NEVER DISCOURAGED?

Have we trials and temptations?

Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be discouraged-

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

We should never be discouraged.

And yet, there are days - times when we’re so down we want to throw in the towel. We want to quit. What’s the use?

Elijah, one of the greatest prophets who ever lived, had just won his battle with the prophets of Baal up on Mount Carmel.

It was the high point of his life.

He had called down fire from heaven.

But now - one day later - with threats on his life by the Queen,

with no real results from his victory that he can see,

Elijah is ready to quit this world.

“I’ve had it Lord God. I want to die. I just don’t want to go on.”

Sometimes we pick ourselves up and keep going, but inside is this cloud of despair that floods our soul. You look alive on the outside.

But you’re dead on the inside.

Sometimes we plod on for years like that. More or less alive on the outside - dead on the inside.

Sometimes we don’t even realize how dead we are on the inside. We’re so used to being numb in here, we think it’s normal.

In Elijah’s case, God would not let him lie down and die. He let him sleep a bit. Woke him up, fed him. Let him sleep some more. Woke him up, fed him again, and then sent him into the Sinai wilderness to Mount Horeb, where centuries before Moses had seen the burning bush. He gets to Mount Horeb and sulks inside a cave.

“What are you doing here, Elijah?”

“I’m ticked off! I’ve been very jealous for the Lord of hosts, for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, killed your prophets with the sword and I, even I only am left and they seek my life to take it away.”

“Go stand on the mountain before the Lord.”

So Elijah stands at the mouth of the cave and a strong wind tears at the mountain and rolls the rocks around, but God is not in the wind. After the wind, an earthquake, but God is not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, a roaring fire, but God is not in the fire. After the fire, a still small voice.

Now Elijah knows he’s in the presence of God. His heart begins to burn. That deadness in him is swallowed up in life. He wraps his face in his mantle and worships.

“What are you doing here Elijah?”

“I’ve been very jealous for the Lord of hosts, for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, killed your prophets with the sword and I, even I only am left and they seek my life to take it away.”

But now since he has heard that still small voice, Elijah’s discouragement is gone. That deadness within him has disappeared. He’s alive. Elijah’s not going to lie down and die. He’s never going to die. He’s never going to face death again. God sends him back to finish his work and then lifts him out of this world.

We should never be discouraged.

When you’re walking with God - how can you be discouraged? It’s his program and his program never fails. Our programs fail. God’s program never fails.

When I’m discouraged,

it’s a sign that I’ve been pushing my program instead of God’s. I may feel like Elijah, that people have forsaken the covenant, thrown down God’s altars and I’m the only one left.

But in truth,

I’m ticked off because things haven’t been going my way. I’m upset because I’m not getting the results I desire. Here I went out of my way and did all this work and nobody responded. All my friends let me down.

No wonder I’m dead inside. I’ve allowed myself to be sidetracked by the powers of darkness. Sidetracked into pushing my agenda instead of worshipping and loving and enjoying the Living God.

We should never be discouraged.

No doubt the most discouraged person in the Bible was this man dwelling among the tombs.

He too wants to die.

He keeps bruising himself with stones.

He has long since given up living in a house or wearing clothes.

Demons have taken over his life.

Demons obsessed with death.

So the tombs have become his home.

“What have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the Most high God?”

“What’s your name?”

“My name is Legion, for we are many. Don’t send us into the abyss! Give us some time! Let us go into the swine.”

“All right, go.”

The demons of despair leave the man and enter the swine and the swine give up hope and thunder down the steep bank into the sea to their death.

But the man is changed. That dead zone within him that was once occupied by demons is now alive with the life of God. And there he is, sitting at Jesus’ feet clothed and in his right mind.

“Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you.”

And he goes away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus has done for him. His discouragement is gone.

So, we have Elijah getting a new start. We have the man from the tombs lifted out of his darkness. Now the same God who brought Elijah out of his depression, who set the man from the tombs free of those demons of despair, will do it for us.

Will set us free from our discouragement.

It happened to Elijah when he heard that still small voice.

It happened to the man from the tombs when he heard the voice

of the Son of God.

“The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear shall live.” That dead zone within you comes to life when you hear that voice.

But to hear that voice is not a matter of the ear, it’s a matter of the heart. Elijah heard the wind, and the earthquake, and the fire with his ear, but that still small voice he heard with his heart.

The man from the tombs heard all kinds of voices in his head;

hateful voices,

condemning voices,

demon voices.

But when his heart heard the voice of the Son of God, he found peace.

So it says in scripture:

“Today when you hear his voice do not harden

your hearts.”

If you open your heart to him, you will hear his voice. You will.

“My sheep hear my voice and I know them and

they follow me and I give them eternal life.”

How do they hear his voice? With the heart.

With a heart that is open.

With a heart that is tender.

With a heart that is broken.

With a heart that is contrite.

Open your heart, and you will hear his voice calling you by name, encouraging you, guiding you. And as long as you keep listening to that voice, you’ll never be discouraged.

No doubt there are some people here today, and in some sense all of us, who are walking around with that dead zone inside. An area of weary resignation, sadness, disappointment, over something that didn’t turn out the way we’d hoped, so that when we sing, “we should never be discouraged”, something inside us says, “Yeah, right!”. But it’s true.

We should never be discouraged.

Discouragement is a sign that our hearts are aimed in the wrong direction.

That our hope is fixed on something inferior to the joy we are meant to have. Maybe we’re even wallowing in self-pity when we think how far we’ve fallen from those high hopes we once had.

“What are you doing here?” says the Spirit.

“I’m disappointed. I’m discouraged,” we answer.

“Well then, open your heart and listen for that still small voice.”

When you hear it, you’ll know what to do, and you won’t be discouraged anymore.

“My sheep hear my voice and I know them

and they follow me and I give them eternal

life and they shall never perish and no one

shall snatch them out of my hand.”