Getting Over It: Discouragement

Introduction:

CHRIST BAPTIST - Interviewed and disappointed. God knew what He was doing - 3 months later MSBC called.

You’ve felt that feeling though right?

You practice for a game and practice hard and you lose every game.

You study for a test (and study hard) and you fail the test.

You work out, get healthy and your cholesterol is still up.

We face discouraging situations on every day that ends in “y.”

Danger in discouragement: Discouragement can lead to depression which can lead to despondency.

We can easily become discouraged by many things in life.

We get discouraged in people.

We get discouraged in our career.

We get discouraged in our personal relationships.

We get discouraged in our finances.

We get discouraged in our health.

We get discouraged in our spiritual growth.

If we are honest - we get discouraged in God.

If you can agree with the last statement, I would like to introduce you to a Bible character who felt the same way. And no, he was not the only one in Scripture who felt that way. His name is Jeremiah.

Let’s give a little background on who Jeremiah was.

Jeremiah was a called prophet of the southern Kingdom of Judah.

He was called by God from an early age to be a prophet.

Jeremiah 1:4–10 CSB

4 The word of the Lord came to me: 5 I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations. 6 But I protested, “Oh no, Lord God! Look, I don’t know how to speak since I am only a youth.” 7 Then the Lord said to me: Do not say, “I am only a youth,” for you will go to everyone I send you to and speak whatever I tell you. 8 Do not be afraid of anyone, for I will be with you to rescue you. This is the Lord’s declaration. 9 Then the Lord reached out his hand, touched my mouth, and told me: I have now filled your mouth with my words. 10 See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and demolish, to build and plant.

What a great passage to read on sanctity of human life Sunday - God worked that out!

Does God care about the baby in the womb? Obviously yes! God chooses us for His work BEFORE we are even in the womb. God cares about the babies who will come before they are even conceived!

And Jeremiah begins to preach. He is not the Joel Osteen of the day. His preaching was not popular.

Jeremiah lived at a time where God wanted the people to know that they had broken God’s covenant. And God was going to bring an army in from the North to punish Israel. We know this army from the North as the army of Babylon.

And Jeremiah was warning the people of God’s impending judgement. Now, if you desire to preach an unpopular message, go ahead and preach about God’s impending judgement. And yet, that is EXACTLY what God wanted Him to preach.

Unfortunately it was not well received with the religious leaders of the people of the day.

Jeremiah 20:1–2 CSB

1 Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer and chief official in the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. 2 So Pashhur had the prophet Jeremiah beaten and put him in the stocks at the Upper Benjamin Gate in the Lord’s temple.

This is normally where the accurate preaching of God ends up. Being beaten and outcast from the people.

Most scholars believe Jeremiah was beaten 39 times with a whip. He was left on public display so that everyone could come by and mock him. The word for “stocks” comes from a Hebrew root word meaning “to twist.” Meaning Jeremiah was twisted into a very uncomfortable position.

Notice that it was the priest had him whipped and beaten - implying what? Jeremiah was a FALSE PROPHET! Can you imagine the mockery from the crowds? Close your eyes, can you hear the screaming?

And all of this because JEREMIAH WAS DOING EXACTLY WHAT GOD TOLD HIM TO.

Would you have been discouraged? I would have been!

“Here I am, doing exactly what you told me and now look what happened.”

Well, Jeremiah is discouraged. Look at his words to God in vv. 7-10. Feel his heart. Put some humanity behind this passage. Then I’d like to make a couple of observations from it.

Jeremiah 20:7–10 CSB

7 You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived. You seized me and prevailed. I am a laughingstock all the time; everyone ridicules me. 8 For whenever I speak, I cry out, I proclaim, “Violence and destruction!” so the word of the Lord has become my constant disgrace and derision. 9 I say, “I won’t mention him or speak any longer in his name.” But his message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones. I become tired of holding it in, and I cannot prevail. 10 For I have heard the gossip of many people, “Terror is on every side! Report him; let’s report him!” Everyone I trusted watches for my fall. “Perhaps he will be deceived so that we might prevail against him and take our vengeance on him.”

Jeremiah 20:11–13 CSB

11 But the Lord is with me like a violent warrior. Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. Since they have not succeeded, they will be utterly shamed, an everlasting humiliation that will never be forgotten. 12 Lord of Armies, testing the righteous and seeing the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for I have presented my case to you. 13 Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord, for he rescues the life of the needy from evil people.

REASONS FOR JEREMIAH’S DISCOURAGEMENT (AND OURS):

1. Unexpected Pain

Jeremiah probably wasn’t expecting the type of pain he experienced. He didn’t expect the persecution - much less from the hands of God’s people.

Sometimes we get discouraged for the same reasons - we have unexpected pain. Maybe it’s physical pain. Or emotional pain. And when we have pain, we get discouraged.

Example: Kidney Stones - last ones wouldn’t go away - it was easy to get discouraged and think this would never end.

2. Unfulfilled Expectations

What do I mean by this?

Look closely at the word Jeremiah uses first in his prayer to God in vv. 7

Jeremiah 20:7 CSB

7 You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived. You seized me and prevailed. I am a laughingstock all the time; everyone ridicules me.

Jeremiah felt like God had deceived him. Like God had tricked him.

Why did Jeremiah feel this way?

Well if you look back to God’s promise to Jeremiah in the passage we read at the beginning of Jeremiah, we read this verse:

Jeremiah 1:8 CSB

8 Do not be afraid of anyone, for I will be with you to rescue you. This is the Lord’s declaration.

Jeremiah probably thought he wouldn’t have to go through persecution like this. He didn’t think he would have to go through 39 lashes and be twisted into a device of torture. I believe Jeremiah thought that 1:8 meant he wouldn’t face any persecution.

Yet, that is not exactly what God had promised. God didn’t promise Jeremiah a life of no persecution or trials. (And by the way, he doesn’t promise the same thing to us either) God promised He would sustain Jeremiah through any trials he faced and that his enemies would not get the ultimate victory.

And this discouraged Jeremiah enough for him to tell God he felt “deceived.”

I think we get discouraged from the same thing - we expect something to go a certain way (even though we may have never been promised that) and when it doesn’t come true (or go the way we want it to) we get discouraged.

EXAMPLE: Counseling - Idealistic Distortion - Rose Colored Glasses

My partner will always make me happy.

I will never fight with my partner.

Nothing your partner will ever do will ever do will get on your nerves.

My partner will meet all of my needs.

And we could go on and on…These are unrealistic expectations and when they go unfulfilled, we get discouraged.

According to 45% of divorced couples - unrealistic expectations was the main reason they ended up divorcing.

3. Unjustified Actions

And then sometimes we get discouraged just simply because people act stupid. ( I don’t know how else to put it)

Some people do stuff to us that isn’t fair and we get discouraged. Unfortunately that is a part of life.

Pashhur’s actions were unjustified. He was going against God.

And when we read Jeremiah’s prayer we see him in the throws of discouragement. And if you study your Bible you will realize that he’s not the only one who was discouraged. The Bible speaks of real life experiences. And it gives us characters on almost every page of Scripture who struggled with discouragement.

So what do we do? How do we deal with it?

HOW DO WE DEAL WITH DISCOURAGEMENT?

I’d like to show you 3 things that Jeremiah did to deal with his discouragement. They are simple and each consists of basically 2 words.

1. Tell God. (7-10)

I know this is elementary. But let me ask you a question - do you actually do it? Do you actually take your discouragement to the Lord?

Jeremiah knows right where to go. He goes right to the Lord.

And I want you to notice something - notice the boldness Jeremiah uses. Jeremiah tells God exactly how he feels.

God wants us to talk to him, even when we are angry, upset, and frustrated. He wants us to tell the truth.

This is not the only person in the Bible to do this.

Job 7:17–20 CSB

17 What is a mere human, that you think so highly of him and pay so much attention to him? 18 You inspect him every morning, and put him to the test every moment. 19 Will you ever look away from me, or leave me alone long enough to swallow? 20 If I have sinned, what have I done to you, Watcher of humanity? Why have you made me your target, so that I have become a burden to you?

Here’s what Jeremiah says in Lamentations 2:19

Lamentations 2:19 CSB

19 Arise, cry out in the night from the first watch of the night. Pour out your heart like water before the Lord’s presence. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children who are fainting from hunger at the head of every street.

What is Jeremiah saying? Pour out your heart like water? When was the last time you did that? When was the last time you actually told God how disappointed you felt? Or angry you felt? Or unfair something felt?

Some people will tell you that you should never do that to God. I don’t see that supported from the Scriptures. I see that God wants to hear from you. HE CAN HANDLE HOWEVER YOU FEEL.

We need to approach God in how we are, not pretending to be someone we are not.

2. Don’t quit. (vv. 9)

It’s clear from vv. 9 that Jeremiah wanted to quit. He wanted to throw in the towel. He wanted to be done.

But notice something - He says God’s spirit won’t let him quit. Every time Jeremiah tries to stop preaching the Word of God, it’s like a fire shut inside his bones that he has to let out.

I experienced this exact sensation when I was out of the preaching ministry for 2 years. I was tired, exhausted from my last position. But at the same time it was like a fire was kept inside of me, wanting to be let out.

God tells Jeremiah “you can’t quit.” He literally won’t let him quit.

Quitting is always the easy thing to do.

Maybe you just need to take a break, not quit. A break is not quitting.

This is an important principle from 1 Kings 19. Elijah is discouraged and it has led to depression and despondency. He is ready to die. He runs in the wilderness and is all alone.

1 Kings 19:5–8 CSB

5 Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. Suddenly, an angel touched him. The angel told him, “Get up and eat.” 6 Then he looked, and there at his head was a loaf of bread baked over hot stones, and a jug of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 Then the angel of the Lord returned for a second time and touched him. He said, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” 8 So he got up, ate, and drank. Then on the strength from that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.

Never underestimate the power of a nap and a snack!

Why does Elijah want to quit? He is tired. Fatigue is one of the main reasons people give in to discouragement. Everyone has the energy and excitement at the beginning! But then it wears off.

Carmen Herrera is a Cuban-American abstract, minimalist painter. I met her last week. She began to paint at the age of 12. She moved to Paris after WWII to join other great painters … Pablo Picasso, Yves Klein, and more. She was very good, by almost anyone's observation; she even had shows with other famous artists.

Unlike the other artists she was around, she was a woman and she was Cuban American. Unlike the other artists she never sold a painting. She never sold at age 25, or age 30. She came home from Paris in the early 1950s, in her late 30s. And she again kept painting. But she never sold any paintings ... not at age 40 or 50. In fact, she didn’t sell a single painting even at 60, 70, or 80 years old.

But she kept painting. And painting. And painting. Committed to her art. Committed to her style. She was frustrated tremendously but always believed her worked deserved more attention than it got. She did not alter her style but stuck with it.

She refused to quit. Her husband believed in her. And she believed in herself.

In 2004, at the age of 89, she was finally discovered. After almost nine decades she became the hottest ‘new’ artist in the world that year. Now, at the age of almost 103, her paintings have sold for over $1 million.

3. Praise God!

Notice the transition from discouragement to praise in the passage.

Jeremiah’s focused turned to where it should be - on God.

When we are caught up in praising God, we can not be discouraged. We can not do both at the same time.

(EGG AND SALT ILLUSTRATION)

CLOSING -

Why don’t we talk more about our discouragement? Because it is embarrassing. After all “discouragement” literally means we are “missing courage.”

But discouragement is contagious. People who are discouraged bring other people down with them.