Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.
- Micah 7:18
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
- 1 John 1:19
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
- 2 Corinthians 4:7-12
“Despair is a greater sin than any of the sins which provoke it.”
- C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
In C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, he was whimsical in that he imagined what a senior demon (or devil) would write to a junior demon. In the preface, he speaks of two errors when it comes to demons. One is that we think too little of them. The other is that we think too much of them. In other words, they exist, and they constantly cause us mischief, but only if we let them. If we focus on the one third of the angels that fell along with Satan, we forget the two-thirds of the angels that stand by our side. God is more powerful. God is everywhere. Satan is in one spot although his fallen angels are scattered everywhere. Even then, God’s angels outnumber Satan’s fallen angels two to one. But one thing you can learn from the first two chapters of the book of Job is that Satan must ask permission. If we think too much of his demons, we are, in essence, granting him permission to mess with us.
The quote from the book above is from letter number 29. Screwtape is encouraging Wormwood, the junior demon, to grow a feeling of despair within the “patient.” There are only 31 letters, so this was essentially Wormwood’s last chance, his last ditch effort.
Note: Before we go any further, if you are depressed due to a chemical imbalance of one type or another, it is okay to take the medicines that the doctor prescribes. This post is focusing on a lesser type of “depression” if you will.
Why would “despair” be a greater sin than the sin that caused the despair?
Well, if the despair has been caused by a sin and we wallow in that despair, we are denying God’s power to help us not do that sin again. We are denying God’s forgiveness. As I have heard many people say, including some pastors in their sermons, that us hanging onto our sin is putting ourselves above God. God forgave us that sin, but we cannot forgive ourselves. That is the height of arrogance. And many places in the Bible speak of pride, arrogance, and other synonyms for pride as being one of the things that God cannot stand. After all, God created all things and we have created nothing, other than occasionally rearranging the things that God created. (A paraphrase of another Lewis quote).
Most people do not see the inconsistency here. We think of people in despair being people who think themselves at the low end of the spectrum, but when they reject God’s forgiveness because they cannot forgive themselves, they are thinking highly of their right to despair, and little of the fact that if we are among God’s elect, He forgot that sin long ago.
Now, a repetition of that sin is a different kind of sin. We are rejecting God’s power and strength to tell Satan to leave us alone, and strength that He gives within us to resist that sin.
Let those sins go and repent. Turn to Jesus instead of living in sin, the sin of despair and the other sin that cause it.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
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