Being Discouraged

Introduction

When my sons were children, they used to sing a song in Children’s Church that went like this:

1-2-3 the devil’s after me
4-5-6 he’s always throwing sticks
7-8-9 he misses every time

Do you sometimes feel like sticks and other things are being thrown at you all day long? As Christians, we want to always be happy and filled with God’s joy. But the fact is we get discouraged. When we do, we often deal with ourselves harshly and condemn ourselves for somehow failing in our Christian walk. After all, Christians are never supposed to be discouraged, right? The fact is the Bible is full of example of believers who became discouraged. As we study Ezra 4:1-5, 24 we will see how the nation of Israel became discouraged while trying to do God’s work.

Israel had been taken into captivity because of the sin of the nation. They chose to worship idols instead of the living God. To help them get their focus back on him, God allowed them to be taken into exile for a 70 year period so they could learn humility. This must have been a very discouraging time for them. But instead of losing heart, they returned to the words of their forebears as recorded in scripture. They discovered verses in the Holy Scriptures that promised their return to Jerusalem.

Instead of focusing on their problems, they looked to their God and trusted his word. This is something we must learn to do if we are to overcome discouragement. We need to believe his word when he says in Psalm 34:19, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all." And also Isaiah 43:2, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee."

Trusting in God’s word is not something that happens overnight, but comes from a lifetime commitment as we learn through our trials and times of discouragement to place our confidence in Him. As Paul pointed out in Romans 5:3-4 "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope." Notice this is a learning process. Only by going through tribulations do we learn patience. And only after we learn to patiently trust God do we gain experience of God’s delivering hand. Only after we’ve patiently gone through the experience of many trials do we finally learn to place our hope in God, knowing that he has the ultimate control over our lives. This is an ongoing process which begins when we don’t allow the discouraging circumstances around us to overwhelm us. Along this journey, we may have our ups and downs, sometimes trusting God, other times falling back into discouragement. But the important thing is to continue on the journey slowly learning to turn our worries and concerns more and more over to the Lord.

One of the things that kept the Jews from being overwhelmed by their circumstances while in Babylon was the promises of Israel’s return to Jerusalem recorded in God’s word. God in Ezekiel 34:13 had promised, "I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land, I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land." In Zephaniah 2:7 there is the prophecy, "And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: for the Lord their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity." There is even mentioned in Isaiah 44:28 the name of the Persian king who will sign the decree to rebuild Jerusalem, "That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid." In Jeremiah 29:10 is revealed the number of years Israel would be in exile, "This is what the Lord says: ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.’ "

All these promises were in the Holy Scriptures. They had been made before the captivity began, but the Jews had to believe them and stand on God’s promises. Things haven’t changed even after 2,500 years. We still have to believe God’s word and stand on his promises.

All these promises were fulfilled when Cyrus signed the decree allowing the Jews to return to their homeland in 536 B.C. as recorded in Ezra 1:1-3. They returned to Jerusalem with great joy and anticipation. They came with Zerubbabel and Joshua (Ezra 2:2) and within seven months had rebuilt the altar (Ezra 3:2-3). A short time later they laid the foundation (Ezra 3:10-11). They were excited about the work.

This brings us to our text in Ezra 4:1-5, 24.

Verse 1
Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel.

Notice that almost immediately the adversaries of the Jews heard about this building. They attempted to hinder the work of God. This is the same with us. If we are truly doing something for the Lord, Satan will try to hinder our progress. Don’t be surprised if discouraging circumstances may happen in your life.

Verse 2
They approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, "Let us build with you; for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here."

The Samaritans who were living in the land came to Israel with a deceitful invitation to compromise. They probably knew that Zerubbabel had authority from Cyrus. So they didn’t want to oppose them openly. What they attempted to do was to become part of the work and sabotage it from the inside.

It seemed like an innocent gesture. They were only offering to help. But as MacDonald points out, "They too worshipped Jehovah, but He was only one of many gods in their idolatrous system of religion." This is just like the enemy of our soul. We are busy working for the Lord accomplishing things when the enemy sneaks in with a subtle offer to compromise with the world. When we compromise with the things of this world, we will find our work thwarted.

Verse 3
But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, "You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us."

The nation of Israel stood their ground and rejected the offer. When we are tempted to compromise our standards, we must stand our ground. The Jews were working under a command from the king of Persia. We are working under a command from the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We had best listen to our king and not be distracted by others.

Verse 4
Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and made them afraid to build.

Now we see the true intentions of the Samaritans. They tried to stop the work of the Jews. Notice that discouragement set in. Why is this? The Jews under Zerubbabel and Joshua had started with so much confidence. They had taken a stand and they were proceeding with the Lord’s work. Why would they get discouraged? Notice verse 4 tells us the Samaritans "made them afraid to build." It was fear that caused discouragement. What are you afraid of? What do you fear might happen to you? If you allow it to distract you from God, you too will become discouraged.

How they became afraid we don’t know. They may have been threatened with harm. They may have been taunted. They may have been told that their construction wouldn’t hold up anyway. We don’t know. But we do know that the Jews listened to the Samaritans and allowed fear to grip their heart. If we listen to the lies from Satan, we too will find fear gripping our heart. If we find this occurring, we need to remember the promise in 2 Timothy 1:7, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

Verse 5
And hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Now the Samaritans hired counselors to argue in the king’s court against the work of the Jews. Do you sometimes feel that people are against you? Does it seem like they are talking behind your back? That’s the way it felt to the nation of Israel. They became discouraged because of it.

Notice in verses 4-5 the three steps the enemy used to try to prevent Israel from doing God’s work. The Believer’s Bible Commentary describes the Samaritans’ strategy, "First they tried to discourage the people of Judah. Then they troubled them in building. They also hired counselors to lobby against Israel at the royal court to frustrate the Jews through the use of scare tactics."

These are the steps that Satan will try to use against us: first, try to get us discouraged; second, trouble us in our ministry; third, bring people to speak against us. The result is we may lose heart and feel like giving up. Have you felt like giving up? Have you felt so discouraged you just want to quit?

Verse 24
Then the work on the house of God which is in Jerusalem stopped; and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

This verse reveals the sad result of their discouragement, "Then the work on the house of God which is in Jerusalem stopped." Why did it stop? Discouragement set in. As Schultz remarks, "Optimism soon gave way to discouragement." Is that what’s happened to you? Has optimism given way to discouragement?

Don’t allow discouragement to stop you from doing the Lord’s work. There may be those who trouble us, and try to frustrate our work, and who speak to others against us. There will be opposition if we are genuinely doing God’s work. But as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:17, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

We leave Israel discouraged and disheartened. It would be another 15 years before Haggai and Zechariah would get the nation back to doing God’s work on his temple. What are you discouraged about? Don’t let it take you 15 years to resume doing what God wants you to do. Allow him to minister to you. He will give you strength and fill your heart with joy. But remember the three tricks that Satan will use against us – he will try to discourage us, he will try to cause us to be afraid, and he will try to cause others to speak against us. Don’t listen to those lies. Don’t let your heart be discouraged. Rejoice in God and he will see you through.

Footnotes:

Psalm 34:19 and Isaiah 43:2 from the King James Version

Romans 5:3-4 from the King James Version

Zephaniah 2:7 from the King James Version

Isaiah 44:28 from the King James Version

2 Timothy 1:7 from the King James Version

Schultz: The Old Testament Speaks pg. 412

2 Corinthians 4:17 from the King James Version