Day Twenty-Two of the study, but there is an introduction to check out which gives context and sets the tone, and previous weeks to look at below. If you would like the full content all in one place, this book is now available for purchase on Amazon. Week 1 - He Longs for Us to Know Who We Are
Week 2 - He Longs for Us to Respond
Week 3 - He Longs for Us to Know Him
Week 4 - He Longs for Us to Reflect His Heart
The way that David viewed God impacted not only the way he behaviorally responded to situations that arose in his life, but also in the way he emotionally responded. David was frequently expressing the raw feelings within himself; the good, bad, and ugly. Many of these emotions mirror God’s heart, so for our final weeks of studying David and God’s relationship, we will focus on the way David reflected our God as an empath.
In Psalm 51, we discovered that David had some conventional ways of understanding God that were commonly understood, such as our Judge, our Redeemer, and our Restorer. Other aspects of God that David was aware of come from a more unique perspective, such as: our Benefactor, our Source, and our Reason.
In each of the feelings we will unpack, there is a healthy way God displayed them, distorted ways David misunderstood God’s emotions, and clear ways David attempted to reflect God’s heart by the way he spoke to himself and interacted with others. Before we jump into the emotions that reflect God’s heart, let’s look at one that is most consuming in moments where we distance ourselves from God.
Day 22: How Despair & Community Impact the Way We Reflect God
The absence of God is revealed in the encompassing feeling of despair. Throughout the Psalms, David was constantly facing despair as he forgot God’s goodness, faithfulness, abilities, and character. However, despair is not an emotion related to the current reality one is found in. Despair is a state of hopelessness. It houses confusion, fear, shame, and isolation.
It is hard to wrap my mind around the concept that David, who had faith to defeat a giant, who was confident in God’s power and might, also was so frequently full of despair. It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to read more than a handful of Psalms without hearing David go on and on about his most recent struggle to defeat his deep feelings of loneliness, fear, and confusion.
Why, Lord, do you stand far off?Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? (Psalm 10:1-2)
However, David revealing his struggle reminds us that to have days where despair overwhelms is a part of the human experience. Regardless of the closeness we often feel to God, we are still imperfect humans. It is unreasonable to expect ourselves to trust God every moment of every day. There is great value in sharing in solidarity our inability to overcome despair on our own.
📸 pixabay (via pexels)
Before we discuss many of the emotions we often confuse as negative, it is worth noting that despair is not an emotion that reflects God’s heart. To have despair is a human condition, but we should never encourage others to remain in this empty feeling. Instead, when we struggle with despair, we can share this with those around us and ask them to be near us as we encounter despair. The only things that make despair increasingly significant are what we often want to do: perseverate on our despair and isolate.
As we look at David’s life, he had friends like Jonathan (1 Samuel 20) and Nathan (2 Samuel 12) who kept him safe and held him accountable. He had supportive men whom he referred to as his “Mighty Warriors” (2 Samuel 23) who stood by him in various settings. It took a small army, plus his staff, advisors, wives, and others, in order for David to stay humble and connect with God.
Even with all this help and support, David still failed to live a life absent of despair; so if this is true, perhaps we would all benefit from creating our own “Mighty Warriors” who can support us. I know I have dozens of people in my life who could be listed as those who have supported me through encouragement, accountability, challenging me, and simply loving me as I am. Without many of them, it would be impossible for me to share my heart with you in this vulnerable way.
To avoid sitting in our despair alone, we need to allow others into our inner circles and welcome them to feel alongside us. When we do this together, we imperfectly reflect God’s heart of connection and vulnerability which is the gateway to these other emotions.
When you think of God feeling emotions, which come to mind?
In what context have you previously considered that God is a vulnerable empath? What shows you his compassion and empathy for us?
When you notice you are starting to feel despair, what do you do? What (or who) helps when you feel confused, lonely, or fearful?
An excerpt of The Heart of God: Through David’s Eyes by Jill Ng