One of the ways to attack discouragement is to combat it with God's promises. No other prophet preaches on the promises of God more than Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 55, Isaiah is encouraging the people to repentance. He is pleading with them to give up wickedness and to trust and follow God. In the following two verses, God is promising that His Word through which He is calling them, will not return to Him empty.
Isaiah 55:10-11J. Alec Motyer's commentary of Isaiah explains how God's Word in Isaiah 55:11 is both a call to repentance and a promise that the people will repent.
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
J. Alec MotyerIn our limited viewpoint, we do not have the whole story of how God is accomplishing His purposes. God may be using other people and circumstances to draw people to Himself. God builds His Kingdom through His Word and He does not need a specific missionary or a particular mission team to accomplish His will. As it says in the previous verse,
The word of God is the unfailing agent of the will of God. ... the whole chapter pivots on the call to repent. On the one hand, repentance is the way to enter the great, free feast; on the other hand, the call to repent is a word of God bringing with it its own power of accomplishment. As the rain furnishes both seed and bread, so the word of God plants the seed of repentance in the heart and feeds the returning sinner with the blessed consequences repentance produces. In the present context this is what I desire, the purpose for which I sent it. The Lord wills and effectuates the repentance which brings sinners home to himself, into the freedom of his banqueting hall.
(pp. 457-458, The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction & Commentary)
Isaiah 55:8-9We must humby trust God's wisdom and God's sovereignty that God's Word shall accomplish the purpose for which God sent it.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Here are a few examples where God works outside the limited perspective of well-intentioned believers.
Example 1: Elijah
Elijah humiliated and killed 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah in a showdown. Elijah thought he won, but he miscalculated. The queen, Jezebel, put out a contract on his life. Elijah ran away discouraged. He felt like no one was left to stand up for God. Elijah thought he failed because total victory did not come from him. God found Elijah hiding in a cave.
1 Kings 19:14-18God did not need Elijah to preserve a faithful remnant from Israel. God wanted Elijah to be obedient to God's calling, God was in control. It was God who will save the remnant.
And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” And the LORD said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
Example 2: The Scottish Reformed Church
In June 1547 AD, John Knox and other Protestant church leaders were captured and enslaved by the French. Protestant leaders across Europe despaired for the church in Scotland. Knox was in slavery for 19 months and then exiled. Knox returned to Scotland in 1555 A.D. and to his amazement, found a spiritually hungry, but thriving Church.
A. M. Renwick
When the Castle of St. Andrews was captured by the French it seemed as if the cause of the Reformed Church was lost. Scotland was virtually governed by the French, and the Roman Church seemed permanently established. Indeed, throughout all Europe, the the Protestant faith was at its lowest ebb. Yet the amazing fact emerges that, at this very time when the Protestant movement in Scotland was without a leader, the Reformed doctrines took an ever-increasing hold upon all classes. Thus, when, in 1555, John Knox returned from Geneva for a visit of a few months, he was overjoyed to find great masses of the people thirsting for the gospel. This he related in a letter to his mother-in-law, Mrs. Bowes, and declared they were 'night and day sobbing and groaning for the bread of life. If I had not seen it with my eyes in my own country, I could not have believed it. Depart I cannot until such time as God quench their thirst a little.'
(p. 48, The Story of the Scottish Reformation)
Example 3: The Church in China
My final example of how God worked outside our limited perspective. The Communist took over China in 1949. At that time, missionaries left the country: they were expelled or they departed voluntarily. The regime had a complicated relationship with the indigent Church. Eventually, the Communist leaders sanctioned certain Protestant Churches and called them the "Three-Self Patriotic Movement" (TSPM). However, these Churches were very liberal and were monitored very closely by the government. They did not preach the Gospel. Even so, the Communists at times even persecuted the "sanctioned" churches.
Kim-Kwong ChanI remember in the 1980s when Communist China started to allow more visitors: for example, Billy Graham visited in 1988. Stories about how the house church movement thrived in China during the exile of the missionaries sent ripples of praise throughout the global Church. No one expected the church to survive in Communist China, but God's Word could not be thwarted.
For an even longer period (1966–79), all church buildings were closed and Christian activities were banned. Bibles were burnt, and many church leaders (including TSPM pastors) were imprisoned for long years in labor camps. Meeting for prayer and Bible study was extremely dangerous. Miners met in the depths of the northern coal mines, their hymnbooks and scribbled Bible verses disguised as Mao’s “Little Red Book.” Miao Christian tribes people in the far southwest hid Bibles in mountain caves to which they climbed for secret meetings. While the official church was moribund, the house churches kept alight the flame of Christian witness. The church survived as a lay movement, often led by poorly educated Bible women who memorized Scripture and passed on the faith to family members and (if they dared) to neighbors and friends.
(Jesus Rising in the East: The Extraordinary Story of the Church in Modern China (Christianity Today Essentials Book 3))
The Church throughout history has had Christ's promises to encourage it. Jesus, before his crucifixion, encouraged His disciples with His promises. He not only promised them the Holy Spirit in John 16, but Christ told the disciples that He had already "overcome the world." The disciples may have had to face persecution, but the battle was won and the disciples could take courage in that fact.
John 16:32-33Merril C. Tenney wrote a classic commentary on The Gospel of John which highlights that this command "take heart" is only possible because of our relationship with Christ.
Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.
Merril C. TenneyThe apostle Paul understood this principle that Christ has already overcome the world. Paul encouraged the Phillipian church that the work Christ began in them will be completed when Jesus Christ comes back.
The close relationship with Christ which the disciple sustains affords him surcease from conflict, from fear, and from doubt. "In the world" is tribulation; "in Christ" is peace. Victory over the forces and circumstances that cicumscribe human life is attainable through Him, for He has overcome the world by His cross. (pp. 242-243, John: The Gospel of Belief)
Philippians 1:6-7 ESVWayne Grudem comments on this verse in his chapter on The Perseverance of the Saints in his book on systematic theology.
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
Wayne GrudemGod is at work in Haiti. Like the apostle Paul with the Phillipians, we can be confident that God's work will continue in Haiti because we have seen Him work in the lives of the Haitians already. Furthermore, we have seen Him work in our lives. This confidence will combat the discouragement we feel.
Another example of assurance that believers will persevere to the end is found in Paul’s statement to the Philippians: “I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). It is true that the word “you” here is plural (Gk. hymas), and thus he is referring to Christians in the Philippian church generally, but he is still talking about the specific believers to whom he is writing, and saying that God’s good work that began in them will continue and will be completed at the day Christ returns. (p. 791, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine)
How can we encourage this confidence in Christ's promises? First, developing our personal relationship with Christ is key. The better we know the Promise Giver, the better we can trust His promises. This is where the spiritual disciplines are helpful.
- Spend time reading, studying, and meditating on His Word.
- Try journaling or blogging about Haiti. Journal about what you are learning in His Word.
- Pray for Haitian people in general and the Haitians you know. Pray for your mission team members. They are probably going through the same struggles you are.
- Fellowship with believers. Try talking to other people on your mission team. Encourage them as they encourage you. Have them pray for you.
- Tell other people about the trip. Tell Christians and non-Christians. Tell others about the great things you have seen God do. Have your short, medium, and long talks ready to go. Use these opportunities to share the Gospel.
Second, our obedience to His commandments is key to His manifesting Himself to us (John 14:21). As we abide in Him and love Him, the more we will trust HIm and the more confidence we will have in His promises. Disobedience and sin will feed into discouragement and cynicism. Trust and obedience fosters joy and confidence.
Finally, start praying for the next mission trip. God is using Grace Community Church to minister in Haiti. God is not done working through our church to serve Haiti. Pray that God will give the leadership wisdom on how to best serve Haiti. God will save Haiti.
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