Title: Dealing With Discouragement
Date: 2007-10-07
Reference: Luke 19: 37-42
Almost all of the great personalities from the Bible have, at one time or another, known great discouragement. Job is described as the noblest man living in his time. But after the troubles he experienced he cried out.”My days are without hope.” As Moses leads the children of Israel out of Egypt he becomes very frustrated with them, and discouraged about his task. At one point Moses cried out: “O Lord why have you afflicted me? I am not able to bear these people. They are too heavy for me.” There are similar expressions of discouragement in Ezekiel, Daniel, Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Elijah, Noah, Peter, John, Paul, even from Jesus himself.
Today’s reading describes how Jesus wept over the city he loved the best, Jerusalem. As he considered the future of Jerusalem he was very discouraged. We have all been discouraged at times. Years ago the Hayden Planetarium in New York City issued an invitation to all those who were interested in applying to be part of a crew on the first journey to another planet. 18k people applied. They gave the applications to a panel of psychologists who examined them thoroughly and came to the conclusion that most of those who applied were discouraged with their lives here and hoped they could find a better life somewhere else.
Every single one of us knows what it is to be discouraged. A legend tells how the Devil once advertised his tools for sale at a public auction. When the prospective buyers assembled they noticed one oddly shaped tool labeled: “Not for sale at any price.” The devil explained.”I can spare all my other tools but not this one.
It is the most useful implement I have. This tool is called discouragement and with it I can work my way into any heart.hearts that are otherwise inaccessible.”
As long as we live we run the risk of becoming discouraged. Many here today know the discouragement of a failed or strained relationship. Discouragement of declining health. A job that is not fulfilling. Many sports teams are not performing well at this them and they are discouraged. Discouragement leads to frustration, anger, even to depression.
For whatever reason, there are always people who try to discourage us. During the Boer War, at the Siege of Ladysmith the fortunes of the town and garrison was hanging in the balance. One man, a civilian, would go along the lines and speak discouraging words to the soldiers. He was actually court martialed and sentenced to a year’s imprisonment for being a discourage. It was ruled a crime to speak disheartening words in a dark hour of need. You see, another example from history. As I’ve said to you before.”I really must continue to purchase history books since they help with my sermons.
Our faith helps us deal with discouragement. A friend used to say when you are facing a problem, take a short look at it. It’s true hard times don’t last forever. All things must pass. When you are discouraged don’t focus on it. I’ve heard that when we are ready to quit and walk away.wait two weeks. Things may change radically in that time.
Remember the old sales managers device of holding up a large piece of paper with a small orange spot down in one corner? He asks his salesmen what they see. Most report they see the orange spot.
He tells them when they focus on the spot they miss the vast open opportunity before them. We don’t want to focus on our discouragements, because as the Bible says.”As one thinks in one’s heart, so one is.” To concentrate on discouragement makes all of life discouraging. Sometimes we become discouraged because of our own mistakes. Sometimes we are not the cause of our discouragement. There are times when we have to put discouragement behind us and move on. We cannot allow it to have the last word. We have a hope for a better tomorrow, and that hope keeps us going.
When Jesus came to Jerusalem he wept over the city. He did not sit there all day sobbing. He got up and went down into the city and did what he could to change the situation. God has given each of us capabilities and assets. Each one of us is unique. God has designed each of us so there would be no duplication in this world. No one has the exact same mix of factors that makes us unique. No one else on earth will be able to play the role God planned for you. If you don’t make your unique contribution it won’t be made. You are the only person on earth who can use your abilities. No one else can play our role. The Bible says “God equips each of us with all we need for doing His will. In discouraging moments we have to remember all we have going for us. We concentrate on the good things and not the bad.
There is an interesting story in I Samuel where David makes a huge mistake and leaves some cities unprotected. These cities are attacked by the Philistines and some of the relatives of David’s soldiers are killed. David becomes quite discouraged. But the Bible goes on to say that David went off by himself reminding himself of all those things that were still his.
My grandpa used to say.”Just because you miss one train doesn’t mean you have to cancel the whole vacation.” A man once retired from the post office. He is sitting on his front porch in Kentucky waiting for his social security check to arrive. He becomes very discouraged. He thinks.”Is this all life is going to be from now on.sitting on my porch waiting for a check?” He decided he wouldn’t settle for that and made a list of the things he still had going for him, his assets. In that list was the fact that he was the only person living who knew his mother’s recipe for friend chicken. It used eleven different herbs and spices.
He went to a nearby restaurant and asked if he could cook the chicken. It became the most popular item on the menu. He opened his own restaurant and then a string of restaurants Eventually Harland Sanders sold the KFC franchise and retired a second time. He was a man who did not allow himself to be defeated by discouragement. He took a hard look at it and recognized it was there. Then he looked at what he had left and did what he could with what God had give him.
Several years ago in Durango I was honored to help officiate at the funeral of one of my lodge brothers. At his service we read a list he had prepared. The list was of things he had done in the second half of life. He learned to swim, traveled to Russia, learned to weave, took up tennis and many other things. He didn’t let retirement, aging, or a changing life discourage him. He examined what he had left and plunged on into the future. I received an e-mail this week that said: “Whenever I am disappointed with my spot in life, I stop and think about little Jamie Scott. Jamie was trying out for a part in the school play.
He had his heart set on being in the play and his mother feared he would not be chosen. On the day the parts were awarded she went to pick him up after school. He rushed up to her, eyes shining with pride and excitement. “Guess what Mom” he shouted.”I’ve been chosen to clap and cheer.”
Jesus wept over the city but he knew there were certain things in that city that only he could do. There was a Temple to be cleansed. Teachings to be offered.
A Last Supper to host. And there was a cross to be climbed. Only he could do these things and so he set about the doing of them.
A third step in dealing with discouragement is remembering God’s love and offering God’s encouragement to others around us. I was reading about Benjamin Weir who was held captive by terrorists for 18 months in the Middle East. 15 of those months he was held in solitary confinement. He was kept in a small room with a mattress on the floor. He was chained to a radiator. The window had Venetian blinds. There was no other furniture. There was a very old stuffed bird in the room with him. The walls were cracked and bare wires hung down from the ceiling. He said “I used everything there to remind me of God’s love. Those three wires coming down from the ceiling reminded me of God’s hand touching Adam’s hand in the Sistine Chapel ceiling. They reminded me of God’s gift of life. The various slats in the blinds reminded him he was surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. The old dirty bird represented the Holy Spirit, symbolized in Scripture as a dove. Each and every crack in the wall he identified with some promise from the Bible. He remembered the love of God in the past, present and looked with hope to a better future.
God never wastes a painful discouraging moment. Sometimes the greatest ministry will come out of the greatest hurt or disappointment. The Bible says: “God comforts us in all our troubles so we can be of comfort to others in theirs. When others around us are discouraged we are able to give them the same hope and comfort God has given us. People are always encouraged when we share how God’s grace helped us in weakness. A word for the Holy Spirt is Paraclete which means one who comes along side to be of help and comfort. The Holy Spirit has come along side of us in our times of discouragement to help us. We come alongside others who need to be encouraged.
A wise man once said: “The ability to encourage others is one of life’s finest assets. This asset of encouragement comes from our discouragement. We believers have the wonderful opportunity to encourage rather than discourage others around us.
We all know what discouragement is. God has given us a way to deal with it.
