MONDAY,
April 27, 2020
THE FRUIT OF DISCOURAGEMENT!
Num
21:4-5
4 And they
journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of
Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.
5 And the
people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up
out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there
any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.
The
word “discouraged”
is found six times in our English Bible and five of those times in the Old
Testament. Interestingly, each time, the word uses a different root word. The
word for discouraged in Numbers 21:4 is qatsar
which means “to dock off or to cut down.”
In Col. 3:21 the Greek word is athumeo which
means “to be spiritless, disheartened, or dismayed.”
Discouragement
slows or stops progress.
Effort feels pointless and productivity fails. The freed slaves of Egypt felt
cut down because of the hard path toward freedom.
Discouraged
people blame their benefactors. They spoke against God an against Moses. God had set them
free and Moses was God’s agent. It was irrational, but this is what discouraged
people do.
Discouraged
people are blind to their blessings. They said: “there is no bread, neither is there any water”
yet God had provided both bread and water miraculously. They grew tired of
heaven’s bread and longed for the stew of bondage not because it was good but
because it was familiar.
In
the New Testament
we learn that discouraged people are “spiritless, disheartened, and dismayed.” Prov
18:14 says: “The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded
spirit who can bear? When we feel discouraged, our one sure resource is The
Lord!
1
Sam 30:5
6 And David
was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul
of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but
David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.
Dear
Lord, cheer the hearts of those who are discouraged today. AMEN
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