Do you ever feel discouraged? It’s such a stark place where you can no longer see possibility. I can’t help but think that’s what Moses felt here in Numbers 32. Did he think, “Here we go again!” when the Reubenites and Gadites approached him and all the leaders of the community for them to stay in the land east of the Jordan while the other tribes all crossed over to take the land God had promised them? Was he afraid they would have to wander in the wilderness yet again because of their unwillingness to do as God wanted them to do? He was so discouraged his first instinct is to call them a brood of vipers. v. 1-15.

Isn’t that how we feel when we grow discouraged? Angry, wandering in a wilderness of sadness and not knowing the way out. I felt discouraged this morning and honestly didn’t want to get out of bed. It’s winter. I don’t like winter. It takes more energy to get up and everything feels like a weight.

In his discouragement, Moses could only see the negative. Patiently, they explained they wanted to only build pens for their many livestock, and cities for their women and children but that they, the men, would go with their brethren to fight before the Lord to secure their land until every tribe had their inheritance. The Gadites and Reubenites answered, “Your servants will do what the Lord has said. We will cross over before the Lord into Canaan armed, but the property we inherit will be on this side of the Jordan.” v. 31-32. Moses agreed.

It’s easy to not even think about what it must have been like for the people then. That was so very long ago. But we do understand discouragement today. How can we not? When I took my sadness to God this morning in prayer, He reminded me sadness is not weakness. He understands. Reading The Chosen 40 Days With Jesus Book Two Day 39 titled Compassion: {Jesus has compassion for those who suffer. That’s what He continues to do. Before Jesus hung on a cross. Before He touched the sick and diseased. Before He taught in a synagogue or preached His first message, Jesus expressed His deep compassion for man by becoming one. He was the incarnate expression of His Father’s tender heart toward His sheep. Without Him, we are as harassed and helpless as the crowds Jesus walked through. He knows our needs. He sees our suffering. He understands our pain. It is by His wounds we are healed and through His Spirit we are taught, touched, invited, and led. That is compassion. That is perfect love.}

I can bring my everything to God. He understands. Sharing my life with Him reminds me I am never alone. He walks right with me through discouragement, sadness, need. For in Christ all the fulness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. Colossians 2:9-10. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” (Gen.1:3), made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:6. Some days I feel that jar of clay acutely and I have zero power. He reminds me His light shines in my heart and is a tender flame that will never go out. Jesus understood sadness. He looked to the Father. The Father strengthened Him through the Holy Spirit. He strengthens us by encouraging us through discouragement, pain, hardship, through every need. Take His hand. He’s here. Tell Him. He knows. He understands. You are never alone. The Lord who understands is our Shepherd. Listen to His voice as he loves you.