Some Biblical Counsel Regarding Discouragement

“Some Biblical Counsel Regarding Discouragement”

(Sunday Morning March 13th, 2011)

Passage: Nehemiah 4:1-14
O.S. This Past Wednesday Morning Richard Wells, Daryle Elliot and I Attended
a Pre-Development Meeting With the City of Pearland Regarding Our Hopes
to Purchase This House on Orange Street and Convert It Into a Church
-> We Were Hoping That the City Might Give Us Six Months or so to Complete
a Paved Parking Lot or Give Us a Variance Until the New Road Construction
in Front of the House Was Completed

-> But They Not Only Insisted on a Paved Parking Lot, theCity Engineer Also Told
Us That We Would Need a Retention Pond on Just 2 ¼ Acres of Land

-> We Also Hoped That We Might be Able to Set the Occupancy Level Fairly Low
Initially so That We Would Not Need a Large and Expensive Parking Lot

-> And Also That We Would Not be Told That We Would Have to Install
an Automatic Sprinkler System That Could Cost $70,000.00 or More

-> The Fire Marshall, However, Informed Us That He Would Have to Set
the Occupancy Level Much Higher, and That We Would Either Have
to Install a Sprinkler System or Make Some Costly Structural Changes

-> Well, as You Might Imagine, We All Left That Meeting Discouraged, Because All
of Our Worst Fears Seemed to Have Been Realized

Q.n = Have You Ever Been Discouraged Like That?

-> I Heard About a Cowboy Out on the Range Who Came Across an Indian
Who Was Lying Down Flat With His Ear to the Ground
-> The Indian Said, “Wagon with four horses. Woman in front wearing calico
dress. Man very heavy with ten gallon hat and red bandana driving?”

-> The Cowboy Said, “Wow! It’s Amazing That You Were Able to Figure All
of That Out Just by Listening to the Ground”

-> The Indian Said, “NO! They Run Over Me Bout Half Hour Ago”

Q.n = Have You Ever Felt Like That?

St = Job Said,
“For man is born for trouble, as surely as the sparks fly upward”(Job 5:7)

-> And So, We Know That We All Must Contend With Discouragement at One Time
or Another

-> In Fact, We Should Also Know That Those of Us Who are Trying to Make
a Difference for the Lord Will Have to Contend With Discouragement Even
More, Because Jesus Said This in John 16:33; He Said,

“…In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! (Don’t Get Discouraged
Because) I have overcomethe world." (NIV)

-> So, Listen, Even if We are Pursuing Something That is Right in the Center of God’s
Will, We Should Not be Surprised if We Encounter Obstacles or Even Opposition

-> If You Know Much About the Book of Acts, for Example, You Should Know That
Those Early Christians Faced a Lot of Obstacles and Opposition
-> Acts 5:17-18 Says

“17…the Sadducees (They Were the Liberals in That Day), were filled with jealousy.
18 They arrested the apostles (Flogged Them) and put them in the public jail” (NIV)

-> In Acts 7, We are Told That the Deacon Stephen Was Stoned to Death;
and in Acts 12, We are Told That the Apostle James Was Beheaded

-> Then, in the Next Chapter, We are Told That Paul and Barnabas Came to Antioch
and Preached There, and It Says,

“When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked
abusively against what Paul was saying” (Acts 13:45) (NIV)

-> And in Verse 50, It Goes on to Say,
“…the Jews incited the devout women of prominence and the leading men
of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove
them out of their district”

-> I Find It Interesting That They Were Not Content Just to Drive Them Out
of Their City; They Drove Them Out of Their District

T.S. And So, Again, Let Me Say That, Even if We are Pursuing Something That
is Right in the Center of God’s Will, We Should Not be Surprised if We Encounter
Obstacles or Even Opposition

-> And We Have a Good Example of That Right Here in the Book of Nehemiah

-> For You See, Nehemiah Was Right in the Center of God’s Will; He Had Been
Commissioned by the Lord to go and to Rebuild the Wall Around Jerusalem

-> But Mark It Down, When God’s People Say, “We Will Arise and Build” the Devil
Says, “I Will Arise and Try to Stop Them”

-> And Remember, This is Very Important, Remember,

“12…our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against
the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces
of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12)

-> We Should Not Consider Anyone Associated With the City of Pearland to be Our
Enemy; These People are Just Doing Their Job(Repeat)

-> But We Also Need to Understand That the Devil is Known for Doing Anything
That He Can to Create Obstacles and Opposition to the Cause of Christ
-> Including the Use of One of His Most Effective Tools, Which is Discouragement

-> Therefore, I Believe That We Can All Benefit From Learning How This Great
Leader Named Nehemiah Dealt With This Problem

-> And So, With This in Mind, I Have Divided This Passage Into Two Parts

I. The Causes of Discouragement

1) The Presence of a Foe

vs 1-3 (Read)

-> Now, There Were Three Men Who Were Being Used by Satan to Try to Prevent This
Project Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem

a. Geshem Was an Arabian, and of Course, the Arabs Have Always Despised
the Jews
-> He May Have Also Had Some Financial Reasons for Opposing This Project
-> Because the Arabs Were Known for Behaving Somewhat Like Desert Bandits,
and Therefore, They Would Not Have Liked the Idea of a Fortified City Being
in This Region (A Little Bit Harder for Them to Terrorize and Pillage)
b. Tobiah Was an Ammonite, a Descendent of the Incestuous Relationship Between
Lot and His Younger Daughter
-> He Had No Inheritance Among the Jews, and the Animosity Between
the Ammonites Could be Traced Back to the Time of Moses
c. Sanballat Had More Reasons Than Any of Them for Opposing This Project
-> He Was a Moabite, a Descendant of the Incestuous Relationship Between Lot
and His Oldest Daughter, and the Moabites Had Been Cursed by God

-> He Was Also the Governor of Samaria, and the Samaritans Were a Mixed Race
That Had no Inheritance Among the Jews
-> His Daughter Had Married One of the Sons of Joiada Who Was the Son
of the High Priest, and Nehemiah Had Described This “Mix Marriage”
as a Defilement of the Priesthood (So, They Weren’t Exactly on Good Terms)
-> Moreover, Sanballat Probably Felt That His Authority Was Being Threatened
by the Reawakening of the Land of Judah

-> Therefore, Sanballat Was Determined to do Anything That He Possibly Could
to Hinder Nehemiah’s Progress on the Construction of This Wall
-> And at This Point in the Book, He is Trying to Discourage the Workers

i. He Tried Intimidation

-> He Gathered Around Him a Crowd Referred to Here as “His Brothers”
and the Wealthy Men of Samaria – the Big Shots – the Policy Makers
-> And He Insulted Them in Their Presence by Calling Them “Feeble Jews”

-> He Went on to Say “Are they going to restore it for themselves?”

-> Let Me Give You a Steve Daily Paraphrase of That Verse
Q.n = What Makes You Think That You Guys are Going to be Able
to do This?
Q.n = Who are You? You’re Not an Architect, or a General Contractor,
or a Building Code Expert? Or a Fire Code Expert?
Q.n = What Makes You Think That You Can Get This Done? and Do You
Think That You’re Going to be Able to do It in a Day?
-> This is Too Big for You, in Other Words, so Let Me Give You Some
Advice, Abandon This Delusion of Grandeur Before You Discover That
You Have Gotten Into Something That is Way Over Your Head
ii. He Tried Exaggeration
-> At This Point, Tobiah Jumped in With Some Sarcasm and Said,
“…even if a fox should jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!"

-> Even if You Were Able to Get This Project Finished, Tobiah Implied,
It Wouldn’t Help You to Accomplish Your Objectives; It’s a Bad Idea
-> THEIR OBJECTIVE, of Course, Was to Get These Jews so Discouraged
That They Would do Nothing Absolutely Nothing, and This Strategy,
by the Way, Had Worked Before
-> In Ezra 4:4, the Bible Says
“Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah,

and frightened them from building” (Elaborate)
-> Try It. Why Shouldn’t We? It Has Worked for Us in the Past

2) The Presence of Fatigue

vs 6 (Read)

-> This Entire Project Took Fifty Two Days, the Workers Were at the Half Way Point,
and They Were Getting Tired

vs 10a (Read)

-> Halfway is a Very Discouraging Place to be

-> There is a Lot of Enthusiasm When a Project Begins, and There is a Lot
of Excitement When People See It Nearing Completion

-> But When You’re Only Halfway There, That’s When Its Tough
-> In Addition to This, They Were Physically Tired, and That is When These
Voices of Intimidation Really Began to Disturb Them

-> When I Read That, I Cannot Help But Think of the Prophet Elijah
Q.n = Why Did Elijah Get Discouraged and Become Suicidal?
Ans = Because He Was PhysicallyExhausted

-> He Had Enough Courage to Confront King Ahab and 450 Prophets of Baal
and 400 Prophets of Asherah on Mount Carmel
-> But Then, He Ran a Marathon From Mount Carmel to Jezreel Which Was
a Distance of 25 Miles, and He Heard That Jezebel Was After Him
Q.n = Then, What Happened?

Ans = He Got Discouraged

-> Elijah Got so Discouraged That He Asked God to Take His Life, and That
is the Only Prayer, by the Way, That Elijah Prayed That God Did Not Answer;

And God Never Did Answer It, He Took Him Up to Glory in a Fiery Chariot
Q.n = So, How Did God Encourage Elijah?

Ans = Some Rest and Nutritious Food

-> And Let Me Tell You Something, That Was More Than a Granola Bar or Gensing,
Because Elijah Traveled 40 Days and Nights on the Strength of That Food
(I’d Kind of Like to Find Some of That Stuff)

3) The Presence of Frustration

vs 10b “…yet there is much rubbish…”

-> A Couple of Things Come to My Mind When I Think About This Rubbish
a. For One, This Rubbish Was a Mute Reminder of Their Past Failures
-> When We Set Out to Accomplish Something Great for the Lord, the Devil
Always Comes Along and Brings Up Our Past Failures

-> This is Why I Like What the Apostle Paul Said in Philippians 3:13; He Said,
“…but (this) one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward
to what lies ahead,”

-> So, Don’t Let the Failures of Your Past Convince You That You Can’t
be Successful in the Future

______
Ill: I Read a Story This Week About a Salesman Who, in the Year 1883, Sold a Man
a $50,000.00 Insurance Policy, But He Couldn’t Get His Pen to Write; Therefore,
the Man Decided That He’d Better Think It Over Some More (And So, Louis Waterman
Went Home Discouraged; and Then, He Designed a Better Fountain Pen – the Waterman Fountain
Pen – Which Became the Premier Writing Instrument in America for the Next 50 Years)

______
b. In Addition to That, This Rubbish Represented Some Unexpected Obstacles
-> And in Every Project, It Seems That Something Unexpected Comes Along
That Makes It More Difficult
-> These Things That Usually Turn Out to be Minor Obstacles (Did You Hear
That?)Cause Us to Lose Sight of the Big Picture and to Get Discouraged
-> In the Song of Solomon 2:15, Solomon Said, “It is the little foxes that spoil
the vine”(Q.n = And Isn’t That the Truth?)

-> Changing 10 Diapers in One Day Can Cause a Mother to Lose Sight of the Fact
That Some Day She Will Introduce a Mature and Godly Adult Into Society
-> Or a Mountain of Memos Might Cause You to Forget That God Has Given
You a Great Job and a Wonderful Opportunity

4) The Presence of Fear

vs 10-12 (Read)

-> One Thing That Made This Especially Difficult to Deal With is That It Came Not
Just From Without But Also From Within

-> Look at Verse 12 Again (Read)

Q.n =Who Were the Jews?
Ans = Their Own People

Q.n = Now, Listen to Me, Are You Listening?

-> No One is Immune to Discouragement and Fear Including Your Pastor, or a Deacon,
or Any Other Church Leader

-> And When This Happens, It Can Create Some Serious Roadblocks or Even Failure
-> Ten of Those Men Who Were Sent in to Spy Out the Land of Canaan in Numbers 13,
for Example, Became Discouraged

Q.n = And Why?

Ans = Fear
“The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its
inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. 33 ‘There
also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we
became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."
(Num 13:32-33)

Q.n = So, How Did That Turn Out?
Ans = Their Fear Became Contagious
-> And as a Result of That, They Were Not Allowed to go in and Claim the Land
of Promise for Another 40 Years

-> When I Came Out of Those Two Meetings on Wednesday, I Was Discouraged,
and the Other Two Men Who Were With Me Were Discouraged

-> And All Kinds of Fears Began Going Through My Mind, and Through Their Minds
Regarding This Congregation and the Severe Aftermath of This Disappointment,
This is a Natural Response, But It is One That I Believe We Need to Learn to Resist

II. The Cure for Discouragement

1) Cry Out to God

-> One Reason That Nehemiah Was Such a Great Man of God is That He Was a Man
of Prayer
-> And on This Occasion, His Prayer Was Not a Very Nice One
vs 4 (Read)

-> Last Week, I Preached on Importunity, and I Mentioned Luke 18:1 Which
is a Statement Jesus Used to Preface a Parable About Prayer; It Says

“Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought
to pray and not to lose heart”

Q.n = What Did Jesus Give Us There as an Alternative to Discouragement?
Ans = Prayer

-> And One Thing Sanballat Said Back in Verse 2 Was This; He Said,
“Can they offer sacrifices?”

-> Translation = Do They Think Their Prayers and Faith are Going to Help Them?

-> Now, That is What I Call an Arrogant Statement, and an Extremely Inaccurate One

-> Because,Listen, There is Nothing More Powerful on the Face of This Earth Than
a Godly Man or Woman on Their Knees in the Presence of a Holy God
(Can I Get a Witness This Morning?)

-> After Those Two Meetings on Wednesday, We Were All Discouraged, Ready
to Throw in the Towel and Throw Up Our Hands and Give It Up

-> And So, One of the Things I Told Richard and Daryle After These Meetings
Was This; I Said, “Well, Let’s go Home and Sleep on It”

-> I Wasn’t Able to Sleep by the Way, But I Was Able to Pray

-> And God’s Mercies are Indeed New Every Morning and Every New Morning
Can Bring a New Perspective

Q.n = Can I Tell You What I Believe God Began to Lay on My Heart?

-> First, I Began to Think About the Fact That We Have Nothing to Lose
and Everything to Gain by Continuing to Pursue This
Q.n = So Why Should We Give Up so Easily?

-> It’s as if God Spoke to Me and Said,

“Steve Daily, You are a Wimp, and You Should Know That a Lot of Other People
Who Have Wanted to Get Something Like This Done in the City of Pearland Have
Had to be Persistent. So, if Nothing Else, You Should at Least be Passionate Enough
to Try a Little Bit Harder”

-> Then, I Began to Think About the Fact That This Automatic Sprinkler System
Requirement is Not a Given
-> We Might be Able to Make Some Less Expensive Structural Changes That Will
Help Us to Make This Project Safer and to Come Within the Fire Code
-> For Less Than a Thousand Dollars, We Can Hire a Fire Code Consultant Who Just
Might be Able to Help Us Put This Project Right Back on the Table

-> But Beyond All of That, I Know This; I Know That, if God Wants This to Happen,
There is No Power on This Earth That Can Stop It

______
Ill: On One Occasion, King David Was Deeply Discouraged, Because the Amalekites
Had Made a Raid on Ziklag.
-> This is Where David and His Men Had Their Camp; the Amalekites Had Taken
Their Wives and Their Children Along With All of Their Possessions, and David’s
Men Were so Upset That They Were Threatening to Kill Him
-> But Then, in 1 Samuel 30:6, the Bible Says That David Got Alone in Prayer
and He “Encouraged Himself in the Lord”

______

-> I Have Always Loved That Verse, and I Have Spent a Great Deal of Time Musing
About How David Might Have Gone About Doing This
-> Maybe, He Meditated on the Names of God (Elaborate)

2) Call on a Friend