Sermon: Dealing with Discouragement (with special thanks to Rick
Ezell for his sermon Rise Above Discouragement, Jeremiah 20, whose notes were very helpful to me)
Scripture: Jeremiah 20:1-13
Introduction
Discouragement is part of life. Discouragement comes most
often when we do right things but experience poor results. We work hard, but
we don't seem to make progress. We show up to practice every day, giving it our all,
but we lose anyway.
Discouragement eats a hole in our hearts. It makes us want
to quit, saying things we shouldn't say, shaking our fists at God. That's how
Jeremiah felt. God called him to speak a harsh message to a rebellious people.
He was obeyed. Yet on one occasion Jeremiah so angered an assistant to the high
priest and chief security officer for the temple, Pashhur, that the man
arrested Jeremiah, beat him, and threw him in jail, locking him in stocks so
that his body was contorted, writhing in pain. Here was a man in deep distress.
He endured physical, emotional, spiritual, and professional anguish. He walked
into deep despair, all for doing God's will.
Jeremiah was released the next day, emerging with a sentence
of his own. He gave Pashhur a new name: "Terror on Every Side." This
name described the terror Babylon would inflict on Judah, specifically the fate
Pashhur would suffer when God's judgment fell. He would die and be buried
outside Israel, which was considered a judgment, for the Gentile lands were
labeled unclean. But what difference would that make? He had been preaching
lies in the name of God and encouraging idolatry in the temple. So, why not
live in a land of lies and idols, and eventually be buried there?
Enough about Pashhur - it is Jeremiah's rise above discouragement
on which we want to focus. In this last of his recorded laments, which is
similar to Jesus' Gethsemane experience, we find the highs and lows of human
emotions: grief and joy, despair and delight, perplexity and praise. Like
Jesus, Jeremiah reminds us that even a faithful servant of God can become
discouraged. Jeremiah lived above his feelings and fulfilled God's will.
We, too, can rise above discouragement. Here's how.
I. Be honest with God--tell God how we feel (v. 7)
Jeremiah was honest. He felt deceived by God. The word "deceived" means to be enticed or seduced. Obviously, God does not mislead or
trick people, but Jeremiah felt that God had lured him into the ministry only
to make him a laughingstock. He felt ridiculed and offended. His voice
was not making a difference. He was crying out for the people to repent, yet
they continued toward destruction and judgment. Jeremiah's intense lament was
private – for God alone, not public.
God wants us to talk to him, even when we are angry, upset,
and frustrated. He wants us to tell the truth. A lot of dishonesty goes on in
relationships, even with God.
People ask me: Is it wrong to be angry with God? First, we
must remember that anger is an emotion, and oftentimes emotions are neither
right nor wrong: they just are. What we do with our emotions is a separate
issue. People are sometimes surprised by the answer I give them: "If you
feel anger toward God you should tell him. God is big enough and strong enough
to handle your hurt and anger. So tell him about. He wants you to pour out your heart to him.
He wants you to express what is in your heart."
Consider the Psalmist as an example of one who poured his heart out to God. We should do the same. Hold nothing back when you pray. Tell
the Lord exactly what's in your heart, especially the bad feelings. By pouring
out these emotions we are freed from their hold, and we enter more deeply into
the loving embrace of the Lord.
God does not want us stuck in anger or any other negative
feelings we may have. This is why we should be honest with God in prayer. We
should go before God as we are, not pretending to be someone we are not. If we
are honest with God in prayer, we will feel a sense of deep freedom, and we
will find ourselves having a deeper relationship with God and less
discouragement.
To bottle up our anger--even anger toward God--usually only causes harm, rarely good. To be dishonest--even in our prayers--clouds our relationship
with God. God desires real people, honest and forthright, who pour out their
hearts before him, bringing him all their motives and emotions. The truth is
that God knows the depths of our hearts--our thoughts, our motives, our
emotions--even before we speak them. So, if we fail to be honest with God then
we are only deceiving ourselves. Honesty with God can be liberating.
But being honest is only one part of the relationship, we also need to recognize the quality and character of the One with Whom we have to do. He is God. He deserves our obedience, even when things aren't going our way. So, to deal with discouragement, we need to learn obedience.
II. Be obedient to God--keep doing what we've been called
to do (v. 9)
Because of Pashhur's unjustified actions, Jeremiah was ready
to let go of God and leave him out of all conversations. But he couldn't do
that. He would not be at peace doing anything else. God's message was like a
fire in his bones that he could not put out. He could not be quiet about it.
Jeremiah did not preach because he had to say something, but because he had
something to say. Not saying it would have destroyed him.
Do you know why most pastors keep at the task despite
rejection and anger? Plain and simple, the call of God upon their lives keeps
them going. I spent time with a group of pastors. We bemoaned the struggles of
our vocation. One said: "Do you want to know what I tell everyone who
comes to me asking if they should go into the ministry? I tell them, ‘If you
can do something else, do it.'" Another pastor piped up, "You know
why I don't do something else? Because I am called."
When a person has a call, that call becomes hard to ignore.
To overcome discouragement, we need to be about the things God has called us to do. We need to get back to the task he put in front of us. What were you doing BEFORE you were discouraged? Was it a task from God? Why not continue to do it? When called, we should obey. Obedience is difficult and painful, yet I
suppose disobedience is moreso. To deal properly with discouragment, learn to obey what God has called you to do.
But honesty and obedience are not the only tools for dealing with discouragement. In fact, to do the first two properly, we must include the third point. We must be focused on God to deal with discouragement.
III. Be focused on God--know that the Lord is with us (v.
11)
Jeremiah realized that he wasn't alone. "But the LORD
is with me like a violent warrior" (Jer. 20:11). He was not on the losing
side. He was going to win because the
Lord was with him like a mighty warrior. God would deal effectively, in his own
way and time, with his enemies.
Often in our discouragement we look inward--to our
problems, our frustrations, and our situation--when we need to look upward to
a God who has not abandoned us. He is with us. He accompanies us. He is a
present-tense God.
Can we imagine the difference it would make in our outlook
if we remained consciously aware that God is with us? Imagine going into a
difficult board meeting knowing that God is beside you. Picture entering into a
stressful presentation knowing that God walks with you. Envision confronting
the status quo with the mighty arm of the Lord surrounding you.
Knowledge of God's presence can help us accomplish
significant things despite our discouragement. It provides courage, valor,
guts, strength, tenacity, and perseverance.
A. W. Tozer writes:
"The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of
God, and the church is famishing for want of his presence. The instant cure of
most of our religious ills would be to enter the Presence in spiritual
experience, to become suddenly aware that we are in God and that God is in us.
This would lift us out of our pitiful narrowness and cause our hearts to be
enlarged. This would burn away the impurities from our lives as the bugs and
fungi were burned away by the fire that dwelt in the bush."
Living in the glow of God's presence will enable you to
fight on despite discouragement.
And what is the best way to focus on God? That would be our regular worship of him, Worship is a great way to deal with discouragement. Like Jeremiah, we need to be honest, we need to be obedient, we need to be focused, and we need to develop a heart of worship.
IV. Be a worshipper/develop a heart of worship - praise God
with your whole heart (v. 13)
Jeremiah's despair turned to joy, his defeated attitude
turned to triumph, his dismay to courage. The key that unlocked the door to
victory was praise. Jeremiah triumphantly proclaimed, "Sing to the Lord!
Praise the Lord" (Jer. 20:13).
Praise is the one weapon in the Christian's arsenal against
which Satan has no defense. When we praise God we acknowledge that he is in
charge--he can do what he wants, when he wants, and how he wants.
Praise is more than just acknowledging God for the good that
comes our way. Praise is accepting from God all that comes our way, both the
good and the bad. The praise we offer when things don't go our way is far more
precious to God than the praise we offer when all is well.
Praise does four things:
A. Praise recognizes a Provider
B. Praise acknowledges a plan
C. Praise accepts the present
D. Praise releases power
When we praise God for the present situation as a part of
God's plan, God's power is unleashed. This power cannot be brought about by a
new attitude or a determined effort of self-will, but by God working in our
lives.
Conclusion
Let me close with a legend that reveals the source of
discouragement. Supposedly, the devil put his tools up for sale, marking each
for public inspection with its appropriate sale price. Included were hatred,
envy, jealousy, deceit, lying, and pride. Laid apart from these was a rather
harmless looking but well-worn tool – discouragement - marked at an extremely
high price. Why the costly price? The devil answered: "Because it is more
useful to me than the others. I can pry open a person's heart with that when I
cannot get near her with the other tools. Once inside, I can make her do
whatever I choose. It is badly worn because I use it on almost everyone, since
few people know it belongs to me."
Many people succumb to this infamous tool of Satan. Maybe
you feel its effect
now. You can rise above discouragement. Will you:
Be honest - tell God how you feel?
Be obedient - keep doing what you've been called to do?
Be watchful - know that the Lord is with you?
Be worshipful - praise God with your whole heart?
Thanks for reading!
