Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me. They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work. –Nehemiah 2:17-18
No matter how successful or holy we are, we all face some kind of disappointment at some point or the other in life. Disappointment gets everyone down, but some choose to stay down a little longer than others, and this could very easily lead to discouragement and inactivity (failure to take action or make progress -Encarta Dictionary). This is a very dangerous state to be in because the moment that we allow discouragement to creep in, we literally paralyze ourselves and give room for an attack from our enemies. When a person is paralyzed, (s) he looses voluntary movement as a result of damage to a nerve or muscle. Discouragement can have the same effect on our minds, bodies, and spirit.
The only way to avoid slipping into the pitfall of discouragement is to properly handle our disappointments. The excerpt above describes how Nehemiah handled the disappointment he felt when he realized the obstacles he would face in his attempt to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. If we read this chapter from verse 11, we will find that Nehemiah set out in the middle of the night to inspect the destroyed walls of Jerusalem and strategize a plan to rebuild it. He decided the he was going to nip his disappointment in the bud by looking to God, someone greater than any problems he could face.
So brethren, whenever we encounter a disappointing situation, let us remember that we have a choice. We can either choose to mope around and get discouraged or evaluate the situation and come up with a game plan with God’s help. If we have destroyed walls needing repair in our lives, let us say as Nehemiah said, “Come, let us rebuild the walls, so that we will no longer be in disgrace. Let us look to the gracious hand of God!”
Dear friend, are you going to settle into disappointment and accept discouragement or are you going to look to the gracious hand of God and move to action? The choice is yours!
Stay blessed and spread the word.
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THE PARALYSIS-DISCOURAGEMENT