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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/joel-portman/discouragement/
I'd like to read with you in 1 Kings chapter 19. 1 Kings chapter 19. There's a light here, but I don't see it turned on, so it works. 1 Kings chapter 19 is a different subject than that which we've been hearing.
I will read about the experience of a man who was a great prophet in the north country of Israel. And I believe what he experienced is something that maybe many of us experience in our own lives as well.
Verse 1 of chapter 19,. And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, with all how he had slain all the prophets with a sword. And Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah saying, So let the gods do to me and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow at this time.
And when he saw that, he arose and went for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey in the wilderness. And then under the juniper tree he requested to die.
Notice the end of verse 4, he said, Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my father's. He lay down and slept under a juniper tree. And behold, then an angel touched him and said unto him, Arise and eat.
And he looked, and behold, there was a cake baking on the coals and a cruise of water in his head. And he did eat and drink and laid him down again. And the angel of the second time had touched him and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee.
And he arose and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb, the mount of God. And he came further under a cave, it's actually the cave, so it must have been a distinctive place, and lodged there.
And behold, the word of the Lord came to him and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, throw down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with his sword.
And I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life to take it away. And he said, Go forth and stand upon the mountain, on the mountain before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by in a great and strong wind, rent the mountains in brick and pieces the rocks before the Lord.
But the Lord was not of the wind, and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not of the earthquake, and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not of the fire, and after the fire a still small voice.
And it was so when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave, and behold, there came a voice unto him and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?
And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts. He said the same thing again. And verse 15, the Lord said unto him, Go return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when thou comest anoint Eziel to be king over Syria, and Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Mahola, thou shalt anoint to be prophet in thy room.
And it shall come to pass that him that escapeth from the sword of Eziel shall Jehu slay, and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. Yet have I left 7 ,000 in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every tongue which hath not kissed him.
And he began the labors that God had intended for him to do. Now let's just read, I'd just like to speak a little bit on these verses that I've read with you, because I believe that there are many believers today, as probably in all kinds of times and experiences, many who have a sense of discouragement.
And maybe even more, because not only was Elijah discouraged, I would take it he was despondent. Perhaps even we could dare say he was somewhat depressed. There are many things that can cause you and me to be discouraged in our life.
And I doubt that there's many, I doubt that there's anyone here who has not experienced in some measure some degree of discouragement. I think elders get discouraged. They put in a lot of labor to seek to guard and guide the people of God, and to seek to teach and to lead them in a way that is pleasing to God.
They seek to recover those that have gotten away, and oftentimes they have to realize it's too much for me. It gets very difficult, isn't it? I've never been in that position, but I have great respect and appreciation for men who seek to carry on that work.
I think there are many mothers and fathers who get discouraged. They've sought to teach their children the right things of God. They've sought to bring them up in the ways of the Lord and fear the Lord.
And many times they have the sense of discouragement because the children have not gone on in the way that they have sought to guide them in. And perhaps they're not saved, and that's a great deal of, that's a great deal of discouragement there.
And many other things can cause discouragement in parents, especially perhaps in a day in which you're living, in which there are so many things that would attract and distract those that were seeking to guide in the ways that are so important for eternity.
And I can think of many others that can become, you know, I believe preachers can get discouraged. And maybe I'm unique, but I've been discouraged. And I think it's true of everybody. If you're not afflicted with this in some sense, in some way or another, you're a very strong believer.
You're a very strong person. Elijah was a man like that, wasn't he? Elijah was a man that was a very strong individual. He could stand up before King Ahab and say, there shall not be dew nor rain these years except by my word.
And it was true. He stood up before the crowd that was there on Mount Carmel, and he represented God before them. And he did so in a very strong, dynamic way, but he was discouraged afterwards. And he was a strong man because in many ways you could find him not only physically strong and spiritually strong, but a man who had the capacity to represent God effectively before a nation that was marked by apostasy.
Elijah really is a remarkable person in the Old Testament, and we have many lessons we can learn from him. But he became discouraged. And I think that discouragement can be a universal thing, because almost all of us have a problem with it, and we find many in the word of God that were afflicted by it.
I think we find Abram had times of discouragement. We find David had times when he said, you remember that he would never succeed against Saul? You have times when you wonder perhaps if it was just too great for him to oppose the power of Saul and ever to see God ever bringing him to the throne.
Jeremiah had times when he was discouraged. And I think we can go right through the word of God, and we could find those that were discouraged in their life, and they found themselves at a point where they were very disheartened and even despondent of their exercise.
And no doubt discouragement is one of the tools that the devil seeks to use, doesn't he? He seeks to overwhelm us with conditions and to cause us to get our eyes away from God and to turn our eyes on circumstances and to look at conditions of life and perhaps even failure and things we have sought to do.
And we become very discouraged. And you could also say that discouragement is almost like something that is lurking right around the corner. Just the right moment and it will have its effect upon you or me.
It will have a sad impact upon our life and our service for God if we allow it to have that, if we allow that to have its result in our life. Let me look at the causes of discouragement that I see in the life Elijah and perhaps the causes for you and me.
The first cause was he was tired. I mean, you think of what he experienced the day before, standing on Mount Carmel there with that multitude of people in front of him and the 400 prophets of Baal going through their gyrations to try to get fire to come down from heaven.
And he's watching all of this take place and standing there in the hot sun and waiting for the time that would be appropriate, the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice when he calls them to draw near to him and he offered that sacrifice to kill that bullock, to build that altar, and to be involved in all that he was doing that one day.
And not only that, but ultimately to run 15 miles in front of Ahab's chariot to the gates of Jezreel. You know, that would wear out anybody. He was tired. I think it's F .B. Meyer that says in relation to Elijah that many believers, instead of seeking spiritual help, they need to go see a doctor because your physical state, child of God, will affect your spiritual.
How you are doing physically, you know, we could get worn down physically and it has an effect upon our life spiritually. I remember a brother telling me one time that in times when he was afflicted with actually the disease that took his life ultimately, he said, I'm glad I didn't wait until then to try to get saved because I couldn't even think about spiritual things very effectively in those moments.
He was just overwhelmed with the conditions that he was facing and you and I could experience the same thing. Watch your physical welfare. The Lord knew what he was saying to the disciples when he said, come you apart for a little time and rest.
You and I need rest. And this is something that hit Elijah just in the moment when he was very tired. He was also overwhelmed emotionally because what had taken place and all the stress and all the experience of the day before had certainly taken its emotional toll on his ability to withstand the threat of the threat of Jezebel.
And so he had emotional stress and also the fact that he was alone. He's a man that stood alone for God. There were 7 ,000 more in Israel, but he didn't know about them. So far as he was concerned, he was the only man that was standing for God.
And Obadiah, though he had hidden those prophets in the cave and fed them with bread and water, he wasn't standing with Elijah there on the mountain. He was with Ahab. And so here's a man that was overwhelmed physically.
Here's a man that was overwhelmed emotionally and he was also depressed spiritually because what he had seen take place in the marvelous event on Mount Carmel, the people all acclaiming, the Lord, he is God.
The Lord is God. And yet what happens now makes him realize it's only a temporary thing. It's only superficial. It's not going to last. And in reality, the very root of the problem, which was Jezebel herself, was implacable and it was not even affecting her whatsoever.
Spiritual depression, because he had gotten his eyes off the Lord. He'd forgotten that he was the one who was standing on the Lord's side and he was the one who had the capability to lead upon God and receive strength and help from Him.
And yet you and I can be in a condition spiritually. We're not what we ought to be. And you and I, dear child of God, if we get our eyes on our circumstances and if we get our eyes on people, if we get our eyes maybe on results that we don't see, will you become discouraged?
You know, I think about brethren preaching the gospel for six or eight weeks and seeing nobody profess to be saved. I can tell you that's a discouraging experience, isn't it? Any nods here? I think we have a few.
I think it's a discouraging experience to do that. And here's a man that's experiencing discouragement. And the circumstances can cause discouragement and the lack of results, as I've said, and a sense of futility and a routine of just going on and doing what is right and seeking to honor the Lord and to please Him and faithful in attendance in the assembly meetings and exercise to take part and to participate to the maximum.
And yet sometimes the routine of life can become very discouraging. And not only that, what he was disappointed, perhaps disappointed with other people and he felt they had failed him. There are many causes of discouragement.
And perhaps I'm speaking to someone this morning and you've experienced discouragement, maybe from a different source for a different cause and for a different reason, but yet it's real. What about the results of discouragement as we see it in Elijah?
Well, we find, first of all, he was not acting very rationally. Here's a man that has stood up before all that crowd of people in chapter 18 on Mount Carmel. And now he gets a message from Jezebel. And if he had thought reasonably and rationally, he had realized that if Jezebel really wanted to kill him, she wouldn't have waited till tomorrow.
She would have done it today. And so he's thinking, his thinking is all upset. He's all in such a confused state and he's not really recognizing the situation for how it really was. And you find that his change in behavior because he's not behaving normally, not like he used to.
Notice, first of all, he was fearful. He was afraid of what Jezebel might do. He had been bold before, so much so that he could stand before a crowd of people and without any question, without any yielding, he was the one that could declare the things of God to them.
And yet here he is and he's afraid of what might happen. And he's thinking of the problems in a wrong way. He's got his thinking all upset. In fact, he's acting irrationally. He's not really making sense of what he actually thinks because he says, later on in the wilderness, you notice what he says, Lord, it's enough.
Take away my life. I don't want to live any longer. Well, if he wanted so, Jezebel would have helped him out if he just stayed there. And so he was fearful. He was fleeing. He not only fled to Jehoshaphat's territory, to Judah, he went to the extreme of Judah, down in Beersheba, but that wasn't far enough.
He keeps on going. And so he's a man that is afraid. He's a man that is fleeing. He's running and he's forgetful also because he's forgotten that God had a purpose for him. And God had guarded him continually all those days of his service up to that point.
And now he's running away. And he's forgetting the fact that God has supplied his needs and God had cared for him there at the brook. He supplied his needs there in the house of the widow. He had displayed his power in so many different ways.
And yet he's forgotten that a man that is under control of God and moving in fellowship with God is one that God will preserve his life. And God will have enabled him to continue in his work. He's forgetful and he's unmotivated and he's only wanting to die.
He's not only forgetful, but he's also faithless because he's lost his confidence in God. And what he is doing is, again, as I said, unreasonable in his actions. And last of all, when it comes to the wilderness, to Mount Horeb, he's faulting.
That is, he's blaming others. He knows he blames the people and he doesn't take responsibility. Five different results. He is fearful, he's fleeing, he is forgetful, he's faithless, and he's faulting God's people.
And I don't know what you do when you get discouraged, but sometimes it causes us to act in ways that are not normal for us. It causes us to do things perhaps and just decide to give up. I wonder how many believers today in different parts of the world have just given up.
They once were faithful in the assembly, they were once useful, they once had a Sunday school class, they once preached the gospel, they were once effective in the Bible readings, they were once those that faithfully attended and were dependable, and yet they're gone discouraged and you hardly see them anymore.
Maybe they come on the Lord's day and that's all. Maybe that's where you are today. Could it be I'm speaking to someone that once in your life you can look back to a time when you really enjoyed gathering with God's people?
A time when you really genuinely recognized this is the place where God wants me to be. Perhaps it was a time in your life when you were willing to take responsibility and you were seeking to fulfill the work that God had given you to do.
And perhaps there are different times when you could see that there was a time when I was much better spiritually than I am now. And instead of going and progressing and becoming better today in a deeper way, enjoying fellowship with the Lord and going on for Him, now you have to admit I'm away from the Lord.
I lost my heart. I'm not one that God can use. That's discouragement. And we need the same thing that Elijah had. He found out that God had a work for him to do still. Dear child of God, today I just feel this burden in my heart and I've been thinking about this for probably three or four weeks because I meet many believers today that are discouraged.
Even some that are at the point of depression. They've lost their sight of what God really wants them to do. They've lost their ability just to yield themselves and allow God to use them. They've lost their exercise for God.
And they may be going on in a routine sort of way, but their heart is not there. That's Elijah. He had lost the capacity to lay hold upon God and to be used of God in that particular point in his time.
But I want to notice with you, before I sit down, how God dealt with him in his discouragement. I'm going to sit down about 10 minutes so another brother can get up. God did seven things with this man that perhaps he has to do with us.
The first thing is that he allowed him to run. He could very well have stopped him. He could have said, Elijah, that's far enough. More. But Elijah was determined to go. And God let him go all that distance all the way until he got to Mount Horeb.
But even while he was allowing him to flee, God was still, I believe, directed his pathway. God brought him to the place where he wanted him to be. Where was he getting? He was getting back to the origin where God had first spoken to Israel and brought his word before them.
Down to Mount Horeb. Perhaps it was the cave someone suggested where Moses hid himself when the glory of God passed by. I don't know. But he had come to the place where God had dealings with his people at the very beginning.
But God allowed him to flee. And he let him continue until he finally stopped. But he brought him the right place. A place where God had made covenant with Israel. Where his voice had been heard. And sometimes we also, brothers and sisters, need to get back to the beginning.
You ever gotten back to the moment when God first saved you? What a moment that was. What joy there was in your soul, huh? What a wonder it was that God would ever save a sinner like you. I sometimes think in my mind, 68 years ago, God saved me.
I'm so thankful for that. If you get down a little bit, I find out that just to remember that lifts me up. It gives me a little bit of incentive. I marvel to think that God would ever love me and give his son for me.
That he would suffer on my behalf and pay the penalty of my sin. I say, how could it be? Considering not only what I was, but what I am now. That God gave his son and saved my guilty soul. That's enough to lift you up and to give you joy.
I think Paul, the great apostle, oftentimes got back to Calvary. He got back to that moment when in amazement he got a sight of the Lord and he heard the voice of God. And he was brought to know the Savior and he served him faithfully the rest of his life.
You know, sometimes that's what you and I need to do. Just get back. Get back to the moment when we first saw him. So he was allowed to go and then he stripped him. I'm using that term loosely. I'm using that in relation to the fact that he left his servant at Beersheba.
You know, there's something beneficial when God gets a man alone with God. Everybody else left behind. You remember when it came to Jacob's life, the turning point in chapter 32 was when everything, all his possessions, all his family, all that he had was crossed over the brook.
And Jacob was left alone. And that's where God wanted to be. Because when he was left alone there in the night, that's when God began to speak to him. God began to deal with him. And God changed that man.
And it was never the same afterwards. Let me ask you, dear brother or sister, when's the last time you got alone with God? There's so many crowds around all the time. There are people that press upon us continually, don't they?
But the most important thing is a time when you can get alone with God and hear God speak to you, have a fresh glimpse of the Savior, hear his voice, and find he still has a desire to bless and to use you, and to make you a vessel that can be used in his service.
So he left all behind. He left his servant. And now he's alone there at Mount Horeb, just exactly where God wanted him to be, where he could hear God's voice. Then notice as well, the third thing he did is that he fed him.
He fed him twice. Does your mind go to John chapter 21, where the Lord Jesus is going to take up dealings with the disciples? They've gone fishing, they've caught nothing, right? But there's one man there that the Lord wants to deal with, and that's Peter.
And the first thing he does is he makes himself known to them, but then he fed them. They came to the shore, and he already had fish on coals, and the bread that was all provided, and he fed them, physically met their needs, and that's exactly what the Lord did with Elijah.
You know, I sometimes think that the bread that he has here, cake making on coals, and a cruise of water wouldn't take his mind back to what was supplied to him in the widow's house. Remember, remember the cruise of oil that never failed, and the barrel of meal that never ran out.
And there was a time when God met his needs so faithfully, and God has reminded him, Elijah, I took care of you at one time. I met your need, and I did so in a marvelous way. He fed him because he was hungry.
And sometimes the first thing that God would do to you and me is to revive us physically. So they might revive us spiritually. And God was displaying his grace and his love to him. God was still the same.
There was no change. He had fed Elijah before, and this food that he gave him was sufficient to take him amazingly for 40 days and 40 nights. Would that remind him of what God had given Israel in the wilderness?
Man of the came down continually. It's a, it's a really a wonder of my, to my heart that the continual supply of manna to Israel in the wilderness would not remind them of the fact that God was faithful even though they were unfaithful.
Even when they were murmuring, even when they were complaining, their hearts were far away from God, the manna still fell every morning. Six days of the week, other needs were continually met. How faithful is God?
How wondrous it is, brothers and sisters, to know that we have one we can always depend upon, even though he can't always depend upon us. And the Lord was going to display the fact that he was still the same, and he was wanting to make sure that this man knew that his desires for him had never changed.
So he fed him. The third thing he did, the fourth thing he did was he questioned him. What doest thou hear, Elijah? You just think about the fact that previous to this occasion, every time that Elijah moved, it had been because the Lord directed him.
The word of the Lord came to him. The word of the Lord directed him. The word of the Lord said to do this. And there he is moving constantly in relation to the word of the Lord. He has no word from the Lord for this.
He was looking at circumstances and hearing the voice of Jezebel instead of looking at the Lord and hearing the Lord's voice. And the Lord says, what doest thou hear? He fed him twice, and he questioned him twice, and both were display of the grace and the kindness of God.
What doest thou hear, Elijah? First of all, why are you here? Because I never sent you here. You never come here because I directed you to run and to come here. But secondly, Elijah, what could you do here?
You're in the wrong place. There's a work to be done. There was a work to follow up what had taken place in the previous chapter, and now he's gone. He's no longer there. Elijah, how can you be of any use here?
You're supposed to be back there. And he questioned him. You know what he wanted? God wanted honesty. He wanted this man to admit, I've just failed. I lost my courage. I became discouraged, and here I am out in the wrong place.
Yes, Lord, I'm in the wrong place. But instead of that, he blamed Israel. No, he says, Lord, it's not my fault. No, it's the people's fault. They have done these things, have torn down thine altar, they've disobeyed thy word, they've broken thy covenant, and they've slain thy prophets.
And here I am, and I'm the only one left. The Lord wanted honesty, and he refused to answer. And brethren and sisters, when you and I have to face God, just remember, he wants us to be honest. He wants us to admit, Lord, I've failed.
I became discouraged, Lord. I kept my eyes on the wrong things. I became occupied with other things that really are not of any value so far as my spiritual life is concerned. Lord, I've just, well, the modern terminology says, Lord, I've just blown it.
Is that the right thing to say? You know what I mean. But you know, brethren and sisters, I've felt it myself. It's hard to be honest. But that's what God is always looking for. He was looking for honesty from Adam.
And Adam blamed his wife. He was looking for the same thing from Elijah, and Elijah blames the people. And brethren and sisters, when you and I get away from God, and our hearts get discouraged, and we lose our desires, and our purpose, and our courage, and our, shall we say, our strength in spiritual things, the best thing to do is to tell the Lord, that's what I've done.
And so we have this man. I quickly come to the end of here. He questioned him. Elijah gave him two, God gave him two opportunities to answer, and yet he said the same thing both times. But the next thing God did is he taught him.
He questioned him, then he taught him. And what is he teaching him? Listen, Elijah, you're not the only one. You're really not the only one. You just think you are. You might say, Elijah, why didn't you know anything about the 7 ,000 that were faithful in Israel?
Why are they hidden from your eyes? How could 7 ,000 people in a nation be hidden to a man of God, of his character? Could it be that Elijah was so occupied with his own sphere of service, his own manner of working, that he forgot the others?
I'd like to think that Elisha, who was raised up in his stead, was a man that worked among encouraging the 7 ,000. A man that was occupied with ministering to God's people and giving them strength and help.
And he was one who had moved in fellowship with them. Elijah was almost like, you might say, a loner. And that wasn't good. And the Lord begins to teach him. He says, look, Elijah, I've got 7 ,000. But before that, he gives him three things to do.
He says, you've got to do this. You have to anoint Hazael to be king of Syria. You need to anoint Jehu to be the king over Israel. All of them to fulfill a certain purpose. And then to anoint Elisha to be prophet in your stead.
You know, dear brethren, the Lord had a work for this man to do. He wasn't finished with him yet. And we find that he had taught him, first of all, that there's still something that I want you to do. But he said, it's not a matter of just doing it alone.
There are 7 ,000, Elijah. You need to become acquainted with them. And you know, it's interesting that farther over, he becomes acquainted with one, at least in some measure, because Naboth was a very faithful man in the land of Israel.
He was a man that refused to sell his inheritance. He was going to hold on to it because it was what the Lord had given him and given his family. So he taught him that there were others. He recommissioned him to continue to do work that was still important to do.
And he rebuked him because, as I've said, he told him there are others. I need to sit down. But brothers and sisters, if you're discouraged, look up. If you're discouraged, get back. Get back to the place where you once enjoyed fellowship with God and enjoyed the warmth of his presence, enjoyed a sense of being useful.
Get back to what it meant when God first saved your soul. He'll cheer you up. He'll give you joy. He'll give you incentive. He'll give you encouragement. And don't let the devil continue to keep you discouraged.
Don't lose your sight of the fact that God saved you, dear child of God, for a purpose. He has a work for you to do, but he's not done yet. Elijah had a work that you and I do, and discouragement can ruin us and keep us from doing it.
May God help us to be encouraged at a conference and strengthened in the things of God.