Title: Prohibition of discouragement
Contents
Psalm 42:5-6 No discouragement
If you go to the back alleys in Korea, the United States, Canada, or any other country, you can often see a warning sign saying ‘No graffiti’. However, you can see that the more graffiti is posted, the more graffiti there is. You will even see the words ‘No Graffiti’ written in graffiti. It is ironic indeed that there are more graffiti in places where there is a warning 'No graffiti'.
Ladies and gentlemen, very often in the Bible there is a warning that says, “Do not lose heart.” Think about it. To feel discouraged while believing in the God of hope is in itself a sin of blasphemy and blasphemy to think of God as a joke. Nevertheless, I often see people who know the Bible and have quite a bit of faith become discouraged. What's more, you can see yourself sighing and feeling discouraged when people who are calling out to others not to be discouraged turn their backs.
Guys, why are you so discouraged? Is it a physical problem? Is it a material problem? Or is it a mental problem? Or is it a spiritual matter? Or is it because of a complex problem like this? But keep in mind. Disappointment causes lamentation and irritability, and furthermore, the loss of motivation destroys oneself, and further destroys the family, society, and church. Therefore, the thing you should be most wary of right now is none other than discouragement. Satan is constantly trying to cause discouragement in the hearts of people, destroying families and churches, and destroying the kingdom of heaven.
One day, a ‘human fishing contest’ was held in the kingdom of Satan. The demons, the servants of Satan, quarreled and went fishing into the human world. When evening came, the ghosts from fishing returned with fishing baskets. However, from one ghost's basket, human beings poured out endlessly no matter how many times they were taken out. Then the chief Satan asked him. "What bait did you use to catch so many humans?" Then the ghost, the grand prize winner, answered. “Yeah, I took the bait called ‘disappointment’.”
Everyone, are you feeling discouraged in this foreign land? If so, you are caught by Satan's bait called 'dejection'. Especially when living as a foreigner in a foreign land, this bait called 'disappointment' is a very effective tool for Satan. One day, Satan was selling weeds. Looking at the items listed there, there are items that we usually see often. Worries, fears, desires, hatreds, envy, etc., items frequently used by the devil were offered at low prices.
However, in one corner there is a sign that says, 'Never sell this only'. When I looked at it for what it was, it was none other than ‘disappointment’. In other words, Satan can rise again if he has this thing called 'disappointment'. Conversely, no matter how good a person is in the life of faith, once he becomes discouraged, his strength in life begins to decline.
Gentlemen, when we are discouraged, the devil's work prospers. If we are discouraged, we are helping the devil's work. When we are discouraged, Satan chuckles at our side. Moreover, if the father, the leader of the family, is discouraged, the family is prone to collapse. When the country's leader is discouraged, the people lose their dreams and are easy to wander. Also, when the leader of the church is discouraged, the church stagnates and it is very difficult to build the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, the Bible strongly warns. 'Don't be discouraged'
Look at the people of Israel. Why the hell couldn't they enter the promised land of Canaan? Those of you who have read the Old Testament, don't you know this event? Moses sent twelve spies to the land of Canaan. But they searched the land for 40 days and returned to report to all the people of Israel. “The land we found is a land that devours its inhabitants. And there I saw giant tribes of giants, and compared to them we are like grasshoppers. Therefore we cannot take the land.”
When the Israelites heard this, they began to become discouraged. And discouragement turned into groaning and weeping, groaning and weeping turned into murmuring, and grieving eventually led to distrust of God’s servants Moses and Aaron. Then there was infighting with them. “Who the hell brought us here? Let's go back to Egypt," he began to shout.
Of course, two of the twelve spies, Joshua and Caleb, said, “It is not. No matter how strong the people living in the land of Canaan are, we can overcome them because God is with us. They are our food.” But once the people of Israel were overcome with discouragement, they could not turn back. And the Israelites, who were discouraged, eventually lost all courage to advance to the land of Canaan and fell to their feet. And the years of sitting down like that have been almost 40 years. In other words, all the generations caught in discouragement died. This incident teaches us a great lesson. It is none other than 'no discouragement'.
Today's text also confesses this. “Why are you discouraged, my soul, and why are you troubled within me? Look to God, and I will rather praise you for the help of His face. And on Mount Missal I remember you” (Psalm 42:5-6).
Guys, ask yourself this. “Why am I discouraged? Why am I anxious inside?” What is your answer to this question? What discourages you and what makes you uneasy? Are you discouraged because you don't have enough money to live with your family in this foreign land? Are you discouraged by uncertainty about the future? Or are you discouraged by the environment or people? Or is the whole thing in a complex disappointing you?
Ladies and gentlemen, when we live our life of faith, we must set a certain object of faith. In other words, we have to look and believe in God, not people. If we look at and believe in people, we become discouraged. The church is not a gathering of angels. The church is not a gathering place for the righteous. Just as patients go to a hospital, a church is a gathering place for sinners. That is why Jesus said, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13).
Ladies and gentlemen, the church is where devilish people gather to become angelic. It is not a gathering of those who have already been sanctified, but a gathering of those who are in the process of becoming sanctified. That is why, among church members, there are people who hurt others, there are people who drink alcohol because they cannot give up their old habits, and there are people who are captivated by various worldly lusts.
You came to the church with a vision of heaven, but you should not be discouraged when you see the appearance of an earthly church that does not look like heaven. A church is a place where people, full of sins and transgressions, repent and gradually restore the lost image of God, just as a caterpillar turns into a pupa and a pupa turns into a butterfly and soars in the sky, even though it may seem like nothing from the outside. This is what the church is. Therefore, I pray that you do not become discouraged by only seeing the bad things of people, see the good things as much as possible, and ultimately look to God.
Also, look at the environment and do not be discouraged. In 1642, in Ulsthorpe, eastern England, there was a child born of wealth. When the child was barely learning to speak, the mother remarried to another man. Growing up, the child often sat alone under the apple tree. After that, after a lot of hard work, the child entered the university he had longed for and completed his studies. His dream was to be a doctor. But when he was about to enter his PhD, the Black Death broke out and all the universities in the area were closed.
“I just came all the way here, what is this!” Disappointed, he went home and sat down under an apple tree. It was the place where the dream was lost. At that time, an apple fell 'took'. Seeing the falling apple, he felt that the apple was just like his own. Then he let out a longer sigh, and even more discouraged, he said to himself. “Sorry, why do you have to fall? What kind of disappointment do you have that you can't stand and fall?"
Did you know that this question became an opportunity to discover Isaac Newton's great 'law of universal gravitation', which changed the course of human science history? The law of the century called 'universal gravitation' is an event that happened when Newton lamented and disappointed that he had lost all his dreams. In other words, the field of discouragement can be a good opportunity to discover the truth and be used by God.
Therefore, do not be discouraged by looking only at difficult circumstances. Are you not discovering the truth now through that difficult environment? Are you struggling to live according to God's will in order to draw closer to God? Therefore, even if life in a foreign land is difficult, it will be of great benefit to you. But keep in mind. Don't be discouraged and give up on yourself. Therefore, the Bible strongly warns. 'Don't be discouraged'
Especially, all of you who pray, do not become discouraged if answers come too late while you are praying. You who do good, do not be discouraged when you see the prosperity of the wicked. You who pass through the dark nights of life, do not be discouraged in the dark. After a dark night, a bright morning is sure to come. In due time, you will surely be able to eat the good fruit of what you have planted. “Therefore, I beseech you, do not lose heart over my tribulation for you, for this is your glory” (Ephesians 3:13). 2 Corinthians 4:16) “Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest, if we are not weary” (Galatians 6:9).