Do Not Let Discouragements Delay You

I am sure many of us are not new to projects. In school, we have projects to do and score for, at home, we have our little improvement projects to make the house better, and in general, we have this ongoing big and longstanding project called Life. How many of these projects have passed, failed or barely scraped through? The thing is, at times, when our best efforts have failed, that is the moment we recognise that it is after all, God, that is our project manager. Too often, we like to take on the larger portions of judging things, making decisions and letting God take the smaller roles that are less significant. Now here today, we will take a look at a great example in the Bible, through our case study of Zerubabbel. When God gives us “projects” in life, be it to nurture our kids, provide for our family, serve in church, be a student, it is not because He needs our help, but because we need Him, to reveal, to sanctify, to make breakthroughs from this old self of ours. 

Starting right: With God as focal point.

Now in the book of Ezra, God’s people had been in exile for many years. The people start to settle in to their life in Babylon and did not want to leave. However, some of them remembered Judah and under Zerubbabel’s leading, they went back to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple. Zerubbabel led the first and largest group back to the Promised Land. This was a big and glorious project for him and he started off the works with the right focal point, that is on God. Instead of going straight into the task of rebuilding, he made the people start first, by rebuilding the altar, worshipping God together and celebrating with a feast. In Ezra 3:11 it says, “With prayer and thanksgiving, they sang to the Lord: ‘He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.’” They began their works by first building their spiritual foundation, going back to God. This is all great, and the temple foundation was quickly done up. But some problems came by, as with all “projects” in life. We may be starting off well, prepared well, seeing progress and then “bam!”, a hiccup comes along to break the smooth rhythm.
So here in Ezra 3:12, it says, “But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy.” And in Ezra 4:4-5, it says, “Then the peoples (enemies) around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.”
So for Zerubbabel’s case, the problem came in the form of:
1. People comparing and commenting that the old temple was so much bigger and more glorious than what they rebuilt. 

2. Some enemies infiltrated the work force and caused the building to cease with political pressure.

A dependable source of encouragement. 

Fear and lament start to kick in, the rebuilding process came to a pause and people went back to their places. This standstill went on for a good 16 years. Now, can you imagine the disappointment or discouragement that Zerubbabel might have experienced as opposed to the stark difference of the first few months of excitement and accomplishment he had when he first led the people back? Have you felt discouraged in your own little projects of life before? I have had mine especially in areas of my strengths and forte, but I experience some kind of failure. Or when things are within my expectations and control, then it was steered off track. Just like Zerubbabel, that bitter, hopeless feeling may be deep. But here, God tells us a very important point. Our Lord is not looking at just having an initial motivation, but a continued encouragement to keep the “project” going. And we need to find a dependable source of this so-called encouragement. Zerubbabel may have known God, loved and worshipped God, but his initial drive could have been misplaced on himself or outcomes. It could have been on his own leadership qualities, his credentials as a descendant of David or satisfaction in seeing the foundation of the temple build up so quickly. So as quickly as his joy came, it quickly went away with the issues that popped up. 

God is faithful to preserve to the end.
But God was faithful in preserving and uplifting Zerubbabel as He sent the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to be His God-loving accountability partners. In Ezra 5:1-2, it says, “Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.” Now this shows us here that through our discouragements, men may try to find encouragements in all places. Like with some kind of self-help skills, internet solutions, pleasing words of people and so on. But the true good quality of encouragement can only come from what is God-centered and spiritually sound. In the case of Zerubbabel, it was in his tribe of prophets who reminded him of how God sees things. But how about us today? Where do we find such spiritually high quality encouragements? Or how has God already placed such existing spiritual encouragements around you that you may have neglected? In general ways, we can find it through any channel that gives us the sound, complete and living Word of God. Be it bible reading, church sermon, a devotional podcast, a brethren to consult in and such. Prophet Haggai and Zechariah were cheering Zerubbabel on in faith and joining forces with him, moving into actions of confronting the people’s fear and reluctance of finishing the temple project. So at the very end, Zerubbabel was able to see through and carry out the project. Alike to Zerubbabel, we are very much the vessels that God will use to accomplish His works in our lives. When we link up all our source of encouragement, directives and purpose with our main Project Manager, God, then can we see through the projects of our lives, through the highs and lows. As said in Zechariah 4:6, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” It is only through God’s spirit that anything of lasting value is accomplished. So yes, we may indeed be weak like the returned exiles, we may get discouraged along the way like Zerubbabel. But at the end of it all, we have God on our side. His spirit goes along with us, so let us work in the power of His spirit.

Zeruabbabel, like many of us, knew how to plan and start well in many of life’s projects, but we can often find it very hard to keep it going. Zerubbabel let his discouragements get the better of him for awhile, but with the good quality of encouragement he received from his spiritual companions, he saw things through the eyes of God again and worked through with the power of God’s spirit. When he began to let God take control, the work was finished in a much shorter length of time than the process of wait. God was, is and will always be in control. Let us not allow our momentary situations or lack of quality, God-centered encouragements delay us from doing the greater things God has called us to do. God is faithful to preserve us to the end. God bless.