Getting Discouraged Doing the Lord’s Work
1 Kings 19:1-4 [1] And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. [2] Then 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 to morrow about this time. [3] And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. [4] But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.
Most of us probably know the verse Galatians 6:9 where it tells us not to be weary in well doing. There are times that can be hard. Looking on the outside it’s easy to ask why would Elijah get so discouraged so quickly. We just seen him pray down fire, defeat all the prophets of Baal, and then he sees rain start to fall at the end of chapter 18. We think that should give us reason to shout for way longer than what Elijah seemed to. We find Jezebel send him a message here in our text and we know Elijah sets under a juniper tree and requests of himself to die. Why can a person become so discouraged when it seems the Lord is using them and it seems that everything is going their way? It can be easy to happen when we do these 3 things:
Look away from the Lord We can become focused on what others are doing and not our own work for the Lord. We look at numbers others may be reaching or having in services. We begin to question how effective we are. If we are doing Gods will we need to allow God to do the work then. 1 Corinthians 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
Listen to the world Elijah listened to the message Jezebel sent to him. He became too worried about that. We allow the world to affect our thought process too much. Those in the world might question things we do for God and it will cause us to then question things. It will cause us to wonder if we are doing what God wants us to do.
Lean on our own understanding You ever sought God on something, He gives you the answer and then you try to make sense of it? You try to work it out instead of trusting God? We can get burdened down and get discouraged when we try to work things out in our own minds. Things aren’t supposed to make sense to us. We just need to trust Him! Proverbs 3:5-6 [5] Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. [6] In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
There are times that we can get discouraged even though we might be doing right. Just don’t stay there. Get your focus on God and allow Him to strengthen and encourage you!
God bless you today! Bro. Josh Richardson
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