#4 Winning Over... Discouragement

Series: #3 “ Winning Over….Stress"

James 1:1-18

A newspaper ran the following advertisement in their classified section, “1964 red car for sale. $200. Excellent rearview mirror and glove compartment. Only 6 dents. Oh, all right then, $125.” Sometimes that is exactly how we feel, isn’t it? The only thing good about ourselves is our glove compartment and rearview mirror. In those times we wonder, “Where is God in all of this?”

Someone once observed, “When you are ready to go off the edge, remember that God in His infinite knowledge and mercy made the world round.” There are times in our lives when we feel as close to the edge as we can get. Emotionally, spiritually, physically we are at wits end, not knowing what to do or where to go. Life has beaten down so badly that we have to look up to see the belly of a snake. Some of you have been there. Some of you are there right now, and some will be there. How do you not only deal with discouragements but how do you win over discouragement keep it from dragging you through the muck and mire of the slough of despondency?

We find our answers in God’s Word that tells us that our God has promised not to let us go over the edge and it reminds us that God is in control. We also find in God’s Word the guidelines and principles by which we can handle life’s dents and life’s head-on collisions.

In James 1 we find the Bible addressing the reality that there are problems in the lives of those who follow Jesus. Unfortunately many have the mistaken notion that once you are born-again all your problems go away and life becomes a golden pathway. However, a mere cursory glance into the pages of the Bible reveals rather quickly that this is simply not true. One of the great things about the Bible is that it never sugarcoats anything. It speaks to us straight whether we like it or not.

Read James 1:1-18.

James writes from a wealth of personal experience. He was the brother of Jesus and a key leader in the early church. As such he knew a great deal about suffering and trials and persecution. His own experience makes his statements so much more real and believable. One of the upsides of trials and hardships and the dents I life is to be able to be used by God to help others who are experiences those same kinds of life’s dents. We spoke about being ‘wounded healers’ a couple week ago. This is one way that God uses our tough times to help someone going through a similar tough time. It is wonderful when we can be “Jesus” to someone else.

Experience is such a great teacher and when God is at work in a person who is operating by God’s Word then we have some dynamic principles.

1. The very first thing we see in James’ letter smacks us right in the face. He surprises us with the admonition to greet trials and life’s dents with joy. Obviously that is crazy because who in their right mind would do such a thing. It is absolutely ludicrous! Yet God takes what the world considers foolish and makes it wise, and He does so here. Winning over discouragement because of life’s tough blows means that we need to see these trials and tribulations as God see them. How does God see them? God sees them as vital ingredients to our maturity and strength. From our perspective these experiences are bad, but God sees them as good because the end result produces in us the fruits of Christian maturity. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trails of any kind because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Notice the very important word in this verse about trials and dents. It is the word “whenever.” Every translation that I looked at the word ‘whenever’ was there. That is significant because James did not write, “If you encounter trials….” It’s not a matter of ‘if,’ but ‘when.’ And this ‘when’ is not a onetime ordeal. It can happen again and again, i.e. ‘whenever’ you encounter trials. One observer commented, “The man whose problems are behind him is probably a school bus driver.” Obviously the intensity and duration of these trials vary from person to person.

Sometimes it seems that God is asking us to do the impossible like here in James 1, “Whenever you are going through trials and problems and difficulties, count it all joy.” Isn’t that the last thing you feel like doing? And that is exactly what the Bible says we are to do. It is from a prison cell (maybe hanging by chains) that the Apostle Paul writes, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again, I say, rejoice.” (Phil 4:4) Jesus used this same principle when He faced the cross as we see in Hebrews 12:2, “For the joy set before Him [Jesus] endured the cross, scorning its shame.”

Several years ago I was involved in a lively discussion with a group of Christians about this very idea of rejoicing in our trials. Some were saying that we are to give thanks to God for everything that happens to us including trials, tragedies, dents, and problems. Maybe it is just semantics, but I have a problem with thanking God FOR trials and tragedies because it seems to me that is saying that trails, tragedies and the like originate from God, that God causes them. I am not sure I want to say that about God. We do read in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “…give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God concerning you.” To me, giving thanks IN all circumstances—good, bad and ugly—is different than thanking God FOR all circumstances. The truth here is that we can rejoice and be thankful in spite of our tragedies, dents, and trials because we belong to a God who is greater, more powerful, and more eternal than any tragedy or trial or dent in life.

Have you noticed the thread that runs through the experiences of Jesus, Paul and James? Note that the joy is not in the TRIALS but in GOD who is greater than our trials. So, the idea here is not rejoicing FOR our trials but rejoicing IN them because ultimately we are not IN our trials and tragedies, we are in Christ Jesus who uses them to bring us to a place of Christian strength and maturity.

In each case where we are commanded to rejoice, it is always in connection to our seeing the present in light of the future. It is seeing the whole picture and not just the myopia of the moment in time we call a trial or tragedy. God calls us through His Word to have an eternal look with eyes that see into our tomorrows. So what is this whole picture and eternal look? We see that in vs 3, “Because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” The truth and reality is that when we put our lives into God’s care, then God is at work using distressing situations to produce something beautiful.

2. The second principle to winning over discouragement over life’s trials and dents is that God makes His wisdom available to us. In vs 5 we read, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God.” The experience of humanity is that we believe we can do it through our own wisdom until tragedy strikes and then, and oft times only then, do we realize that our wisdom is not enough.

There’s a story about a man who bought a sailboat and persuaded his nervous wife to join him in a day of sailing. Attempting to set her mind at ease, he told her, “Look, I have been all over these waters and I know where every sand bar and rock is.” At that very moment the sailboat struck a submerged rock producing a crunching shutter from aft to stern and from port to starboard. “There,” he said with a sheepish grin, “is one of them right now.”

It is very difficult for most of us to come to grips with our own lack of wisdom. It is only when we crunch upon the hidden rocks of life that we realize that our wisdom is not enough.

But James says that the good news is that we can come to God, our Father and ask for His wisdom, and He gives it to us in generous portions without finding fault. It is usually because of our own stubbornness and pride that keeps us from coming to Him. When our Stephanie was a toddler she would often tells us, “I do it mine self!” That is our attitude with God!

Please understand that knowledge and wisdom is not the same thing. Knowledge is the accumulation of facts and information. Wisdom is knowing how to use these facts and information in our everyday lives. A lot of people are educated, but not all of them are wise. There’s the story of a man who discovered that 80% of all accidents happen within 2 miles of home. That is knowledge. So he moved 3 miles down the road! Right facts, wrong application. Right knowledge, wrong wisdom.

3. The 3^rd principle that James offers us in God’s Word to help us win over discouragement is His eternal perspective. There are 2 contrasting pictures here: the poor man and the rich man. The poor man is basking in his position in Christ, and the rich man is glorying in his riches. The point is not whether you are rich or poor in this world, the point is—are you rich in eternity? In our Christian worldview, we always see this world in light of eternity. This principle is exemplified in the world of art. Some years ago I read about the artistic style called anamorphosis. In this style of painting, the artwork looks deformed and distorted. However, by squinting through a peephole in the side of the frame, what you see is a perfect picture. Without the eternal perspective life seems twisted, deformed, and distorted, but from an eternal perspective what you see is a beautiful picture.

How do we win over discouragement? First, rejoice because life’s trials are used by God to produce Christian maturity in you. Second, God’s wisdom is available to those who ask. Third, we need to see our trials and tragedies in the light of eternity, from God’s perspective.

A pastor’s wife lay seriously ill. Some years earlier their only daughter had been crippled in a tragic accident. On the edge and depressed, it seemed that God has abandoned him. Coming home one evening he picked some wild flowers for his wife. After kissing his daughter he told her that the flowers were for her mother. “Let me take them to her,” she asked. With a bit a discouraged anger he retorted, “Sweetheart, you can’t take them to her. You can’t even get off the couch.” “No,” she said, “but I can carry them and you can carry me!” Suddenly it dawned on him and he saw the answer to his own discouragement. He might not be able to carry his burden, but his Father could carry him.

When life and it’s problem are about to swallow you up. When you are on the edge and about to slip over. When the dents of life are just too many, remember that you might not be able to carry your burdens, but your Heavenly Father can and will carry you!

And that is how you win over discouragement!