There is a story about Martin Luther (1483 -1546) going through a period of discouragement and depression. For days his long face graced the family table and dampened the family’s home life. One day his wife came to the breakfast table all dressed in black, as if she were going to a funeral service. When Martin asked her who had died, she replied, “Martin, the way you’ve been behaving lately, I thought God had died, so I came prepared to attend His funeral.” Her gentle but effective rebuke drove straight to Luther’s heart, and as a result the great Reformer resolved never again to allow worldly care, resentment, depression, discouragement, or frustration to defeat him. By God’s grace, he vowed, he would submit his life to the Saviour and reflect His grace in a spirit of rejoicing, whatever came. We too should determine never to behave as if God has died whenever we are facing difficult situations. Rather we should receive grace to praise God and encourage ourselves in Him. We shouldn’t wait until we feel like praising God before we praise Him, we will never do it. Instead we should just do it and then we’ll feel like praising God. Lastly, learn from the story of Biblical David at Ziglag after the Amalakites attacked. Imagine if he didn’t encourage himself in the Lord. He wouldn’t have been able to pursue and overtake the enemy and recover all. Don’t let anything stop you from praising God and trusting Him!
Credit: Billy Graham for Martin Luther’s story
