"Like a weaned child"

"We do not lose heart"

The other day we were talking about how debilitating discouragement is and how the devil (the Old Lion walking about seeking whom he may devour) wants to de-rail all of us and our ministry for the Lord by whispering in our ear "you should be discouraged! It's doing no good. Just quit and be a "defeated person. Then you can wallow in your own self-pity and be useless to yourself, to God, and to everyone else."

I get a lot of e-mails from around the world from all those dear friends in those several places Minnie and I lived and ministered and God gave us so many permanent friends. And the note of discouragement often comes through in spite of trying to "put the best face on things."

So 2 Corinthians chapters 3-4 are so helpful as I've already pointed out in earlier blogs. But I have a habit as most of you know of reading the Psalms every morning after breakfast. (Continuing what Minnie and I did together for 54 years). And presently I am reading the "Songs of Ascents," those 15 Psalms (120-134) that were sung going to and during the three annual feasts of ancient Israel in Jerusalem at the Temple. (Passover (and unleavened bread ) and Pentecost (or Feast of Weeks) in the Spring and Feast of Tabernacles (or Ingathering or Harvest Festival or Feast of Booths) in the fall of the year. Such a joyful time of celebrating the Lord's bounty, goodness, and salvation.

Browse through those Psalms with me and gain some insights in how to deal with the ongoing struggle of discouragement as we journey through this fallen world with our own impediments of being fallen creatures ourselves, realizing that often we are our own biggest problem--when we don't have the right attitude or Biblical perspective. "Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! O Lord hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!" 130:1-2 ESV The Psalmist is in desperate shape and he tells us why "Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth" and reminds himself, "yet they have not prevailed against me." 129:2

So how does he find encouragement in the midst of his discouragement?

1) He reminds himself of the greatness of God and what He has done for us: "When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad." Psalm 126:1-3
2) He reminds himself of our dependence on the Lord: "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep." Psalm 127:1-3

3) He reminds himself of the blessings of the Lord: Psalm 128:1-4 ESV

Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
who walks in his ways!
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.
Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
who fears the Lord.

4) He reminds himself that his troubles are temporary and the Lord will bring him through them:
Those who sow in tears
shall reap with shouts of joy!
He who goes out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
bringing his sheaves with him. 126:5-6 ESV

5) He reminds himself that we are in an endurance race and "have need of patience that we might receive the promise" Heb. 10:36 and 130:5-6
"I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning."

6) He quiets and calms himself like a weaned child:

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore. Psalm 131 ESV

And what means the picture of our behaving "as a weaned child"?? Think of a nursing child and how warm and content he/she is on their mother's breasts. It's a beautiful picture of contentment and sharing between mother and baby, another of God's wise provisions in His providence. But there comes a day when the baby needs to become "a weaned child" and no longer a baby and often there is a struggle and protest on the part of the little child who doesn't understand what is happening. He doesn't really want to "grow up" and go to the next stage of life. But he needs to. The hour has come and it's time for him to grow up and mature.

"To the weaned child his mother is his comfort though she has denied him comfort. It is a blessed mark of growth out of spiritual infancy when we can forego the joys which once appeared to be essential, and can find our solace in Him who denies them to us . . . and every childish complaint is hushed. If the Lord removes our dearest delight we bow to His will without a murmuring thought. . . . This grows out of humility and lowliness, and it is the stem upon which peace blooms as a fair flower. . . . Blessed are those afflictions which subdue our affections, which wean us from self-sufficiency . . . which teach us to love God not merely when He comforts us, but even when He tries us." (Spurgeon, Treasury of David, III, 131)

We behave "like a weaned child" when we learn that "In returning and rest shall you be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength:" Isaiah 30:15 "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord." Psalm 27:14 Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, "In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John 16:33 --Pastor Burnside