Faith Fighting Despair

Scripture Reading: Psalm 42-43

If I should despair, I would make you no God, and make Christ no Christ.

              This was a prayer of the Puritan pastor Richard Baxter. At first glance, the logic seems clear. The one who despairs says something, not only about himself but about God. But why does a man pray such a thing to begin with? Without direct evidence, but with reason and biblical support, I think I know why. He prays this way because he is struggling against feelings of despair. Only a man who feels discouraged talks this way.

              I don’t believe when Baxter said, “if I should despair,” he was speaking of a hypothetical which could never be a reality. No, he spoke this way because he felt the ominous threat of despair creeping up and casting its dark shadow over his soul. That is my theory.

              It is, I believe, important to recognize the likelihood of the scenario I am suggesting. If someone who is despairing might read Baxter’s prayer as a condemnation. For example, it might sound like, “If you feel despair you are practically an atheist and anti-Christ. How dare you.” That is not helpful to the person who is depressed. Hearing Baxter that way will more than likely exacerbate the despairing mood. On the other hand, if we read Baxter as one who is fighting against despair through his prayer, it sheds light on how we might wage our battle against our dark days.

              We have biblical grounds to think this about what Baxter was doing. We see this approach in Psalms 42 and 43. The Psalmist repeatedly prays, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Have hope in God…” This seems to me to be closer to what Baxter was praying. He was, in prayer, preaching to himself. He was calling upon his soul to have hope in God, to have faith in Christ.

              This is one of the ways the believer fights against the temptation to despair. Confess its presence and put it in the light of the reality of God. Fight for faith, because faith is the shield in our battle against the enemies of our soul. Preach the gospel to yourself. Call upon your soul to hope in God.