Title: Help for the Discouraged

Read: Numbers 21:1-9

Scripture Reading: Numbers 21:4

“Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way.”

Main idea: The Lord brought the people of Israel closer to Canaan and taught them lessons on faith and conflict.

God wants us quit complaining and start trusting
The people of Israel had seen miracle after miracle, sign after sign, God’s leading, and God’s judgment. We would think a “Great Awakening” would be occurring among the people of Israel, but they still had a lot to learn. They needed to learn to quit complaining and start trusting. They needed to learn to quit wandering off and start staying in line. And they needed to learn there are consequences to rebellion and disobedience. God led them through the land of Edom towards Canaan.

Like the Israelites, we have all at one time or another, become discouraged because of the way. Israel’s discouragement here came about because the nation of Edom would not let them pass through their country on the way to Canaan; therefore, Israel had to go around Edom to reach the promised land. This made their journey much harder and became discouraged. To help us have victory over discouragement, we note two important lessons about this discouraging way—first, it was God assigned way, and second, it was God’s chosen way.

God assigned way
People of Israel were discouraged about the way, but they could be encouraged in the fact that it was indeed God’s assigned way. They were not going against to His will. They were marching towards the promised land according to His promise and commands. But remember, God’s way is not always a pleasant way. Doing His will is not exempt from hardships.

We make a great mistake if we think God’s way in this life is always going to be easy. If everything going smooth in your life praise the Lord. Nothing wrong in it. God’s way often includes many trials and difficulties. But these trials and difficulties will strengthen our faith and purify our character. So stay on God’s way regardless of your circumstances. The easy way against the will of God often hinders our faith and corrupts our character.

God’s chosen way
God’s chosen way, though discouraging at times, led to the promised land. Before one condemns or commends a way, be sure you know where the way is leading and where it is going to end. The world has many ways that are quick and easy, but they do not lead to the promised land; rather, the ways of the world lead to a dead end. But God’s way leads to life. God’s chosen way may be a rugged way but it is the rewarding way. Do not depart from God’s way; for it is the right way; in fact, it is the only way!

Our Lord said in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

These verses have an application to the destinies of the human race. One of the worst things that can be taught in religion is that all roads eventually lead to heaven. It is not true, of course, which is bad enough in itself, for all lies are harmful. The wide gate and broad way lead to destruction (Prov. 16:25). The narrow gate and difficult way lead to life. Jesus is both the gate (John 10:9) and the way (John 14:6). These are, of course, the way to heaven and the way to hell. The broad way is the easy way; it is the popular way.

The way of life is narrow, lonely, and costly. God’s people have always been a remnant, a small minority in this world. The reason is not difficult to discover. We can walk on the broad way and keep our “baggage” of sin and worldliness. But if we enter the narrow way, we must give up those things.

William Hendriksen had it right when he wrote, “Our Lord does not follow the method that is used by certain self-styled preachers, who speak as if ‘getting saved’ is one of the easiest things in the world. Jesus, on the contrary, pictures entrance into the kingdom as being, on the one hand, most desirable; yet, on the other, not at all easy. The entrance-gate is narrow. It must be ‘found.” (William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary: Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1985, 367).

Application
Jonathan Edwards was one of America’s most brilliant preacher. At age six he studied Latin. He graduated from Yale when he was fifteen. He was ordained at age nineteen, taught at Yale by twenty, and later became president of Princeton. Harvard granted him both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree on the same day.

But Edwards is best known for his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” He preached it on Sunday, July 8, 1741, while ministering in Enfield, Connecticut. A group of women had spent the previous night praying for revival. When Edwards rose to speak, he quietly announced that his sermon text was from Deuteronomy 32:35: “Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things to come hasten upon them.” It was a “hellfire and brimstone” sermon.

Edwards never gestured or raised his voice. He spoke softly and simply, warning the unconverted that they were dangling over hell like a spider over the fire. “O Sinner! Consider the fearful danger. The unconverted are now walking over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that it will not bear their weight, and these places are not seen.”

Edwards’s voice was suddenly lost amid cries and commotion from the crowd. He paused, appealing for calm. Then he concluded, “Let everyone that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over a great part of this congregation. Let everyone fly out of Sodom.”

Strong men held to pews and posts, feeling they were sliding into hell. Others shook uncontrollably and rolled on the floor. During the night, cries of men and women throughout the village were heard, begging God to save them. Five hundred were converted that evening, sparking a revival that swept thousands into the kingdom. The Great Awakening had come (Morgan, On This Day).

I leave you today with these words taken from Job 19:25–27 “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought.” (NLT)

Let’s pray together
Heavenly Father, I thank you, Lord, Your way for me is always the good and right way. Help me Lord to walk through the narrow gate, because it will lead me to life. In Jesus Name Amen.