Killing Discouragement

Most of us, if we are indeed human, suffer through periods of discouragement.  The fact is, this is an unavoidable issue for everyone, including believers in Christ.  The difference for believers is that we have Biblical reasons not to be discouraged as well as a remedy if we are overtaken by it.

In the post-exile period of Israel in the fifth century BC, Nehemiah was commissioned by God to rebuild the wall which surrounded Jerusalem.  During this rebuilding period, Nehemiah literally rebuilt the devastated walls in an amazing fifty-two days!  What most Christians don't realize is that Nehemiah faced incredibly hostile and vicious opposition during that nearly two month period.  We might be tempted to think that with God's power and provision, Nehemiah went through this task like a hot knife through butter!  Ah, think again!

On several occasions, the workers were accused of tyranny, treason, and threatened with constant physical attack, verbal abuse, and death.  On one of those days when the opposition was nearly intolerable, the Jew's enemy, Sanballet saw that the wall was going up, in rage he cried out in Nehemiah chapter 4:

"What are these feeble Jews doing?  Will they restore it for themselves?  Will they sacrifice?  Will they finish up in a day?  Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?".

You can see where this is going right?  The enemy is saying, "If we can't literally stop you we are going to discourage you so badly that you just give up on your own."  That's why James admonished us "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7)"  Oftentimes, right in the midst of our greatest opportunities and callings, we are beset with periods of such intense opposition to our efforts we are tempted to take our eyes off the prize.  

Let me encourage you today, don't do it!  Don't allow the enemy to steal the potential blessings which have been promised to you.  Don't listen to the naysayers or yield to those who directly oppose your efforts to do what God has called you to do.  God has promised "we will reap if we do not give up (Galatians 6:9)".  Be encouraged in the Lord today and trust Him to finish what He has started to do in you. 




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