Numbers 21:4 KJV And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.
Numbers 21:4 Amplified . . . and the people became impatient (depressed, much discouraged), because [of the trials] of the way.
Numbers 21:4 Septuagint . . . the people became dispirited in the march.
Numbers 21:4 Berkley . . . the people, however, became depressed in spirit as a result of the route.
I. INTRODUCTION—THE SLOUGH OF DESPOND
-It very well could be that this sermon is going to be one of those that will bring strength to you to go at it another day, another week, or another month. Just as the angel told Elijah to arise and eat so that he would have strength for the journey, I encourage you to do the same thing.
In Pilgrim’s Progress, it isn’t too long after Christian has heard the words of Evangelist and begins his journey toward the Celestial City. Along the way he meets up with some unsavory characters and some challenging paths to walk over.
When he leaves his city, two travelers leave with him. One is named Obstinate and the other is Pliable. It isn’t too long before Obstinate with much indignation and criticism of Christian turns around and goes back to town. Christian and Pliable trudge on and suddenly in their path is a muddy swamp called the Slough of Despond. Both men fall in and begin a monumental struggle with the mud and it is not too long before both of them are covered in mud and filth from the Slough of Despond. Pliable manages to lunge out but not in the right direction but on the side that he came from and he informs Christian that he is going to turn around and go back because the way is too difficult.
Christian is left alone to battle and struggle with the deadly swamp called Despond. You might call it in our times, the Swamp of Discouragement. Any person who has been serving God at all will understand that they will have to deal with times of discouragement and difficulty. There are all sorts of situations in the saint of God’s life that will cause him to want to give up and quit!
II. SOME QUOTES ON DISCOURAGEMENT
-Have you ever been discouraged? Every person among us at one time or another has felt the distress of discouragement to tug at our hearts and dampen our spirits.
T. DeWitt Talmage—In the lottery of life, there are more prizes drawn than blanks, and to one misfortune, there are fifty advantages. Discouragement is the most unprofitable feeling a man can indulge in.
Fenelon—Discouragement is not a state of humiliation. Whether we stumble, or whether we fall, we must only think of rising again and going on in our course.
Anonymous—To doubt and give in to discouragement is a sure step to failure.
Viktor Frankl—The prisoner who had lost faith in the future—his future—was doomed. (Describing conditions while imprisoned in a Nazi death camp.)
III. THE SETTING OF NUMBERS 21
-The part of their journey has now become very taxing to all of Israel. Moses has lost Aaron, his brother, to death. Now, Moses’ work consists of encouraging those who are weary of tent life and tired of the inconveniences of constant travel.
-The fretting, groaning, and complaining have combined with the demands of the journey and the soul of the people was “much discouraged.”
-Now to compound all of the daily living routines, Israel wanted to take shortcut. It really wasn’t a shortcut as much as it was a straight course across Edom. Moses, in his negotiations with the Edomites, had promised that they would stay in the defined road. They would not wander through the vineyards or even take water from a well, pond, or lake.
-But they were forced to take a detour. It was a long, weary, monotonous, and heavy detour that pulled every notion of energy and stamina from their body’s and literally from their spirit.
-Once they began to move into the darkness of the detour, they begin to complain with such vehemence against God and Moses that a huge penalty resulted. Fiery serpents begin to rove among them and bite them. (That is a message for another day! The message: what we say when discouragement sinks into our spirits can have some terrible effects on life.)
-There are certain and sure discouragements that will come to us along the way.
-When one finds himself in the midst of this sort of thing there is a tendency to start making comparisons:
• With our circumstances versus another in a similar situation.
• With our path versus some other person’s path.
• With our lot in life versus some other person’s lot in life.
-With each comparison we sink lower and lower in the “slough of despond” as Bunyan called it. Discouragement can pull us deeper down than what we normally would desire to go.
-Discouragement is that “somewhere in the middle feeling.”
-If a man is not careful, discouragement can have a tendency to deepen and to darken our days. When we are discouraged, if we are not vigilant, we can fail God miserably. The devil loves to take advantage of our thinking during times of discouragement.
IV. SOME THINGS YOU OUGHT TO KNOW ABOUT THE DEVIL
2 Corinthians 2:11 KJV Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
-The devil comes to the saint in times of difficulty and tries to take advantage of his mind and devotion to God. Calamities of life assail and we are in a storm of doubt.
• Sickness of body.
• Downtrodden in our soul.
• Wayward children.
• Financial pressures.
• Dreams that have finally flickered out.
• The dangers of mid-life.
• Changes in the work place.
• Loss of a job.
-When you get discouraged along the way, he will begin to put a spin on life and make you see things not as they are.
-The devil will begin a dialogue that goes like this, “You see what those folks are enjoying over there. Look how easy things are for them! Look at you, a child of God? They don’t have nearly the crosses that you have and you spend most of your time sighing, crying, groaning and mourning. You ought to go and do like they do and get free from the dark night of adversity. You could enjoy the sunshine of prosperity if you would just walk away.”
• Look at how much money they have.
• Look at where they live.
• Look at how nice life is.
• Look at their job that is so fulfilling.
• Look at their kids so courteous and socially developed.
-He does the same thing to preachers.
• Look at the size of that building.
• Look at the size of that crowd.
• Look at how socially accepted they are in the city.
• Look at the money you could give to missions if you had what they have.
• Look at how they are treated.
• Look at where they live.
-This is the same trick that the devil used in Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 44:16-18 KJV As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee. [17] But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. [18] But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
-That is the language of the hell. There are some things that you ought to know about this sort of reasoning the devil gives you when you become much discouraged because of the way.
A. God Works in Mysterious Ways
-The devil does not want you to know that God works in mysterious ways. Often the hands of mercy are toward those when His heart is not. The Bible is loaded with examples of this.
• Saul—Allowed to rule in spite of his great disobedience.
• Balaam—Permitted of God to go to Balak but not blessed of God.
• Judas—Allowed to carry the bag of money despite the perdition in his soul.
• Gehazi—Allowed close fellowship with a prophet but no communion with God.
-By the same token, God may set his hand against a man but have his heart on that man. The Bible is filled with examples of this too!
• Job—Endured the affliction of body and mind but saw the revelation of God.
• Abraham—The Bible says he patiently endured so he could obtain the promise.
• Joseph—First a pit then a prison before the pinnacle!
-The devil loves for you to forget the God works in mysterious ways. It could be that the very affliction you curse is going to be the salvation of your soul and that of others. Don’t get confused when you see how merciful God is to sinners.
Thomas Brooks—The sun of prosperity shines on the brambles in the wilderness as the fruit-trees of the orchard; the snow and hail of adversity lights upon the best garden as well as the stinking trash heap.
• Ahab and Josiah both died in the chariots in battle. One was wicked the other was good.
• Saul and Jonathon had different natures and behavior but in their deaths they weren’t divided.
• Moses died in the same wilderness as those who murmured.
• Nabal was rich as well as Abraham.
• Ahithophel was just as wise as Solomon.
• Doeg was honored by Saul just as Joseph was honored by Pharoah.
-Don’t get confused by the mysterious ways of God! Health, wealth, and honors just as crosses, sickness, and losses come to both good men and bad men.
-It very well could be that the worst of men have most of the outward things while the best men have the least of the world but the most of heaven!
-Don’t get discouraged because of the way!
B. God Will Take Care of Those Who Abuse His Mercy
-The devil doesn’t want you to know that there is a day of reckoning that is going to come for those who abuse his mercy.
-When men take advantage of God’s mercy and goodness to do evil, God will take care of it in due time. Again in Jeremiah 44:20-28 notice what God will do.
• They burned incense as a semblance of worship.
• They still practiced sinful behaviors.
• They did not obey the voice of the Lord or respond to the preaching of the prophets.
• They did not walk in the ways of His Law.
• Because of that, God finally gave up on His work of mercy and notice the outcome:
Jeremiah 44:26-28 KJV Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the LORD, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD liveth. [27] Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them. [28] Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs.
-The devil uses the mercy of God shown to others in an attempt to get you to walk away from Him and the church. Don’t buy into it! No soul is going to be able to avoid the judgment of God.
-You can get the things you want but sometimes at the leanness of the soul. It is a heavy plague to have a fat body and a lean soul; a house full of gold but a heart full of sin.
C. Don’t Be Surprised by Trouble
-The devil wants you to be very surprised by trouble. He will do his best to point out to you how green the paths that sinners seemingly are walking.
Thomas Brooks—There is no greater misery in life, than not to be in misery; no greater affliction, than not to be afflicted.
-The soul that does not experience trouble and difficulty is a soul that will never grow. God shapes much of our lives by the trials that we must endure. One of the saddest Scriptures in the Bible is in Hosea.
Hosea 4:17 KJV Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.
-When God gives a soul over to sin without control, that seals the fate of that man.
• How many times in your moments of trouble have you rushed to the church?
• How many times in your moments of trouble have you fled to His Word?
• How many times in your moments of trouble have you gone on a fast?
• How many times in your moments of trouble have you notched up your praying?
• How many times in your moments of trouble have you longed for the touch of the Lord?
• How many times in your moments of trouble have you found Him standing in the shadows?
• How many times in your moments of trouble have you pulled your family into a place of holy longing for God?
• How many times in your moments of trouble have you looked for the fellowship of God’s chosen?
-Prosperity has been a stumbling block to more people than trouble ever has! There have been more souls to experience ship-wreck because of blessing than ever did over adversity.
-You ought to thank God that you had to struggle and claw every step of the way. It pushed you to a place in God. It gave feeling to your prayer and your worship.
-Don’t get discouraged in the way when trouble comes your way! When it comes to suffering don’t dare trust in your own understanding but look to God’s Book!
D. There is More Than Meets the Eye
-The devil doesn’t want you peering in too closely at the souls of those who revel in the mercy of God and are free from adversity. When you look to their souls, you will find that they long for more than they have.
-It may be that from appearances that they have all the riches, pleasures, friends, and trinkets of this world. David and Job painted their situation like this:
Psalms 49:11 KJV Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.
Psalms 73:7 KJV Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.
Job 21:12-13 KJV They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. [13] They spend their days in wealth. . .
-Yet all of that is nothing to what they really want. They want so much more than what they have. The fact of the matter is that they want what a lot of saints have.
• They long for God’s presence.
• They long to know the treasures of the Word of God.
• They long for holiness and righteousness.
• They long for a clean conscience and a pure heart.
• They long for just a night to rest their weary souls in simple sleep.
• They long for the pardon from sin, the power against sin, and the knowledge of freedom from the dominion of sin.
• They want the favor of God which is better than life.
• They long for understanding of joy unspeakable and moments that are full of glory.
• They long for a home whose builder and maker is God.
-The devil does not want you to see that their head is full of care and their heart is full of fear. Their obligations, demands, responsibilities, and their possessions lead to great distraction, vexation, and condemnation. Most often they are millstones around their neck.
-An emperor once said to his subjects, “You look on my purple robe and golden crown but if you knew what cares are under it, you would not pick it up off of the ground to have it!”
Augustine—Many are miserable by loving hurtful things but they are more miserable by having them.
-You have more than what meets the eye in all of your struggles. Just as you don’t see the great struggle of their soul, you do understand that in all of your trouble that you have a God!
Psalms 107:6 KJV Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
Psalms 107:13 KJV Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.
Psalms 107:19 KJV Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.
Psalms 107:28 KJV Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
-What is the riches, honor, prestige, and so forth when you want for the favor of God, the pardon of sin, an interest in His Word, and the hope of glory?
V. CONCLUSION—WHAT IS THE CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER?
-Don’t get discouraged by the way!
-The devil does not want you to know:
• God works in mysterious ways.
• God will take care of those who abuse His mercy.
• Don’t be surprised by trouble.
• There is more than meets the eye.
Psalms 73:17-19 KJV Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. [18] Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. [19] How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.
-You keep serving the Lord!
Philip Harrelson—March 11, 2011
