Our pastor has said that he is discouraged, but what does that exactly mean? There are many definitions:
- from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discouragement
- A feeling of having lost hope or confidence.
- what doesomething that discourages someone.
- from https://bible.org/illustration/definition-discouragement
- Discouragement is dissatisfaction with the past, distaste for the present, and distrust of the future. It is ingratitude for the blessings of yesterday, indifference to the opportunities of today, and insecurity regarding strength for tomorrow. It is unawareness of the presence of beauty, unconcern for the needs of our fellowman, and unbelief in the promises of old. It is impatience with time, immaturity of thought, and impoliteness to God. – William Ward.
- from http://av1611.com/kjbp/kjv-dictionary/discourage.html
- The act of disheartening, or depriving of courage; the act of deterring or dissuading from an undertaking; the act of depressing confidence.
- That which destroys or abates courage; that which depresses confidence or hope; that which deters or tends to deter from an undertaking, or from the prosecution of any thing. Evil examples are great discouragements to virtue. The revolution was commenced under every possible discouragement.
What are some of the symptoms of discouragement?
- You get tired or fatigued
- You get frustrated
- You think you have failed
- You become insecure and give into fear
- Then you get discouraged
Why is our pastor discouraged? Only he can answer that, but I am going to speculate that things were not working out the way he wanted. You may wander why get discouraged over that? This has not been a recent event. We were looking to move, but the owner leased the area to another without letting us know and we were one of the first if not the first to respond to listing. People are leaving the church. One of his pastoral students has been rebelling against God. People who have left the church are basically gossiping and causing problems. He looks tired and frustrated He works almost all the time and therefore has very little if any downtime.
How can he or anyone over come discouragement? The obvious answer is to turn to God and ask for help. However, lets take a look at some scripture on discouragement and how to overcome it.
Ezra 5New International Version (NIV)
Tattenai’s Letter to Darius
5 Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. 2 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.
3 At that time Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates went to them and asked, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and to finish it?” 4 They also asked, “What are the names of those who are constructing this building?” 5 But the eye of their God was watching over the elders of the Jews, and they were not stopped until a report could go to Darius and his written reply be received.
6 This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates, the officials of Trans-Euphrates, sent to King Darius. 7 The report they sent him read as follows:
To King Darius:
Cordial greetings.
8 The king should know that we went to the district of Judah, to the temple of the great God. The people are building it with large stones and placing the timbers in the walls. The work is being carried on with diligence and is making rapid progress under their direction.
9 We questioned the elders and asked them, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and to finish it?” 10 We also asked them their names, so that we could write down the names of their leaders for your information.
11 This is the answer they gave us:
“We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, one that a great king of Israel built and finished. 12 But because our ancestors angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, king of Babylon, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon.
13 “However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this house of God. 14 He even removed from the temple of Babylon the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple in Babylon. Then King Cyrus gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor, 15 and he told him, ‘Take these articles and go and deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem. And rebuild the house of God on its site.’
16 “So this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem. From that day to the present it has been under construction but is not yet finished.”
17 Now if it pleases the king, let a search be made in the royal archives of Babylon to see if King Cyrus did in fact issue a decree to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision in this matter.
Nehemiah 4:19-21 New International Version (NIV)
19 Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. 20 Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us!”
21 So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out.
To overcome discouragement, we need to:
- Read God’s word.
- Talk to God.
- Get back to work for the Lord.
- Remember that God will not give us anything we cannot handle.
- Trust the Lord and that He will accomplish His will through us
While you do not know my pastors name, please pray for him to overcome this season of discouragement.