Dealing with Discouragement (0533)

Any work for God will be met with opposition from the devil. And one of the devil’s methods to stop the work of God is through discouragement. Nehemiah 4 shows us how to deal with discouragement. While rebuilding the fallen walls of the city of Jerusalem, Nehemiah and his team faced the enemy’s attack of discouragement. This passage reveals, first, the curse and the three causes of discouragement.

First, Nehemiah’s people were worn out. They were in the middle of the job, working hard, growing tired. The newness had worn off, yet the end was far out of reach.

Second, they were weighted down. They had a task to do; rather than seeing it one step at a time, they saw the rubbish, trash and debris. The task seemed too big.

Third, they were wrought up. The enemy knows just when we are in breaching difficulty, physically debilitated, or when we have more to do than we can do. He can sense when things are about to cave in. That is when he attacks.

And unfortunately, much like in this passage, the attack can come from other people of God. Adrian Rogers says, “Do you know the hardest thing for me to face as a pastor? It's not what the enemy does out there, but it is people within the camp who say it can't be done.”

Nehemiah then took six steps to re-encourage those who had been discouraged:

1. He armed his people, equipping them for battle as they built.
2. He assured his people, urging them to remember the Lord their God.
3. He aroused his people, stirring in their hearts with a powerful message: “You’re not just building walls… you’re building lives.”
4. He applied his people, instructing them to get back to work.
5. He assembled his people, unifying them before God.
6. He admonished his people, warning them to be careful.

Apply it to your life
Are you dealing with discouragement today?

As Adrian Rogers says, “Be sober; be vigilant. Let's stay on our knees and keep our face in the book. Let's keep loving one another and be deathly afraid of sin. Let's keep on the whole armor of God. Let's not be careless, not play loose; let's stay together. Let's love, let's believe God; and together God’s people will see great things done.”