The best life any person can have is to follow the Lord. God created us with a purpose, so our talents, strengths, weaknesses, abilities, likes, and dislikes were made to help us fulfill that purpose; but, even when we choose to follow and serve the Lord, it isn't always easy. There can be days when even those that love and serve the Lord can wish they were dead. This statement may come as a shock to some, but we see this idea repeated more than once in the Bible.
We find Job cursing the day that he was born (Job 3:1). In other words, Job was saying, "I wish I wasn't alive right now." We find the prophet Jeremiah making a similar statement: "Cursed be the day wherein I was born..." (Jer 20:14). We find the prophet Elijah making a similar statement after one of the greatest exhibitions of God's power (I Kings 19:4). These men of God--Job, Jeremiah, and Elijah--were mighty men of God called and used of God to bear witness to his truth.
The Bible is showing us that times of discouragement come even when we love the Lord and do our best. There will be times when we feel that we aren't making a difference or doing any good when, in fact, we are. I submit that even the apostle Paul got discouraged. We read in Acts 28:15, "And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii forum, and the three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage." The opposite of courage is discouragement. Paul must have been wrestling with discouragement, but when he saw the brethren, he was encouraged.
All of these men went on to become great examples and were victorious in their lives because they didn't follow their feelings but followed the Lord and His truth. If we choose to follow the Lord and his truth rather than feelings, we will have victory in the end also.
