THE DANGER OF DISCOURAGEMENT

THE TEXT

Job 3:20–26 ESV

“Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures, who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave? Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? For my sighing comes instead of my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.”

SEE

Ezra 4:1–5 NASB95

Now when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the Lord God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ households, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.” But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.” Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

NO HOPE

An unknown writer of an article in Our Daily Bread writes: While attending college, I visited a psychiatric institution with a group of students to observe various types of mental illness. The experience proved to be very disturbing. I remember one man who was called “No Hope Carter.” His was a tragic case. A victim of venereal disease, he was going through the final stages when the brain is affected.

An unknown writer of an article in Our Daily Bread writes: While attending college, I visited a psychiatric institution with a group of students to observe various types of mental illness. The experience proved to be very disturbing. I remember one man who was called “No Hope Carter.” His was a tragic case. A victim of venereal disease, he was going through the final stages when the brain is affected.

Before he began to lose his mind, this man was told by the doctors that there was no known cure for him. He begged for one ray of light in his darkness, but had been told that the disease would run its inevitable course and end in death. Gradually his brain deteriorated and he became more and more despondent.

Psalm 42:5–11 ESV

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

When I saw him in his small, barred room about 2 weeks before he died, he was pacing up and down in mental agony. His eyes stared blankly, and his face was drawn and ashen. Over and over he muttered these two forlorn and fateful words: “No hope! No hope!” He said nothing else.

See also ; David; Jehoshaphat; ; ; Hezekiah; ;

CONTEXT OF THE TEXT

Isaiah 42:3–4 ESV

a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.

I can imagine that this is how the Israelites in our text must have felt. After having spent 70 years in Babylonian captivity, all they wanted to do was to return to their home land and rebuild the House of God. They had been encouraged by the decree of Cyrus the Great that provided the impetus for their initial move. But, before long, they were faced with an unfriendly and unwelcome group of people whose purpose, plot, and plan was to interfere with the work to be done.

Sadly, but truthfully, we need to learn that everybody doesn’t rejoice when you are being blessed! Pastor Marcus Murchinson helped us as 2019 was going out, when he preached his sermon: “I don’t fool with everybody.” That’s basically what Zerubbabel and the leaders said to the people of the land. It is here where they showed their true intentions; the text says: “Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building...”

Discouragement Dangerous

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 1161 Devil’s Best Tool

The devil, according to legend, once advertised his tools for sale at public auction. When the prospective buyers assembled, there was one oddly-shaped tool which was labeled “Not for sale.” Asked to explain why this was, the devil answered, “I can spare my other tools, but I cannot spare this one. It is the most useful implement that I have. It is called Discouragement, and with it I can work my way into hearts otherwise inaccessible. When I get this tool into a man’s heart, the way is open to plant anything there I may desire.

Jeremiah 8:9 ESV

The wise men shall be put to shame; they shall be dismayed and taken; behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, so what wisdom is in them?

The truth of the matter is the many of you are struggling with the devil at this present hour because he has unleashed this weapon on you. You have been trying to hold on and trying to believe that things are going to get better, but instead, they seem to be getting worse. You’ve been hurt so many times that you don’t even know what feels like to be loved. You’ve been determined to have a positive upbeat outlook, but all you keep getting is trouble, heartache, pain…disappointment after disappointment.

My Brothers and Sisters, I need to tell to take heed today, Disappointment is dangerous because it leads to Complaining, Compromise, and Conformity.

Discouragement leads to Complaining.

The children of Israel were notorious for complaining, and there is nothing that should make us believe that anything is different in this instance. When we become discouraged we can’t see that there are still places in our lives where we ought to be thankful.

Hebrews 12:5–7 ESV

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

The story is told of a Christian who was reduced to such poverty that he had only one pair of shoes, with the soles worn through and his toes sticking out. Depressed and discouraged, he walked down the street mumbling to himself: “I might as well be barefooted as to wear these miserable, uncomfortable shoes.” As he felt himself becoming more and more bitter, he came upon a man sitting on the sidewalk and begging. The poor fellow had no legs. After a moment, the discouraged Christian realized that there was something worse than having old shoes—having no feet upon which to wear the shoes.

Are you complaining? Think how much worse things could be.

Discouragement Leads to Compromise

See also ;

Look at the text, we are told that the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah to the extent that they halted their work. Although they did not allow them to join in the work; they did allow them the frustrate them to the point that they compromised with them anyway. Be careful, loved ones, that you don’t allow discouragement to make you do nothing…that’s compromising.

The following is a Russian parable. A hunter raised his rifle and took careful aim at a large bear. When about to pull the trigger, the bear spoke in a soft, soothing voice, “Isn’t it better to talk than to shoot? What do you want? Let us negotiate the matter.”

Lowering his rifle, the hunter replied, “I want a fur coat.”

“Good,” said the bear, “that is a negotiable question. I only want a full stomach, so let us negotiate a compromise.”

They sat down to negotiate, and after a time the bear walked away alone. The negotiations had been successful. The bear had a full stomach, and the hunter had his fur coat.

Compromises rarely satisfy both sides in equal measure.

Discouragement Leads to Conforming

discouragement

Michael P. Green, ed., Illustrations for Biblical Preaching: Over 1500 Sermon Illustrations Arranged by Topic and Indexed Exhaustively, Revised edition of: The expositor’s illustration file. (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989).

discouragement

Discouragement will make you believe that it doesn’t even make sense to try anymore. And before you know it going to Church, living for Jesus, witnessing to others, worshipping in the Spirit, or praying in faith no longer matters. And then you start wandering back to the places you used to go… or what’s worse…places you’ve never been before and you conform.

Proverbs 17:22 ESV

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Conformity

A flock of wild geese was flying south for the winter, when one of the geese looked down and noticed a group of domestic geese by a pond on a farm. He saw that they had plenty of grain to eat, so he went down to join them. The food was so good, he decided to stay with the domestic geese until spring, when his own flock would fly north again. When spring came, he heard his old flock going by and flew up to join them. The goose had grown fat, however, and flying was difficult, so he decided to spend one more season on the farm and join the wild geese on their next winter migration. The following fall, when his former flock flew southward, the goose flapped his wings a little, but kept eating his grain. By the next time they passed overhead, the now-domesticated goose didn’t even notice them.

discouragement

RESOLUTION - DISCOURAGEMENT A BLESSING

Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Trials

There once was an ant who felt imposed upon, overburdened, and overworked. You see, he was instructed to carry a piece of straw across an expanse of concrete. The straw was so long and heavy that he staggered beneath its weight and felt he would not survive. Finally, as the stress of his burden began to overwhelm him and he began to wonder if life itself was worth it, the ant was brought to a halt by a large crack in his path. There was no way of getting across that deep divide, and it was evident that to go around it would be his final undoing. He stood there discouraged. Then suddenly a thought struck him. Carefully laying the straw across the crack in the concrete, he walked over it and safely reached the other side. His heavy load had become a helpful bridge. The burden was also a blessing

Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Conformity

A flock of wild geese was flying south for the winter, when one of the geese looked down and noticed a group of domestic geese by a pond on a farm. He saw that they had plenty of grain to eat, so he went down to join them. The food was so good, he decided to stay with the domestic geese until spring, when his own flock would fly north again. When spring came, he heard his old flock going by and flew up to join them. The goose had grown fat, however, and flying was difficult, so he decided to spend one more season on the farm and join the wild geese on their next winter migration. The following fall, when his former flock flew southward, the goose flapped his wings a little, but kept eating his grain. By the next time they passed overhead, the now-domesticated goose didn’t even notice them.

Resisting discouragement

1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching No Retreat

No Retreat

In his memoirs, A Life in Our Times, John Kenneth Galbraith referred to an eloquent speech made by a West Virginia supporter of John F. Kennedy. At a time in the presidential campaign when it would have been easy to become disenchanted, if not discouraged, the politician-historian of the Mountain State reminded his audience of Napoleon’s battle at Waterloo. Surveying the battlefield, the tough little general said to his drummer, “The English are standing firm. The Old Guard is making no progress. We are defeated; sound the retreat.”

Hesitantly, the lad looked at Napoleon and protested, “Master, in all our campaigns in Europe, I have never learned to sound the retreat.”

Deeply touched by the comment, Napoleon said, “All right, drummer boy, sound the advance.”

Deuteronomy 1:21 ESV

See, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’

God’s help in discouragement

Romans 8:35–39 ESV

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Obadiah 12 ESV

But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not boast in the day of distress.

See also by the spies; by the Gadites and Reubenites

General warnings not to discourage others

; ; James advises against discouraging the Gentiles;

The need to stand with the discouraged

Hebrews 13:3 ESV

Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.

See also ; ; ;