HOW TO RISE ABOVE DISCOURAGEMENT.

 NEHEMIAH 4:1-12

Today we are going to look at discouragement which is a giant destroyer.Discouragement is one of the easiest giants to catch and also one of the most difficult to overcome. It is so easy for us to catch because discouragement is so highly contagious and easily transmitted.It does not matter if you have followed Christ for a year or fifty years every one of us is prone to attack. And once it gets a hold on your life it can drag you down into despair and eventually into depression.

 Discouragement is part of life. Discouragement comes most often when you do right things but experience poor results. You work hard, but you don't make progress. You show up to practice every day, giving it your all, but you lose every game. You spend time with your child - going out of your way to parent the best you know how - but she rebells.

Discouragement eats a hole in our hearts. It makes us want to quit, saying things we shouldn't say, shaking our fists at God. 

In chapter 4 Nehemiah was at a tough moment in life. God had given him a vision and a plan to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and to renew the faith of the people. However like any project that God gives us, Nehemiah faced some huge obstacles. There were people that did not want to see God’s work completed, they did not want to see Jerusalem strengthen and they did not want to see the walls rebuilt. As a result they did everything in their power to stop it. They wanted Nehemiah and the people of Jerusalem to become so discouraged by all their efforts that they would give up and surrender God’s plan.

•The fact that somebody did something and fail doesn't mean you will fail.

•The fact you did it and didn't succeed does mean that you should not make another attempt.

•The fact that someone shows you a bad character doesn't mean you should be discouraged over God's instruction to extend kindness to that person.

In verse 6 the giant of disappointment appears and it comes at a very predictable moment. Read this verse 6 “ So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.”

Circle the phrase, “half its height.”

Isn’t that the way it always happens? Right when you come to the halfway point discouragement sets in. When we start something new our excitement and enthusiasm for a project/ for a relationship/ for our faith carries us forward. But then we come to the point of no return, we reach the mid-way point and negative thoughts begin. We begin to examine our progress. What once seemed possible now looks impossible, the results that at first encouraged us now appear small and insignificant, the help we had in the beginning has started to fade and the finish line seems more distant then when we began.

Discouragement loves the mid-point. It loves the point of no return – the place where you can’t start over and you can’t quit (because the cost of failure is too great). The point where your accomplishments don’t seem to match the energy or resources you have spent.

When it comes to our faith, once you make a new commitment to God (to pray or to give or to serve) and begin taking steps to fulfill God’s plan Satan is waiting to attack. In verses 10-12 there are four things Satan will use to cause you to be discouraged and to keep you from reaching the goal God has given you/ your full potential.

Let me give you a new perspective on this passage by reading from the NLT, verse 10-12.

1. The first cause of discouragement is FATIGUE due to a loss of strength.

The number one cause for discouragement is often fatigue. We are just too tired, too worn-out.

Many commentators believe that the reason the rebuilding of the wall caught so much attention was because of their initial success. Nehemiah put together a work force that was so well prepared and highly motivated it caught the attention of everyone watching. Their speed and efficiency was remarkable and news spread quickly, their enemies became afraid and sought to halt their progress.

The other result of their success was an overworked labor force. In their excitement to protect themselves they did not recognize that their speed could become their greatest enemy. They were physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually exhausted. They did not plan for a time of rest.

2. The second cause of discouragement is FRUSTRATION due to a loss of vision.

Nehemiah said the problem was their perception; they believed there was too much rubble. The people had lost God’s vision for the wall in the piles of unfinished projects. Instead of seeing the big picture the workers focused on the mess/rubble of their lives.

I wonder how many of you have the kind of job where your work is never finished? If you do, you understand what frustration is like. The feeling that you are never free, you’re never out from under all the pressure - all the deadlines, you’re never able to relax and leave work behind. Those feelings can leave you trapped, they can cause you to loose sight of God’s plan.

In Ezra 4 we get another glimpse of what caused their frustration,

“4 Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building, 5 And hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose…” KJV

According to this verse frustration is the result of lost purpose. The goal of frustration is to break you or to divide you. Satan wants you to feel lost and out of God’s will for your life. He wants you to feel worthless, helpless and insignificant to accomplish anything.

3. The third cause of discouragement is FAILURE due to a loss of confidence.

Once fatigue had taken it’s toll and frustration set in, the people failed. They lost confidence in themselves, in each other and ultimately in God.

At the end of verse 10 they said to themselves “…we cannot rebuild the wall."

This is the third stage of discouragement, a stage that always begins the same way. It begins with words like: It’s impossible, I can’t do it, I always fail, I never succeed. I will never amount to anything.I am tired of these words of prophecies when will they come to pass in my life.Words that convince us there is no hope for the future. The truth is failure is never final. Failure is an opportunity to try again. 

The truth is Failure is never final, instead with God it is always a door to new opportunities.

If you are blessed, please leave a comment below 👇👇👇