Rising Above Discouragement

Introduction

I want to begin this morning asking a favor of you. We just got back into town yesterday, and things were a little hectic at our house this morning, and I didn’t get the opportunity. I usually ask Deedra this question, but since I didn’t have the time, if you’ll help me out, I’ll ask you that question. How do I look this morning? Am I all right? Then nothing on my shirt, nothing embarrassing there. I want to tell you a story about a time when I didn’t look so good and I did have something on my shirt. I may have told you this story before, uh, but if I did, it’s your fault. If you keep a preacher long enough, you’re gonna hear the same stories uh in rerun.

So, but there was a time in another life where I was a real estate broker, and we used to do what we call brokers opens. That’s where we’d show houses to the agents and real estate agents, and and usually when they did those to highlight the house, they would offer some beverage, some little punch or a few snacks on the little plates. You’ve all done those little hors d’oeuvre kind of snacks, and and you take a tour of the house and look at different things. And we’d gone to one particular house and they did those snacks, and I was eating some of those snacks and spilled something on my white shirt. And I don’t know if you know this about fat people. But we’re self-conscious about food.

If a skinny person spills something on themselves, nobody thinks anything about it. But a big guy spills food on his shirt, and everybody just rolls their eyes and says, Of course he did. He’s always eating. And so if I was self-conscious, I went into the found the restroom, went into the restroom and thought I’ve got to get this blob of food off my shirt. And so I wet my hand in the sink and tried to start rubbing it out, and all that did was make it spread and then highlight it with a circle of a water stain on it. And so I remembered that with the little saucers where they’re handing out the hors d’oeuvres, they offered these little cocktail napkins. And so I ran out, grabbed one of those napkins, went back into the restroom, and started scrubbing.

I didn’t think that the fact that the napkin was red, now soaked in water would affect, but I accomplished one thing. I covered up the food stain with bright red blobs of napkin ink all on it. And so here I stand behind this locked bathroom door with stain covered with another stain circled with water stain. And I’m thinking, what am I going to do? And so here’s what I came up with. I remembered that just on the other end of the hallway, down from this bathroom was the back door. And so I waited until it was quiet outside that bathroom door, slipped out, went down the hallway, into the backyard, through the fence, got in my car, and went home. Much to the chagrin of the two guys who had rolled with me there.

But I was done. There was just no coming back from that experience. It was so embarrassing. I was just, I just quit, and I just went home and gave up. And sometimes that’s the approach we take, and we’ve probably all been there. But have you ever been there spiritually? You ever been so beaten down, discouraged? Whether that discourage begins internally because you have disappointed yourself and God so much that you just feel like I can’t go on. I just want to quit. Or maybe that discouragement has been external. Someone has done something or not done something in a way that has just discouraged you such that you just feel like slipping away and quitting. Now I want you to know this morning what you already know.

That quitting on the Lord can happen two different ways. Number one, you can do what I did, and that is just slip out through the back door and not come back.

But maybe far more dangerous because it’s not as recognizable. There’s another way that we can quit the Lord. And that is we can still come to church every Sunday. Participate in Bible class and be here Wednesday night for Bible study and do all of those things, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, we’ve shut down. We’re still here, but we’re really not here in the sense of spirit and truth worshiping the Lord. I guess we could probably all say whether we’ve been there, we’ve been on the precipice of being there. We all deal with discouragement. And so this morning I want us to talk about what do we do when you’re locked in the bathroom of discouragement. There’s another way out rather than just slipping out the back door and leaving, never to be seen again.

We could turn to several Bible characters, and by the way, every one of your Bible heroes experience discouragement. They all faced the time when they were tempted to give up. But let’s look at just one of those. In 1 Kings chapter 18 and 19, we have one of the most famous stories from the life of the prophet Elijah. You’ll remember Elijah, Elijah is the prophet in the divided kingdom, the northern ten tribes of Israel, at its darkest, arguably one of its darkest periods. Ahab and Jezebel are on the throne. It has not been enough for them to knock down the altars that would serve God. But in their place, and in addition to them, they have erected altars to other gods, sacrificed to those gods in unspeakable ways.

And not only that, but at the behest of Jezebel, the prophets of God have been slaughtered. And then there’s Elijah the prophet. God, because of the wickedness, not just of Ahab and Jezebel, but of the residents of that kingdom, God sends a drought through the hands of Elijah. And then we remember the contest, don’t we, in chapter 18? That great contest on Mount Carmel where Elijah says, I’ll call to my God, you call to your gods, and we’ll see who answers. Because anybody can call to a God, but there’s only one God who can answer. And so he has that great, demonstrable contest on Mount Carmel, where their gods lie silent all day long, despite their cries, their wails, their cutting of themselves, and then Elijah has the opportunity to pray to his God.

And in an instant, God answers that prayer and not only sends the fire, but consumes the altar and its contents, proving that there is but one God who can answer from heaven. Elijah has his literal mountaintop experience. But then Jezebel says, I’m going to kill you. And if you know Jezebel, you know that’s not just an empty threat. That’s not just words spoken in anger with no meaning behind them. She has slaughtered most of the other prophets and is intent on doing so within the next 24 hours to Elijah. And so Elijah runs away. He locks himself in the bathroom and slips out the back door and drives away. And he just sets down and prays, but not a prayer we’re expecting. Because he says, God, just let me die.

1. Discouragement Can Happen Fast or Slowly

I can’t do it anymore. I’m tired. I’m tired of doing this. I’m tired of fighting the evil. I’m tired of being alone. Just let me die. But God comes to him. As Elijah is there in another mountain, the wind, strong wind blows. There’s an earthquake, there’s a fire. But God’s not in any of those. But then there’s that still small whisper. And God speaks to a discouraged, despondent servant of God who’s ready to give up and die. And there’s lessons for God’s people who’ve all been there. And so let’s look at some of the lessons that we can learn from this dark period of Elijah’s life, and how we, like Elijah, was encouraged to rise above discouragement. One thing that we think about when it comes to discouragement, like the discouraging time in Elijah’s life, is that it can happen fast or it can happen slowly.

We don’t really know which is the case in Elijah’s experience here. It seems like it happened quick. We said he had this great mountaintop experience where he demonstrated that God was God and Baal was not. He’s victorious. He should have been riding on cloud nine after that great mountaintop experience, but then he comes crashing down. It seems like it happened so fast, didn’t it? And you know, discouragement can be that way. Not only can discouragement happen seemingly suddenly or quickly in our spiritual lives, but it can follow a spiritual high. Have you ever been with Elijah? Have you ever had that time where you were excited about something? Maybe something that was happening at church, some Bible class, some thing that was doing a work or a project, and you got behind it with all of your spiritual energy and you were excited, and then it just falls flat, and nobody else cares.

Three people show up. And you’re ready to just what’s the point? I quit. But it’s also possible that Elijah’s discouragement didn’t happen as suddenly as it appears that it did.

He’s been dealing with Ahab and Jezebel for a long time. He’s been dealing with the children of Israel for a long time. And he just feels ready to quit. You ever been with Elijah? You ever feel like just over time that things just things that you used to could tolerate and endure, that now they’re just because of the weight of time, they just seem like heavier burdens than ever before. Maybe a physical condition that’s not getting any better. Maybe watching the news and the politics, the decline of morality in our country. And it just weighs on you after a while. And maybe that’s what happened to Elijah. It can happen fast or it can happen slow. You know, Elijah seemed to think, are you in the text there with me in 1 Kings chapter 18 and 19?

Elijah seemed to think that that mountaintop experience, the contest on Mount Carmel, he seemed to think that that was going to be a turning point in the people of Israel. Look in chapter 18, 1 Kings chapter 18, verse 37, when he is asking God to demonstrate who is the real God by sending fire down and consuming the contents and the altar itself. He says in that prayer, 1 Kings 18, verse 37, hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that you are the Lord God, and that you have turned their hearts back to you again. God, if you’ll do this, the people will know you are God, and their hearts will turn back to you. But they didn’t. Not long term, at least.

Look over in chapter 19. What he says in verse 10. When God confronts him, why are you discouraged? What’s going on, Elijah? He says this, 1 Kings 19, verse 10. So he said, I’ve been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, killed your prophets with the sword, I alone am left. And they seek to take my life. Elijah was beat down spiritually.

Now, we need to insert here that he really wasn’t alone, was he? God would say, there’s thousands who haven’t bowed the knee to Baal. You’re not alone. And we need to remind Elijah that also that the numbers of prophets that didn’t show up on Mount Carmel to be on your side were greatly diminished because Jezebel had killed so many of them. They didn’t fail to show up because they were weak. They failed to show up because they were dead. But we also need to recognize that Elijah’s discouragement wasn’t imaginary. He was alone. We can feel weak and discouraged even when we’re surrounded by 7,000. He didn’t make that up. That’s the way he felt.

2. Be a Balcony Person

And so we need to be recognizing the warning signs of discouragement and spiritual despondency, recognizing that it can come on after a long period of difficulty, or it can come on suddenly even after a spiritual high. Be looking for those warning signs. Be ready and alert for that, lest they cause you to drift. But here’s another lesson I want us to think about from this story of Elijah. And that’s from the other vantage point of the people, many of whom did not, but should have supported Elijah. In his book, Passionate People, the author Keith Miller describes two types of people that we encounter in life. And I don’t know that Mr. Miller’s the first to come up with this, but but he expounded upon it powerfully when he talked about that you will experience two types of people in your life balcony people or basement people.

He describes basement people as those people who are always trying to drag you down. They have a problem for every solution. Their favorite saying is that won’t work. Followed closely by, we tried that once. They are generally miserable people. And they live up to the adage that misery loves company and they want to pull you down with them. But then there’s also balcony people. Those are the people who are trying to pull you up, who are trying to encourage you.

Or where the young man in his first band concert plays that trumpet and can’t find a note to save his life. They applaud and say, Good job. Keep it up. Those are our spiritual brothers and sisters who encourage us, lift us up, pat us on the back, and help us along our spiritual journey. Again, Elijah felt alone, and he didn’t imagine that. How would it have changed Elijah’s experience in discouragement if on Mount Carmel just one couple had come up to him and said, Elijah, you’ve got this. If as he left that Mount Carmel and was going to the cave, if somebody would have stopped him and said, I’m sorry, Elijah, these people are lousy. But you’re doing what’s right. You’re doing the Lord’s work. Keep it up.

We need you. Be the reason. Be one of the reasons that somebody doesn’t give up. That they don’t crawl away and pray to God, just take me. I can’t do it again. Be a balcony person. And let me add this be honest with yourself. If you’re a basement person, become a balcony person. But if you can’t become a balcony person, basement people, then just be quiet. Elijah needed support. At the risk of sounding a little bit self serving, one lesson from Elijah is Elijah needed some balcony people in his life. Your spiritual leaders need balcony people. Turn with me, if you will, to the book of 2 Corinthians. The apostle Paul writes his sequel to 1 Corinthians. You remember in 1 Corinthians, he got on to them.

They had messed up their worship, they had messed up their moral lives, and Paul got on to them. Then he writes 2 Corinthians, and he basically tells them two things. Number one is he was a balcony person. He says, Great job. You cleaned up your act as a church and as individuals. You’re to be applauded for that. Good job, brothers and sisters. But then he has to say, but you failed in one regard, and that is you haven’t defended me. Paul’s harsh tactics, needed harsh tactics to encourage them to greater spirituality, to greater godliness, had brought some accusations against Paul. And Paul has the right, 2 Corinthians to defend himself, but he ends up saying, you should have done that. I didn’t, I shouldn’t have had to do this.

Because when you defend yourself, it sounds like boasting. And so he says this. Turn with me there in the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter 12. He says in verse 11, I’ve become a fool in boasting, but you have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended by you. For in nothing was I behind the most eminent apostles, though I am nothing. Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. What is it? What is it in which you were inferior to other churches, except that I was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong. Can you hear the hurt in Paul’s language there?

You should have defended me. You know who I am. You know what I did. Why am I having to come to my own defense? You should have. Turn over in chapter 13. We know this verse, but I want you to consider it maybe a little deeper in its context.

When he says, examine yourselves. Examine yourselves as to whether you’re in the faith. Test yourselves. How many sermons have we preached and heard about the need for self-examination in our Christian lives? And that’s absolutely essential. But that’s not really his point here. When he says, examine yourselves to see whether you’re in the faith, he’s saying that in regard to Paul’s defense. Are you a Christian? He said to the Corinthians. How did you get to be a Christian? Are you in the faith? Who taught you the faith? He finishes up verse 5. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you are disqualified? But I trust that you will know that you are not disqualified. He’s saying, when you recognize your spiritual condition and recognize that it was I who helped you to that.

3. We Can Go From Darkness to Light

You should have defended me, but you didn’t. Be a balcony person. Be that cheerleader, that encouragement. Be that reason that someone doesn’t give up. The last lesson that we want to notice this morning for this period of discouragement in Elijah’s life is that we can go from darkness to light. Discouragement doesn’t have to be the end of the story. It wasn’t the end of Elijah’s story. He wanted it to be when he was in his darkest hour, but God reminded him that it shouldn’t be. So Elijah flees the scene when Jezebel threatens his life. He goes to the mountain and proving he was a man, he goes into his cave. You know, we all have coping mechanisms, don’t we? Coping mechanisms for our discouragement, and most of the time they’re bad coping mechanisms.

But he goes into his cave, and I want you to notice in 1 Kings 19 and verse 9, the question God asks of Elijah. 1 Kings 19 and verse 9, and there he went into a cave and spent the night in that place. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? What are you doing here, Elijah? You know, God asks questions of people in the Bible sometimes, but he already knew the answer. Where are you? He said to Adam and Eve. To Elijah, he says, What are you doing here, Elijah? He’s not really seeking information. God knows the answer. He’s encouraging Elijah to examine. What are you doing here? One lesson we need to learn about discouragement, and one reason we need to battle discouragement in our spiritual lives is because spirit spiritual discouragement can take us places that we don’t need to be.

Sometimes spiritual discouragement can take us to physical places that we shouldn’t be. That if where we were where we ought to be spiritually, we wouldn’t be found there.

What are you doing here, Elijah? God asked him. So we need to be careful about discouragement and try to battle through it and to grow from it so that it doesn’t take us places that will harm us.

4. See God, See the Good, Rest, and Work

And here’s your takeaway from this morning’s lesson of how maybe through the lesson of Elijah, we can go from darkness to light. First of all, see God. God makes an appearance as he had to Moses on that very same mountain years before. God appears to Elijah in a form. He’s not in the great wind, he’s not in the earthquake, he’s not in the fire. He was in that small whisper that God spoke to him. Maybe, just maybe God’s speaking to us in whispers today. We need to be able to hear and listen and see God. And by the way, back to our balcony people. Can you be the small whisper of God in somebody’s life? A word of encouragement. And so God says, Elijah, here I am.

And so one thing that can bring us from darkness to light is to see God. The next thing is to see the good around you. In our Bible reading, the Wally read for us in the book of Philippians, it says, whatsoever things are good and honest and lovely and of good report, think on these things. Look for the good in life. One bad thing about discouragement is that it wants to take us to a place where all we can see is the bad. Elijah couldn’t see the 7,000 who hadn’t bowed the knee. All he could see were the prophets that had been slaughtered and the fact that he was alone. So try to see the good around you. Take time to rest and renew. Elijah needed a nap.

And sometimes you just need a nap, don’t you? What’s the old saying? It used to be punishment when you’re a kid. Now it’s a greatest reward on earth is just a good, well needed rest and renew and regenerate. And you need that. Some quiet time. And then lastly, realize you’re not alone. You’re not alone. What did 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13 say in dealing with temptation? Knowing that your brethren in the world are enduring the same. It’s good to know that somebody else is in that battle with me. Somebody else has gone through the darkness and come back to the light. Know that you’re not alone. It may seem that way. Even when you’re surrounded by thousands, you can feel alone, but connect with people and allow those balcony people, they’re there.

Allow them to pull you up and to encourage you, and then finally immerse yourself in the work. God says, Elijah, you’re not alone. Rest. Eat. Take another nap. But then when you get up, there’s some work to be done. He says, anoint Haziel, king of Syria, and anoint Jehu, king of Israel, and anoint Elisha as your successor as the prophet to God’s people. Elijah, there’s still more to be done. And so immerse yourself in the work. The greatest place of discouragement is on the periphery of God’s people. Get involved. Get in the middle. And if you’re on that outside, then you’re maybe locked in that bathroom and looking for your way out. God is speaking to you in a small whisper. And he’s saying, Where are you?

Conclusion

You’re not alone. I’m here. And let’s get to work. I know we get discouraged. I know there’s times we want to give up and quit. But we need to recognize the reward. Recognize the brevity of life. Recognize the beauty of heaven, and recognize God in your life. If you’re here this morning and you’re not a Christian, then why not remedy that situation? This building, I promise you, is full of balcony people who were here to support you and encourage you as you give your life to Christ. Would you believe in him, repent of your sins, confess your faith to these balcony people and be baptized for the remission of your sins? Maybe you’ve done that, and discouragement like Elijah experience has brought you down to your point of quitting, or maybe you’ve already quit.

Come back. God is there speaking in that small whisper, encouraging you not to feel alone and not to give up. Can we help you? If we can help you, let it be known right now as we stand and as we sing.