Disgusted With Discouragement!
I. OPENING ILLUSTRATION:
Fannie Lou Hamer was a leader of the Freedom Democratic party during the Jim Crow era. She and her family had endured the horrors and difficulties of living in the South while black in that time.
Mrs. Hamer was born October 6, 1917, in Montgomery County, the twentieth child in a family of six girls and fourteen boys. When she was 2 her family moved to Sunflower County, 60 miles to the west. She said:
"The family would pick fifty-sixty bales of cotton a year, so my father decided to rent some land. He bought some mules and a cultivator. We were doin’ pretty well. He even started to fix up the house real nice and had bought a car. Then our stock got poisoned. We knowed this white man had done it. He stirred up a gallon of Paris green with the feed. When we got out there, one mule was already dead. The other two mules and the cow had their stomachs all swelled up. It was too late to save ’em. That poison knocked us right back down flat. We never did get back up again. That white man did it just because we, were gettin’ somewhere. White people never like to see Negroes get a little success. All of this stuff is no secret in the state of Mississippi."
She went on to experience on hardship after another. She witnessed a lynching as a child. Later, when she tried to register to vote she was rejected again and again on various technicalities. When she went into the hospital for once procedure she woke up having had a hysterectomy. She was arrested and beaten, persecuted. Eventually when she did get into politics the Democrat party wasn't living up to her ideals and so she was instrumental in forming the Freedom Democratic party.
When she was running for office she said she was doing it to prove that she could as a black woman, knowing that the discriminatory practices of Mississippi would keep her from winning. Her deep, powerful voice shook the air as she sat on the porch or inside, talking to friends, relatives and neighbors who dropped by on the one day each week when she was not out campaigning. Whatever she was talking about soon became an impassioned plea for a change in the system that exploited the Delta blacks. “All my life I’ve been sick and tired,” she would shake her head. “Now I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
(from https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/fannie-lou-hamer-tired-being-sick-and-tired/)
She was disgusted with discouragement and decided to do something about it. In 1 Samuel 30 there is a story of another person who became disgusted with discouragement and did something about it, David.
1 Samuel 30:1-8 (KJV)
And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire;
2 And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way.
3 So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives.
4 Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.
5 And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
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.
7 And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David.
8 And David enquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.
Verse 6 says, "David encouraged himself in the LORD his God."
He was disgusted with discouragement!
I. INTRODUCTION
Our text opens in a moment in David's life where everything was not going as he probably hoped. He had been anointed king over all Israel, something he had not asked for or sought out. God found him (1 Sam 13:13; Acts 13:22).
This is years after he had slain Goliath and Saul had promised him his daughters hand in marriage, only to go back on it. This was after David realized that Saul wanted to kill him.
This was after David had run like a hunted animal hiding in caves and dens. This was after David had pretended insanity before the king of the Philistines and ultimately found himself living in the enemy's territory and almost working for them.
David had been through a lot. Life had not been easy for him, even though he was chosen and anointed.
The writer of Ephesians speaks of God's work and will in the first chapter in such a way that we are almost left out. It is as if God is doing everything. He is working His will according to His purpose in his mysterious way. We don't often understand the twists and turns of life as we walk them, or, in panic, run them, but there comes a place later when we look back and realize that God was at work in it all.
David wasn't there in this moment. He was in a funky place. He had gone out on a military campaign and while he was gone his enemies had come into his city and destroyed it and taken his family and his stuff. David may have been at the place where he threw up his hands and said, "What next!?" The enemy that had attacked him was an enemy that Saul should have destroyed. Sometimes we fight things that someone else should have destroyed, and that can be discouraging.
Fannie Lou Hamer was sick and tired of being sick and tired and so was David. His stomach was turning over in disgust. Why me!? Why now!? Sometimes when you get to that point a great place to start the process of getting up and out is with a good cry:
III. PREACHING POINTS
1. Sometimes We Just Need A Good Cry
1 Samuel 30:4 (ESV)
"Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep."
Crying is a gift from God that has many benefits.
The Psalmist said that God collects all of our tears and takes note of them.
Psalm 56:8 (ESV)
"You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?"
Dr. Judith Orloff says: Tears and crying are a part of being human. There is healing power in our tears. "Tears are your body’s release valve for stress, sadness, grief, anxiety, and frustration. Also, you can have tears of joy, say when a child is born or tears of relief when a difficulty has passed." I am personally grateful for those times when I can cry. "It feels cleansing, a way to purge pent up emotions so they don’t lodge in my body as stress symptoms such as fatigue or pain. To stay healthy and release stress [we must] cry [when we need to]. For both men and women, tears are a sign of courage, strength, and authenticity."
"Like the ocean, tears are salt water. Protectively they lubricate your eyes, remove irritants, reduce stress hormones, and they contain antibodies that fight pathogenic microbes. Our bodies produce three kinds of tears: reflex, continuous, and emotional. Each kind has different healing roles. For instance, reflex tears allow your eyes to clear out noxious particles when they’re irritated by smoke or exhaust. The second kind, continuous tears, are produced regularly to keep our eyes lubricated–these contain a chemical called “lysozyme” which functions as an anti-bacterial and protects our eyes from infection. Tears also travel to the nose through the tear duct to keep the nose moist and bacteria free. Typically, after crying, our breathing, and heart rate decrease, and we enter into a calmer biological and emotional state."
"Emotional tears have special health benefits. Biochemist and “tear expert” Dr. William Frey at the Ramsey Medical Center in Minneapolis discovered that reflex tears are 98% water, whereas emotional tears also contain stress hormones which get excreted from the body through crying. After studying the composition of tears, Dr. Frey found that emotional tears shed these hormones and other toxins which accumulate during stress. Additional studies also suggest that crying stimulates the production of endorphins, our body’s natural pain killer and “feel-good” hormones.” Interestingly, humans are the only creatures known to shed emotional tears, though it’s possible that that elephants and gorillas do too. Other mammals and also salt-water crocodiles produce reflex tears which are protective and lubricating."
"Crying makes us feel better, even when a problem persists. In addition to physical detoxification, emotional tears heal the heart. You don’t want to hold tears back" ( This section about tears is borrowed from https://drjudithorloff.com/the-healing-power-of-tears/).
There are times when we just need a good cry, to allow the tears to flow, to allow those unutterable cries of the spirit/Spirit to flow (Rom 8). Sometimes we do not know what to pray and we just need a release. God have us this gift for a reason.
Sometimes we need a good cry together. Paul wrote two times in the NT about corporate lament and weeping:
1 Corinthians 12:26 (KJV)
"And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it."
Romans 12:15 (KJV)
"Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep."
David and all of his men wept together because of the tragedy that they were experiencing together. You need an emotional release.
If you read through the Psalms, you will find instance after instance of David pouring out his emotions to God. You should not be afraid to tell God what you are experiencing. It is not a lack of faith to tell Him. He wants to hear from you.
Job's friends did really well for the first seven days of their visit, they just wept with him. Sometimes your friends, family, and sisters and brothers in the faith do not need your advice, they just need you to cry with them. There is healing and comfort in a good cry.
But...
2. Sometimes We All Freak Out
1 Samuel 30:6a (KJV)
"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..."
David was freaking out. He was having a panic attack. He was "greatly distressed."
Our emotions are fickle. This is the reason that one of the best pieces of advice that floats around the wisdom of social media is: "Never make a permanent decision based on a temporary emotion" and "I've never been sorry for what I didn't say, or do, when I was angry."
The people went from weeping along with David to wanting to murder him.
I have a book in my library written by one our great elders, Ron Mullings. It is a devotional book of sorts that is meant to encourage pastors and those in ministry. The title of the book is "People Are Pitiful - And We're All People! Reflections on Overcoming the Pitiful Side of You." This title is taken from a story he tells at the beginning of the book about a word of advice he was given by his father who had served for many years in ministry. The point is that all of us can have moments when we allow petty emotions to guide our decisions. This realization should help us when we are on the receiving end of someone's pettiness or when we are tempted to be petty. One of my professors at Houston Graduate School of Theology made this statement, "Don't take it personal, even if it is."
Ecclesiastes 7:21-22 (NIV)
"Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you—for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others."
This is great advice and advice we should seek to put into practice, but sometimes it can be so intense that it takes a whole lot of work to not allow others to dominate our emotions.
Everyone was blaming David for what had happened. They were pointing fingers at him because they were bitter. One of the greatest lessons that you can learn is that usually when someone is attacking you, the problem is not with you, it is with them. Sometimes bitter people will channel their anxiety and hurt towards you, and it can be more than we can handle. Bitterness can destroy us, it can destroy our relationships, it can destroy our families. We can become cynical to the place that one mistake by someone we are in relationship with can send us spiraling into a blurry place where we forget all the good. Put the brakes on.
Don't let bitterness draw you into a mob mentality. Don't let bitterness draw you into the church gossip group. Sometimes people will jump on the bandwagon because they need someone to blame. Don't ride the bandwagon, the political bandwagon, the nay-sayer bandwagon, the _________________ bandwagon. Caleb and Joshua were the only two of the twelve spies who had a different report. They said, "We can!" Positive voices are often drowned out because it is easier to be negative.
David freaked out! He was "greatly distressed." He was upset. The people were upset. They wanted to take his life.
God did not create any of us to bear the weight of the world, and when we try to, we find ourselves burning out eventually.
But David does something that each of us must do at times if we are going to make it...
3. Sometimes We Have To Encourage Ourselves
1 Samuel 30:6b (KJV)
"...but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God."
Contemporary English versions say things like "David found strength in the LORD his God" (NIV), and "David strengthened himself in the LORD his God" (ESV).
There is a relationship between strength and encouragement.
Proverbs 18:14 (NIV)
"The human spirit can endure in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?"
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurts me. That is a lie.
We may recover from a beating, but the damage that is done by some of the things that are spoken to us may take years of counselling to get over. Wounds of the spirit are often deeper than those of the flesh.
David decided to stop listening to the voices of discouragement and anxiety that surrounded him and encouraged himself in the LORD. He was so disgusted with discouragement that he plugged his ears!
There are moments in my life, when I stop and recalibrate. There may be a drone of voices and situations around me that make me want to throw in the towel and quit. David had plenty to be discouraged about. He had seemingly lost everything that he valued. His family, community, and the confidence of those he led. This was not the beginning of his trial either. He was already living in the land of the Philistines and not living in the fulfilment of the promise that he was anointed to fulfill as king of Israel.
And so he stops. Sometimes we need to STOP, Stop in the name of love. Stop collaborate and listen. Stop what your doing cause I'm about to ruin the image and the style that you're used to. STOP.
I make a list. It may be a text or something I type on my laptop, or a conversation. I begin to talk about all the good things God IS doing. I rehearse the promises that God has given, and the ones He has already fulfilled. I tell myself about all that God has brought me through thus far!
Some of you need to learn how to talk to yourself. The miracle that the woman with the issue of blood experienced was directly related to the way she talked to herself. She said within herself, "If I may but touch the hem of His Garment, I will be made whole!" (Matt 9:21).
David knew how to talk to himself. he may have cried and poured out his complaint to the LORD, but then he moved on to encouragement!
1 Samuel 30:7-8 (KJV)
"And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David. And David enquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all."
Part of David's encouragement of himself was hearing from God. In David's time people heard from God in many ways. One was the ephod. It was probably a way of casting lots. The way that the discerning stones fell determined the answer that the LORD was giving.
David did not have a Bible. You do. One way to encourage yourself is to look into God's Word prayerfully. Ask God to speak to you and then begin reading. Read until you're content that He has spoken. You also have people in your life who are filled with the Spirit. Pray with someone and listen together for the voice of God. David had Abiathar. Sometimes it is a spiritual leader that you listen along with. The key is asking and listening. It is encouraging when God speaks and we know He is listening!
David asks a specific question and once the LORD answers, he walks into the answer. It is encouraging when we begin to step into the will of God!
Get going! Pursue and recover all!
IV. Conclusion:
Where are you right now? Are you at the place where you just need something to move?
Bill Hybels tells about an interesting experience after a baptism service in their church. He writes: “I bumped into a woman in the stairwell who was crying. I thought this was a little odd, since the service was so joyful. I asked her if she was all right. She said, ‘No, I’m struggling.’ She said, ‘My mom was baptized today. I prayed for her every day for almost 20 years. The reason I’m crying is because I came this close to giving up on her. At the 5-year mark I said, “Who needs this? God isn’t listening.” At the 10-year mark I said, “Why am I wasting my breath?” At the 15-year mark I said, “This is absurd.” At the 19-year mark I said, “I’m just a fool.” But I just kept trying, kept praying. Even with weak faith I kept praying. Then she gave here life to Christ, and she was baptized today. I will never doubt the power of prayer again.”
Sometimes when we pray and pray we feel like we are experiencing the law of diminished returns — so we stop praying. We correspondingly diminish our desires and dreams. We stop believing that God cares and that he will act — that he is indeed a God who wants us to ask. I hope that you will trust God’s love and concern for you, and his ability as well. I hope that you will continue to be persistent in prayer, no matter how discouraging the circumstances seem.
Encourage yourself! God is at work!
