Lives Of Quiet Desperation

 "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."* (Henry David Thoreau in "Economy")

This is so true! I will not try to describe what this statement may have meant to Thoreau or to others. Rather, I would use the words to describe the ordinary life of lost sinners. What do you think? Will that preach? Would that not make for a good sermon or bible lesson?

*The full citation is here: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things..” (Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience and Other Essays)

Desperation is defined generally as a "state of hopelessness." Synonyms are: despair, despond, despondence, despondency, forlornness, hopelessness.

Paul described the life of the sinner who is "without Christ," or lost, in these words:

"That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." (Eph. 2: 12)

But, of believers, who have Christ abiding in them, the same apostle wrote:

"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair." (II Cor. 4: 8)

The saved, having Christ, and being citizens of the "commonwealth" of the redeemed, and the special recipients of the promises of eternal blessedness, can never be left in the lurch, or in distress, or in despair.

Believers experience times of despondency. All come to what John Bunyan, in Pilgrim's Progress, called the "slough" or "swamp" of "Despond," which overtakes and leads some professing believers to turn back to their old life. But, the true believer is able by God's grace (or "Help" in Pilgrim's Progress) to persevere through that awful swamp.

Men learn early in life that they will one day die. That is when desperation of spirit begins to take hold and keeps the soul bound in fear and hopelessness. The "fear of death" is what causes fallen men to "all their lifetime" be "subject to bondage," which bondage surely must include the steady feeling of desperation and destitution. ("And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" - Heb. 2: 15)

The message is simple. Christ is the answer. He is "our hope," our only hope. A man who expects to be delivered will not despair. Faith is the ground of hope, called a "good hope through grace." (II Thess. 2: 16)

Instead of living lives of quiet desperation, we live, as Christians, lives of quiet expectation of deliverance.