BEATING DISCOURAGEMENT 

PSALMS 43:1-5

          This psalm was written at a time in David’s life where he was running away from his son Absalom.  Absalom had for 40 years been plotting to kill his father and take over his kingdom.  When he finally had enough backing, he gathered his followers around him and marched on Jerusalem to overthrow it.  Having his son come against him so suddenly threw David into a depression.  He became discouraged and cries out in verse 2, Why Lord have you cast me off?  Why have you allowed my enemy to oppress me so that now I must be in sorrow?  He describes is soul in verse 5 as cast down and disquieted or agitated within him.  As close as David was to God, he still became discouraged with life.  Sometimes we believe and act as if life as a Christian is a breeze.  We give the impression that getting saved made life perfect and carefree.  But the truth of the matter is that Christians, those of us who know Christ as Savior and Lord, still sometimes get discouraged.  However, though we get discouraged we can not give up.  So the title of this morning’s message is “Beating Discouragement”.

          There are many reasons for a person becoming discouraged and no one reason is any better than another.

JOB 3:1-13

          Job was so discouraged that he wanted to die.  Though many fear death, for the Christian death can sometimes appear to be a welcome relief from the problems of life.  Job was so disheartened by the sudden death of his children, the lost of all his possessions and even the decline of his health that he cursed the day he was born.  This great sorrow was experienced by one who God himself called perfect and upright.  For God himself testifies of Job’s character is Job 1:8 where it says “And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and abstains from and shuns evil?”  This again shows that hardships come even to those who are doing the best that they can to please God.  This serves to increase our discouragement.  But yet we must hold on and not give up.  Job beat discouragement by being patient until God brought about a change in his life and by being determined to trust God.  He said in Job 13:15 “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him” and in Job 14:14 “All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.”  In other words for as long as it takes, Job said, I will wait until my change comes.

JONAH 4:2-8

          Jonah is so discouraged that in verse 3 he asks God to take his life.  Jonah is disturbed because God has used him as an instrument to bless his enemies and bring about certain disaster to his own people.  God sent Jonah, against Jonah’s will, to preach to Ninevah.  Because of Jonah’s preaching Ninevah repents of their sins against God, God forgives them and thus rather than experiencing the wrath and punishment of God, the people of Ninevah were blessed.  Jonah knew that if he preached to Nineveh they would repent, God would forgive them and then use Nineveh to persecute Israel.  When Nineveh did as Jonah suspected they would do, Jonah became very discouraged and in verse 3 he says it is better to die than to live.  But God helped Jonah to overcome his discouragement by redirecting his attention.  A gourd is a plant with large palm leaf branches.  It grows very swiftly and with ease but it also withers very quickly.  Jonah felt bad for the gourd, and again became angry and discouraged because its life was cut short.  But God used the gourd to help Jonah see and understand his care for Nineveh.

JEREMIAH 18:5-12

          Lest we think God behaved unfairly with Israel, here God warns them and calls them to repent of their ways and turn back to him.  The people respond with “there is no hope for us”.  But why is there no hope?  Well because the people wanted to continue in the sin they were doing.  They did not want to submit to God.  Sometimes we don’t want to change our ways or change our request of God even when He is prompting us to do so.  We want God to change and then we become discouraged and despondent when He does not.  Israel could have been saved years of bondage had they only chosen to repent and follow after God.  Hope was available but not a price they were willing to pay.  Sometimes we can beat discouragement just by obeying God.

          There are many reasons that individuals become discouraged and our discouragement is seen in many areas of our lives.  Some are discouraged with their work situation.  We work hard to be broke two days after payday.  Some are discouraged in their marriages.  One feels as if he or she is giving too much and the other spouse is not giving enough.  One is fully committed to the relationship and the other is not.  Some are discouraged by the church.  They have gone to church to seek the love and support that they desperately need to find themselves being isolated, abused, lied to and even cheated.  In fact so many people have become so discouraged with the church and organized religion that their discouragement keeps them from seeking God and finding Christ.  But no matter how discouraged one is with Church, home, job, finances, even life itself, we must encourage on another not to give us.  We must beat the discouragement that tries to settle and still life from us.  How do we do this?  We can beat discouragement by:

B – Believing the promises of God.  (2 Peter 1:4)

          God has already given believers many promises and he is not a man that he should lie.  However, when discouragement strikes many Christians are tempted to doubt God’s promises.  Some times we behave as if the promises apply to others but not to us.  Granted some of what is written is the Bible is specifically for the person to whom God was speaking.  But even that lets us know that God will speak to us about our situation if we come to Him with open hearts.  Jesus told the people “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  ( Matthew 11:28-30) We can be successful in beating discouragement if we will seek God in those times and believe that God will reward those who diligently seek him.  Hold on to whatever promise God gives you and don’t let go no matter what rises up against the promise.

E – Expect the Presence of God (Hebrews 13:5-6)

          When we are discouraged it is sometimes hard to feel God’s presence and thus we are tempted to doubt that He is with us.  That is one of the reasons why as Christians we are not to go on our feeling but rather are to act in faith.  We must trust that Jesus is with us.  We cannot focus on whatever is going wrong in our lives.  Rather we must focus on the fact that Jesus has promised to be with us, and therefore we can boldly say the Lord is my helper and I will not buckle or bend to the pressures of life.  To be successful in beating discouragement we must expect God’s presence in every area and situation in our live and rely on his promise of “lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”

A – Accept the Peace of God (Philippians 4:6-7)

          Many Christians fail to accept the peace God offers.  They persistently hold on to their negative and distressed attitudes.  They cannot or will not choose to look beyond the situation facing them to the only true solution to all cares. I Peter 5:7 says “Cast all your care upon him; for he cares for you.”  Why should we worry, be distressed and get discouraged when the God of all tells us to bring our cares to Him because He is concerned about us.  This is why Jesus could say to us in John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”  Jesus could say this because He was opening a passageway to God for us and as we bring our cares to God and leave them their, He in turns will fill us with a peace that will keep our hearts steady and our minds clear.

T—Triumph with Praise to God  (Psalms 43:5)

          Here David rebukes himself for his attitude.  He ask himself “soul why are you cast down and anxious, why are you discouraged?  Don’t you trust in God?”  He must have answered himself, “yea, I trust in the Lord God almight”.  Because then he says to himself, “I shall yet praise him”.  In other words in spite of what is going on, I will still praise him.  Many Christians fail to praise the Lord when we are discouraged.  We choose rather to mope in self-pity, and despair, eat or drink ourselves senseless or shop ourselves into poverty.  Why not praise ourselves into victory.  David said in Psalm 71:14 “I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.”  No matter how discouraging the situation looks, I will just praise you more and more.

I – Involve yourself in working for God

          Just as God redirected Jonah’s attention we must learn how to refocus our attention on the positives that we can rather than the negatives that are occurring in our lives.  I have gotten through many trials by focusing on helping someone else rather than on my own situation.  If you are a person prone to worry ask God to involve in someone else’s life or more in his ministry so that you will little time to focus on yourself.  There is much work to be done.  Get involved in working for God wherever you can and leave God to work for you.

N – Never stop testifying for God (Revelation 12:10-11)

          The Lamb, Jesus Christ, has already done his part in helping us to overcome the enemy.  For he has already shed his blood.  We must do our part and continue to testify of the goodness of God in our lives.  Testifying reminds us that God is still at work on our behalf.  It helps us not to give up.  Testifying points to the abundance of help that we get from God and encourages us to continue looking to him for he is a very present help in our time of trouble.

G – Grab hold to God with all your spirit, soul and body. 

(Psalms 18:1-3)

          God is the only true foundation on which we can count.  No matter what the winds of discouragement are blowing your way, God is unmoveable and if we grab hold of him, he will steady us until our change comes.

            In conclusion, if we are going to be successful in beating discouragement we must learn to believe God’s word, expect God’s presence, accept God’s peace, triumph in praise to God, involve yourself in working for God, never stop testifying of the good of God and grab hold to God with all that is in you.