What a great way to challenge our priorities! That is one thing
discouragement does, but before we look at the benefits, I want to briefly look
at several other issues that we will look at in detail in later Devos.
Remember discouragement is not a sin, but if you stay there – it
will become sin
What causes us to remain until we allow sin to take control?
There are two basic causes: Lack of light - ignorance of Truth and Willful decision - not willing to learn.
The foundation for both of these is a problem with faith, we either
a.
Believe a lie of Satan
or
b.
Do not believe a promise of God
I will look at this in detail in future Devos, but right now I
want to discuss the benefits of discouragement. Yes, that sounds strange, but
it is not that strange, when given some thought.
Job 2:9 Then
his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and
die!”
In what has to be the greatest story of testing ever recorded,
Job had everyone turn on Him, including his wife. However, he made it clear
what was really important:
Job 2:10 But he
said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed
accept good from God and not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin
with his lips.
Paul shares about the trials of life:
2 Corinthians
4:16–18 Therefore we do not lose
heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed
day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal
weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are
seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
What he does is point out that the discouragements of this
world only help us appreciate what we will experience in eternity! I realize
this won’t
sell very well for many of the “big names” on TV church today, but that’s
because they don’t study the Word of God, they manipulate it. Discouragement
brings a light to our life about what is REALLY important.
George
Sweeting puts it this way - "The Main thing is to keep the main thing the
main thing."
How? Paul
shows us:
Romans 7:22–24 I
love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within
me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is
still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me
from this life that is dominated by sin and death?
The struggle against sin is so great that it brings Paul to the
end of himself! But notice, the answer is there.
Romans 7:25 Thank
God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Even the discouragement of sickness or a weakness can be used
as a benefit; Paul when speaking about his “thorn in the flesh” stated:
2 Corinthians
12:8–10 Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.
And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected
in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with
weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with
difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
According to a sixteenth-century spiritual classic by St. John
of the Cross titled “ The dark night of the soul.” Based on the night scenes described in
the Song of Songs, the book tells how the child of God enters into deeper love
and faith by experiencing temporary darkness and seeming separation from God.
Discouragement is no fun…but its benefits can produce a deeper faith.
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