Need For Encouragement

“Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.” (Isa 3:10 AV)

Written in the context of the day of the LORD, the prophet is instructed to encourage the righteous despite what they are seeing.  The tribulation will be beyond horrible.  At the conclusion of the seven years of judgment, only those who have received Christ will remain.  The total casualty rate of the seven years of judgment will be astronomical.  Seeing all that destruction will be very discouraging.  For many reasons.  Faith may be challenged.  I am sure while Noah was on the ark, thoughts of hopelessness may have entered his mind.  Just look at the words of the minor prophets.  A time or two, they also questioned their future.  But perhaps the one thought that comes to my mind is realizing the devastation that lay before them and the understanding it included almost everyone they knew, had to be discouraging.  This reminds me of how the Israelis may have felt as Egypt was judged.  They had to wonder if the plagues would touch them.  Some did.  But seeing corpses as far as the eye can see had to be frightening at the most, revolting at the least.  The point is, the saints cannot always endure the practical way in which the holiness of God works out.  Amid the negative, must come positive.  There has to be a sunrise to endure the blackness of night.

After my shoulder surgery, I had six months of rehab.  There were all sorts of people there with all sorts of disabilities.  As I visited with them, I learned of their treatments and how long or short they might have to be.  Most of those who came had long-term conditions.  They would be in therapy for years.  There were several stroke victims.  There were many accident victims.  There were a few post-surgery patients who were gaining the use of their limbs.  There were a few elderly simply trying to stave off the inevitable.  Being surrounded by so many people who were far worse off than I, it could get discouraging.  When the therapist interviewed me, she asked me what my expectations were.  What percentage of fully functional mobility was I looking for?  I thought that was a trick question.  Wouldn’t everyone want one hundred percent?  What was she trying to tell me?  When many are suffering, it is hard to remain positive.  Yet, my therapists did just that.  She reminded me the harder I worked, the better the results regardless of what I was seeing around me.  Her encouragement was often all I needed to complete painful exercises that would eventually result in one hundred percent mobility.

Encouragement is a rare thing.  We see it as a weakness.  That is, we think if we need it, we are not strong enough.  Actually, that is true.  We are not.  We need to hear that everything will be ok.  Even if our life is falling apart and everything around us seems to be out of our control, we need to hear that God still reigns, He loves us, and everything will work out.  Too much of our preaching is doom and gloom.  Yes, we need to be rebuked. Yes, we need to be reproved.  We have allowed the shallow Christian culture to corner the market on encouragement.  It is profusely overdone in certain circles.  That doesn’t mean we cannot encourage.  God is a good God.  He loves us more than we could ever comprehend.  He loves us like a Father.  A Father who knows all things and can do all things.  Our Father will not abandon us and even if the world seems in a total meltdown, the child of God will be ok.  We may have to suffer a bit.  We may have to go through some cleansing ourselves.  But in the end, we have eternity and all our troubles will be over.  There is no reason to keep a sad face.  Jesus is coming back or we will go to our homegoing.  One way or another, we will be in the presence of our loving Father and all our troubles will be over