Harvest Laws for Holy Living - 10 -
The Law of Persevering (3)

The year was 1920. The scene was the examining board for selecting missionaries. Standing before the board was a young man named Oswald Smith, age 31. One dream dominated his heart. He wanted to be a foreign missionary. Over and over again, he prayed, "Lord, I want to go as a missionary for you. Open a door of service for me." Now, at last, his prayer was about to be answered. When the examination was over, the board turned Oswald Smith down flat. He did not meet their qualifications. He failed the test. Oswald Smith had set his direction, but now life gave him a detour. What would he do? Choose discouragement?

As Oswald Smith prayed, God planted another idea in his heart. If he could not go as a missionary, he would build a church which could send out missionaries. And that is what he did. Oswald Smith pastored The People’s Church in Toronto, Canada, which sent out more missionaries than any other church at that time. Oswald Smith brought God into the situation, and God transformed his detour, discouragement into a main thoroughfare of service.

In addition to his pastoral and missions works, he wrote 1200 poems and hymn lyrics, over 200 of which were set to music. Among them is a hymn we have sung frequently in this church: Deeper and Deeper. One of the stanzas declares:

Into the cross of Jesus
Deeper and deeper I go,
Following through the garden,
Facing the dreaded foe;
Drinking the cup of sorrow,
sobbing with broken heart,
O Savior, help! Dear Savior, help!
Grace for my weakness impart.

As we continue our series on Harvest Laws for Holy Living, I want us to conclude our consideration of the sixth law, The Law of Persevering - This law instructs us that we’ll reap a full, fruitful harvest of the good that we sow as we persevere, but the evil part of the harvest comes all on its own.

We have thought together the last couple of messages about a couple of practical ramifications of this law...that we must patiently, persistently persevere through both delays, drawbacks. But there is one other obstacle that sometimes rears its ugly head, and which we have to battle.

3. We must persevere through discouragements-

Who among us has never been discouraged? I have...you have. We may have been discouraged about matters related to our family...our finances...even our faith. But we’ve all been there...done that, more often than we might want to admit. And let me remind you that when all is said and done, when all the reasons for our being discouraged are stripped away, in the final analysis, discouragement is a choice that we make.

We may not want to hear that, but stop and ponder how true that really is. The Holy Spirit has certainly never led a child of God to be discouraged. Realize that there is no experience through which we as Christians may go that the Devil doesn’t want to defeat, discourage us in.

Transversely, there is no experience through which we go that the Lord doesn’t want to use it for our good, our growth, and His glory!! That’s why James admonishes us as he does in Ja. 1:2-4.

Discouragement is the Devil’s diabolical corkscrew, and he will plunge it into our hearts and twist it every opportunity he gets. He knows that since he can’t separate us from Jesus Christ, the next best thing is to keep us from living abundantly, victoriously in Christ.

With discouragement, Satan can pry open our hearts, defeat us. Not even the apostle Paul was beyond this kind of attack. cf. II Cor. 1:8.

I came across an excellent description of discouragement recently:

Ultimately, none of us can overcome discouragement, its affects on us if we don't persistently persevere. Fainting never overcomes discouragement, nor does giving up.

At Ziklag, a discouraged David stood in the midst of his circumstance. Note his response in I Sam. 30:6.

Often, we want to run from our problems, but that’s not God’s way. Why? Because victory can only come in the place where the problem is. Running away, or ignoring, or excusing the problem never solves the problem! Running away, or ignoring, or excusing our problem doesn’t give us the opportunity to relate our discouragement to the Lord.

The solution to discouragement is persevering, not running. If you’re running from your discouraging problems? Then I beseech you to look to the One Who can give you the victory you desire, need.

I read recently about the story of a British soldier in the First World War who lost heart for the battle and deserted. Trying to reach the coast for a boat to England that night, he ended up wandering in the pitch black night, hopelessly lost. In the darkness he came across what he thought was a signpost. It was so dark that he began to climb the post so that he could read it. As he reached the top of the pole, he struck a match to see and found himself looking squarely into the face of Jesus Christ. He realized that, rather than running into a signpost, he had climbed a roadside crucifix. Then he remembered the One Who had died for him -- Who had endured -- Who had never turned back. The next morning the soldier was back in the trenches.

When you’re discouraged, when you are tired, afraid and dismayed, the best way I know to get your second wind is to strike a match in the darkness and to look on the face of Jesus Christ.

You have to admit that God has never once left you in the dark about His will for your life when you’ve persevered, has He? Listen, that seemingly insurmountable mountain can be conquered...one step at a time.

Nehemiah was leading the Jewish people to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls following the 70 year Babylonian Captivity, but there was so much opposition from their enemies that their desire to finish the job was waning. Turning to Neh. 4, we take note of four causes for their discouragement: