November 10, 2002

Service Theme – "Our God is Hope"

Matthew 11:25-30; Psalm 62:5-8

Dealing with Discouragement

1. Introduction

1. Illustration – (As cited on SermonCentral.com) There’s a story about a child psychologist who wanted to observe how different children respond to negative circumstances. They got a room and filled it with horse manure. Putting the pessimistic child in there, they observed how he responded. Predictably, he whined and cried, and despaired that he was in a room full of smelly manure. They put the other child in there, and the little guy started tearing around the room, digging in the manure with an excitement that baffled the on-lookers. After a few moments of watching this, they asked him why he was so excited. He replied, "With all this manure in the room, there’s got to be a pony in here somewhere!"
2. Context – The key to overcoming discouragement lies in finding the pony hidden the manure of life.

1. Scripture Passage

1. Matthew 11:25-30 - At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. ²⁶ Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. ²⁷ "All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. ²⁸ "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
2. Psalm 62:5-8 – Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. ⁶ He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. ⁷ My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. ⁸ Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.

1. Rest for a Weary Heart

1. We all struggle with discouragement. Things don’t go the way we want them to, or they’re tougher than we’d ever imagined. We can’t see how we’re going to make it through. I’ve been feeling that way for much of the last few months. There are things in my life that haven’t gone the way I wanted them to, or that have been much harder than I ever dreamed. I think part of the problem with us is that we don’t value or esteem ourselves in the same way God does. We sing "Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world," but deep down we’re afraid that He only loves the little ones enough to overlook their faults. I grew up with the image of God as a powerful Judge just waiting to zap me when I messed up. I’ve grown out of that a lot, but deep inside me there’s a little boy who still is afraid that he just doesn’t measure up in God’s sight. And that little boy still comes out from time to time and makes a forty-one year old man doubt God’s love. That’s part of the problem we face.
2. Another part of the problem is that we just can’t believe God is good enough to bless us and want the best for us. We are very keenly aware of our own faults and character flaws, and we have a hard time loving ourselves because of them. Sometimes we response to our feelings with pity parties, and sometimes we try to hide our insecurity behind an arrogant façade. But the bottom line is we’re terribly afraid that there is no way God could bless someone like us. We’re terribly afraid that God doesn’t want the best for us. And we use those filters to interpret what happens in our lives. "If God loved me and wanted the best for me, how could He let this happen?" "Why is He punishing me?" "Doesn’t He love me enough to spare me from this?" We look for the worst when God intends everything for the best. That leads us to discouragement.
3. There are other causes as well. For some of us, there are specific traumas like abuse or a death in the family that affect how we think. Sometimes discouragement comes when we get too tired or we’re sick or we’re in the middle of a crisis. But whatever it is, something triggers those feelings from the past and those filters we threw away long ago and we want to pack it in. We get discouraged, unable to cope or to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Where is there hope? How can we make it through? How can we survive, much less thrive, when we’re feeling like this? How can we stand any more of this spiritual battle we find ourselves in daily?
4. Illustration - Amy Carmichael wrote, Everywhere the perpetual endeavour of the enemy of souls is discouragement. If he can get the soul "under the weather," he wins. It is not really what we go through that matters, it is what we go under that breaks us. We can bear anything if only we are kept inwardly victorious. ... If God can make His birds to whistle in drenched and stormy darkness, if He can make His butterflies able to bear up under rain, what can He not do for the heart that trusts Him? (as cited on PreachingToday.com).
5. That’s why when we feel down and discouraged Jesus says to us,"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." He’s saying to us, "Accept my loving touch. Let Me hold you in My arms. The load you’re supposed to bear is much lighter than the one you are choosing. Take what I give you, and you will find rest." He says, "Come to me, you who are toiling and growing weary and are being loaded up with burdens too heavy to bear." Jesus knows how to ease our sorrow and lift us up from the pit of our discouragement.
6. If that’s the case, why won’t He just do it? Why won’t He rescue us from the pit of discouragement and despair? There is only one person who can stop Jesus from lifting you up and that’s you! When we don’t experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit in our lives, it isn’t because God’s not doing His part. It’s because we aren’t listening to Him. It’s because we want so badly for things to go the way we’ve planned that we’ve stopped listening to His still small voice inside our hearts that is trying to minister the love and grace we need to overcome our discouragement. When we look for help only in one direction, and that direction isn’t what God has in mind, we will always miss out on His love and encouragement. We will always miss out on His grace. Right here, right now, Jesus is saying to us, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." He is saying that to all of us!
7. How do we know He listens and will help us? Because we have a very powerful witness to God’s wonderful love and grace in times of discouragement: David. Anyone reading the Psalms and the historical accounts of his life finds very quickly that David had lots of reasons for discouragement, and that he was frequently discouraged. Yet in Psalm 62:5-8, he writes, Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. ⁶ He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. ⁷ My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. ⁸ Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. What David learned and what he shares with us through his psalm is this: God is our hope no matter what the circumstances. God is the source of our rest and salvation and honor no matter what the circumstances. We can trust God no matter what the circumstances. Really, that’s what it boils down to – whether or not we truly trust God. If we do trust God with all our hearts in spite of our fears, we find rest. If we don’t trust Him, we don’t have a prayer of finding rest for our weary souls. Will we trust our perceptions, or will we trust what we know to be true? Will we believe our fears, or will we believe the Creator of the Universe?
8. Illustration - Dr. E. Stanley Jones wrote, I am inwardly fashioned for faith, not for fear. Fear is not my native land; faith is. I am so made that worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life; faith is the oil. I live better by faith and confidence than by fear, doubt and anxiety. In anxiety and worry, my being is gasping for breath--these are not my native air. But in faith and confidence, I breathe freely--these are my native air. A John Hopkins University doctor says, "We do not know why it is that worriers die sooner than the non-worriers, but that is a fact." But I, who am simple of mind, think I know; We are inwardly constructed in nerve and tissue, brain cell and soul, for faith and not for fear. God made us that way. To live by worry is to live against reality (as cited on SermonCentral.com). The ultimate reality of life is that we can trust Jesus with everything!
9. We can trust Jesus when He tells us, "Come to me, you who are toiling and growing weary and are being loaded up with burdens too heavy to bear." He has a direct connection with God, because He shares the essence of His being with God. He’s in on everything that God is going to do! So when Jesus promises us rest, He’s not just talking the talk. He will beyond a shadow of a doubt walk the walk. We can trust Him to help us overcome discouragement!
10. Illustration - Ruth Tucker (From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions, Zondervan, 1983, pp. 90-93) wrote, "My heart is sunk…. It seemed to me I should never have any success among the Indians. My soul was weary of my life; I longed for death, beyond measure." So wrote David Brainerd, describing his early weeks as a missionary to Native Americans at the beginning of the 1700s. Things didn't improve much for the first two years, in fact. He felt his prospects of winning converts "as dark as midnight." Three years into the work, though, he finally witnessed a revival among the Indians of Crossweesung in New England, and after another year and a half, the number of converts numbered 150—not much by today's mass evangelistic standards, but profoundly significant in his day. Unfortunately, Brainerd died after only five years on the mission field, at age 29. After Brainerd's death, Jonathan Edwards—whom some consider America's greatest theologian—published Brainerd's journals. These were read widely in America and Europe. In fact, William Carey, the "father of modern missions," the man who ignited the modern Protestant missionary movement, which has been responsible for millions upon millions of conversions worldwide, pointed to Brainerd's journals as a key source of his inspiration to take up the missionary life. Who, then, can judge whether our work is worthwhile? Certainly we cannot when we're in the midst of discouragement (as cited on PreachingToday.com). We may never know how powerfully God is using us. I remember a time in my life when I was constantly depressed and struggling with sin, and looking back at that time there was no doubt in my mind that those were wasted years. But then I ran across a journal I kept sporadically during that time, and I found an entry that was written during one of the lowest points in my life. I could hardly believe my eyes, because on that page I found how God had used me to help a friend through a difficult time. Feelings are hard to deal with, no doubt, but they are ultimately irrelevant when compared to truth. The truth is that, no matter how depressed and discouraged we feel, God is still able to use us for His glory. That truth can give us strength if we allow it. "Come to me!" Jesus calls. "My hope come from you!" can be our reply. Will we trust Jesus enough to let Him give us the courage and strength and rest we need to make it through victoriously?
11. Illustration - Pastor Gordon Johnson told this story: During World War I, a British commander was preparing to lead his soldiers back to battle. They'd been on furlough, and it was a cold, rainy, muddy day. Their shoulders sagged because they knew what lay ahead of them: mud, blood, possible death. Nobody talked, nobody sang. It was a heavy time. As they marched along, the commander looked into a bombed-out church. Back in the church he saw the figure of Christ on the cross. At that moment, something happened to the commander. He remembered the One who suffered, died, and rose again. There was victory, and there was triumph. As the troops marched along, he shouted out, "Eyes right, march!" Every eye turned to the right, and as the soldiers marched by, they saw Christ on the cross. Something happened to that company of men. Suddenly they saw triumph after suffering, and they took courage. With shoulders straightened, they began to smile as they went. You see, anything worthwhile in life will be a risk that demands courage (as cited on PreachingToday.com). Are you discouraged? Do you need those loving arms of Jesus to pick you up and give you the strength and rest and courage to go on?
12. Illustration - Stormie Omartian ("Heart to Heart," Today's Christian Woman) wrote, "I can't do it!" I cried to God. "I can't handle the housework, my work, the loneliness of a husband who works so much." Then I sensed the Holy Spirit saying, You are trying to do everything on your own strength. Just worship me--and I'll do the rest. I said out loud, "I praise you, God, in the midst of my situation. Thank you that nothing is too hard for you." Slowly, the pressure left--my burden was now his. Praise isn't always my first reaction to frustration, so I have to remind myself to do it. But now, when my flesh can't go any further, I stop and worship God (as cited on PreachingToday.com). Whether you need to stop and praise God, or you just need to rest in His arms, are you discouraged today?

1. Conclusion

1. Please bow your heads and close your eyes. There is no shame in being discouraged! Some Christians may try to make you feel that way, but they are dead wrong – there is no shame in being discouraged. God wants to be the shoulder you can cry on to release that pent up fear and frustration and disappointment and discouragement! All you have to do is trust Him and take the step of faith toward Him.
2. If you are discouraged, please swallow your pride and take the step of faith and come forward and stand. Then either I or someone else who loves you will come and pray with you and give you a hug and a shoulder to cry on if you need one. But come forward now.