Are you struggling with discouragement? Are the weight of your circumstances making it hard to move forward? Most of us battle discouragement. And in some seasons, it is a daily battle.

David writes about this in Psalm 42 “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? ‭Psalms‬ ‭42:5‬a ‭NIV‬‬

This struggle that David is writing about..is REAL. It’s so easy to get discouraged and wrestle with this inner turmoil. It’s normal to be asking WHY..to be fixed on the why. And it can be so exhausting.

The verb discourage has roots in the French word descouragier, which comes from des-, meaning “away,” and corage, or “courage.” So when you discourage someone, you can think of it as taking his courage — or enthusiasm — away.
From vocabulary.com

What takes away our courage? What sucks the enthusiasm out of life? It could be; unfulfilled expectations, loss of a relationship, money problems, relapse, toxic habits, or marriage struggles. Depending on our circumstances, the smallest thing can get us discouraged.

So, how do we flip the switch? How do we deal with our downcast souls?

We start with courage.

“Courage is a heart word. The root of the word courage is cor – the Latin word for heart. In one of its earliest forms, the word courage meant “To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.” Over time, this definition has changed, and today, we typically associate courage with heroic and brave deeds. But in my opinion, this definition fails to recognize the inner strength and level of commitment required for us to actually speak honestly and openly about who we are and about our experiences — good and bad.”

Brene Brown

I believe David has something similar in mind with one caveat; Courage is speaking honestly about our situation, about who we are AND about who God is. This verse doesn’t show that God is directly speaking to David’s soul rather, David is speaking to his soul about who God is.

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? ‭ Now, the rest of the verse , Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation” ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭42:5‬ ‭ESV

We battle discouragement by choosing to hope. One way to view hope is, to take courage in something that isn’t always tangible. It’s to grab a hold of truth when we don’t feel it or haven’t yet seen it. It’s to hope in something bigger and more powerful than ourselves or circumstances. It’s to lean into the discomfort of our insecurities and insufficiency.

Courage isn’t a feeling, it’s a choice. A choice to move forward when your feelings are screaming for you to go the opposite direction. David said, “for I will! Don’t wait for your feelings to change, speak truth to your soul like David did. Speak truth to your soul that you and I have a God that we can hope in.