Despair and the God of Hope — When Darkness Isn’t a Sin but a Signal. Many believers face seasons of crushing darkness. In those moments, fellow Christians often respond with quick clichés — “Don’t despair, it’s a sin!” — as if grief were rebellion. Yet Scripture never calls despair a sin. It is not listed among the moral failures condemned in any biblical vice list. Despair is not defiance but distress — a cry for help, not a rejection of faith.