Discouragement Spreads

“Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Kadeshbarnea to see the land. For when they went up unto the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the LORD had given them.” (Nu 32:8-9 AV)

Moses is referring to the ten spies who discouraged the nation from taking the land almost forty years ago.  Here, it is the two and a half tribes who settled on the east side of Jordan.  Moses warned these two and a half tribes that if the did not join with the majority of the nation, there was a real possibility the minority would discourage the majority. 

Not that I endorse all that C.S. Lewis has written, but in his book Screwtape Letters the tool of the devil that worked most of all was discouragement.  There is even an “illustration” that many preachers use that teaches the same principle.  Discouragement can be epidemic.  In our passage, Moses is comparing two separate events with the same potential outcome.  The first, when Joshua and Caleb were the only good spies, were defeated by the discouraging report of ten spies.  The majority discoursed the minority.  The ten spies who had little faith discouraged the nation from a great victory if they simply would have trusted the word of the LORD.  In our passage, the minority has the potential of discouraging the majority.  This discouragement can become a plague that starts out small, but grows and grows, making the whole body anemic.

Years ago, I had a pastor friend who pastored a nearby church to my own.  We used to exercise together.  We would often get coffee together.  His church was in my neighborhood.  He pastored a Southern Baptist church which tend to be committee or congregationally run with little regard to the authority of the pastor.  We were talking about his call to the pulpit which came after I had already been in the area.  He was the rookie of the neighborhood.  He had remarked that he had received 100% of the vote and he would never take a church unless the vote was unanimous.  Then he made the remark that he would never make any decision unless he had 100% percent of support.  That may sound good.  But there is a flaw in this reasoning.  Even if there was one individual who felt differently, then the church would not go in the direction which the LORD had led the pastor.  Discouragement becomes the rule of the congregation.  Which also means, nothing really changes.  The church is motivated by the least motivating factor.  Or not motivated at all.

Discouragement is a disease of the heart.  It affects all those who come in contact with it.  It will affect the whole body and keep the group from going forward in to the will of God.  May the LORD have mercy if we are the one spreading discouragement that keeps the whole body from stepping up in faith towards what God can do.