Dis-couragement

A common greeting in our society is "how's it going to today?" a typical response is "fine or great how about you?" The real truth of the matter is most of us moderns are frequently stuck in this Mad, Sad, Afraid or Ashamed syndrome and we are not "fine or great" we just are not honest enough to admit it. It takes courage to be honest with yourself and others. In Nehemiah 4 the enemy sought to stop Nehemiah and company from rebuilding the walls by using the weapon of "dis-couragement". Discouragement is basically the absence of courage! Sanballat (their enemy) used the tactics of mocking, despisement in order to cause them to lose courage and stop building. Like the children of Israel with Nehemiah anytime we are seeking to re-build things or conquering new areas in our lives we meet resistance and our perseverance and courage is put to the test.

When Joshua was called to be the successor to Moses, God told him repeatedly "be strong and of good courage" in his new assignment. The word strong in the Hebrew means - courageous, valiant, manly, strengthened, established , firm, fortified, obstinate, and mighty.

In I Samuel 30 we find David greatly dis-couraged after the Amalekites had invaded Ziklag and burned his city, took his wife and the rest of the women captive. The Bible says "David lifted up his voice and wept until they had no more power to weep". The story goes on to say that his very own people were so distressed they talked of stoning him.

The Bible records David's response "...but David strengthened or en-couraged himself in the Lord his God". David literally made himself strong in the Lord.

May God give you the willingness to seek Him today. I pray that you will have the courage and strength to persevere even when you "don't feel fine" and to recover all that has been lost or stolen and that God would receive all the Glory!!