Discouragement

Discouragement is dangerous , started my church Pastor.Get rid of it , else it will even poison who are near you and multiply like a virus.It can kill you spiritually as well as literally. When the Israelites reached the boundaries of the promised land, which is just forty days journey from Egypt, they camped outside Canaan and sent twelve spies to espionage the land that the Lord had promised to them. Ten of the spies brought news that Canaan had abundance of riches,water and fruits , but the land was full of giants and , added that they looked like grass-hoppers before them. But the other two spies said that although there were giants, it was possible to conquer the land since it was assured to them by the Lord himself. What happened then?

The whole of Israel grew discouraged hearing the words of the ten spies , who uttered words of discouragement. They all started weeping and God became angry, since they have refused to believe in the covenant that God had made. What did he do ? He made them wander in the deserts for forty years(!) and favoured their children(next generation) to enter into Canaan - that was their punishment.

When we take a closer look at this incident, we come to know that the people faced words of encouragement (from the two spies) as well as discouragement(from the ten spies). Its natural on the part of human beings to incline on the side of peer pressure. The ten spies compared themselves with the Giants and, the Giants appeared BIGGER whereas the other two spies compared the Giants with GOD and the situation appeared a lot SMALLER. Oh ! What a beauty!
They believed in God's word and assurance.

Whenever we feel dejected or drained out of hope , we may start to question God . Does he really remembers me ? ; -) Has he forgotten me? Where is He? You may be lonely , or even would have prayed all the time seeking God's intervention and help. Sometimes silence kills more compared to thunder and lightning.


When God instructed Noah to make an ark and get into it , before the flood , he gladly heard His voice and did as God commanded. The rains came and washed away all the place on Earth and filled the valleys, and reached the apex of mountains. He stayed inside the Ark for 150 days ! An astonishing fact was that God did not speak to him during those 150 days -- there is no recorded conversation in the Bible. He would have been inside feeling lonely and oppressed under terrible fear of whats going to happen next. He would have been jolted back and forth by the roaring waves and the rough waters. He would have felt horrible like you and me , seemed to be forsaken by God. But something more wonderful happened before the flood.

Genesis 7:1 (King James Version) says that God stayed in the ark with him !!!!

"Then the Lord said to Noah , 'COME INTO the ark , you and all your household because I have seen you righteous before Me in this generation'."

Whenever we are faced with a situation, do not see how big the situation is ? We may appear smaller compared to the situation. But imagine how big our LORD is ! What a mighty God we serve! He's always there to protect us. Sometimes he prevents a danger from happening to us. Sometimes he lets the danger happen to us and reveals his protection in an unimaginable way making us think and trust in Him more.

We may get into a situation of morbid fear where we lose our senses. We won't be able to come to a decision. Suicide and condemnation seems simple compared to living. But then , you may think that no prayer or words of comfort can win you solace. Discouragement can lead to such things. Whenever somebody says that they are discouraged, rebuke them and let them know what a mighty God we serve!!!

Jai Praveen.