Discouragement: Part 1 - Dissecting it!

Over the last month I travelled through three different countries. I met many dear brothers and sisters. Many great stories, but also quite a few asked me questions about being discouraged. Is it a sin? Why do we struggle with it? ...etc. So let’s see what we can discover about Discouragement. 

Years ago, we had a wonderful couple living next door to us. Their daughter was the same age as ours, and they played a lot together. I had been struggling with gaining weight, but had just lost about 15 pounds. I found out that my daughter had told our neighbor “that she was almost fatter than my daddy”…she was pregnant! 

If you have been discouraged, you are not strange: 

In 1866, C.H. Spurgeon stunned his five thousand listeners when from the pulpit of London's Metropolitan Tabernacle he announced, "I am the subject of depressions of spirit so fearful that I hope none of you ever gets to such extremes of wretchedness as I go to." In 1887 when speaking about discouragement said, "Personally I have often passed through this dark valley." 

"John Henry Jowett, the pastor of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian in New York City, and later Westminster Chapel in London, wrote to a friend in 1920, `You seem to imagine I have no ups and downs but just a level and lofty stretch of spiritual attainment with unbroken joy and equanimity. By no means! I am often perfectly wretched and everything appears most murky.' 

"Martin Luther was subject to such fits of darkness that he would secret himself away for days, and his family would remove all dangerous implements from the house for fear he would harm himself. In the midst of one of these times, his wife, Katherine, entered his room dressed in mourning. Startled, Luther asked who had died. She replied that no one had, but from the way he was acting, she thought God had died!" 

Life is full of ups and downs…that is normal. It is never a sin to have valid emotions; the issue is what do we do with those emotions. 

During the Boxer Rebellion, the China Inland Mission suffered greatly; and its founder, J. Hudson Taylor, said to a friend, `I cannot read; I cannot think; I cannot even pray; but I can trust.'

Let’s define this emotion from Scripture: 

Colossians 3:21 Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.

athumeo {ath-oo-meh'-o} - to be disheartened, dispirited, broken in spirit 

Ephesians 3:13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory. 

ekkakeo {ek-kak-eh'-o} - to be utterly spiritless, to be wearied out, exhausted 

There are three different ranges of discouragement 

Minor: Pressures that affect our emotions 

Normal: Problems & Pressures that affect us in a way that others will notice 

2 Cor. 4:8-9 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 

Major: Crushing and overwhelming circumstances, which takes away all strength: Spiritual, intellectual, Physical & Emotional 

Job 7:10 He will never come to his house again; his place will know him no more. 

Job 9:21 "Although I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life.
Job 10:1 "I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul. 

None of this is sin; It’s what you do in it that decides that. 

Mark 14:32-34 They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," he said to them. "Stay here and keep watch." 

Jesus was very depressed about what was about to happen. He was honest, yet controlled His emotions, and because of that the world can be forgiven of their sins. 

Meditation Questions: How well do you understand your emotions? What is the difference between something valid, versus something right or wrong? Is there any invalid emotion? Explain. When you feel down, what does that look like? What do you do about it? 

Next we will look at the Cause, the problem with Faith and the Benefits of discouragement.