IT is probably safe to make the prediction that not a single individual who reads the word discouragement will wonder what phase of human experience is referred to. The feeling of discouragement has been shared so universally by all the sons of men, that there is probably no one who will fail to recognize it with more or less familiarity, and all will agree, despite familiarity, that it is one of the worst enemies of mankind, and one from which all are endeavoring to escape.
The possession of an abundance of good courage is recognized by all as a very desirable characteristic, and anything which tends to lessen or destroy this courage cannot but be deplored. Happiness and discouragement can no more dwell together than can light and darkness mingle; yet how to avoid the onslaughts of this mortal enemy is a problem that has puzzled mankind throughout the centuries. Men have seen tares and thistles springing up where they expected good grain, and have found the mocking mirage where they thought they saw pure, cool water, and they have come to imagine that there was some contrary law at work to turn aside their good purposes and thwart their right endeavors. So long as they have relied upon human sympathy for assistance, and upon human advice for instruction, they have found little to assure them of continued success in their enterprises. It is only when reliance has been placed upon something above the material that the inspiration of true courage has been realized.
David's pathway was often beset with difficulties, and he passed through many bitter experiences, yet after all these his faith in the ultimate triumph of good was so exalted that he broke forth in psalms of praise to God; and his counsel was to trust in God and not to rely on one's own understanding. Jeremiah too has left us comforting words as an antidote for discouragement: "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." Such a man is so well grounded in truth, and has his confidence in the eternal good so well established, that he will go on growing no matter what may occur; the drought or the flood or the heat or the cold cannot affect him, for he knows that these are as passing shadows which cast a gloom for a time, but are neither genuine nor permanent.
