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A long time ago now, Robbie Burns, the poet laureate of Scotland, was standing one day beside a field watching a plough cut through the soft brown Scots earth, and he saw the plough cut in half the nest of a tiny field mouse. He went home, and that night in his little cottage he wrote those lines which are remembered by so many. "The best laid

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schemes of mice and men gang off to glay, and leest not but grief and pain for promised joy." It's true, isn't it? We have all felt the cutting edge of the plough of discouragement and disappointment, and to be a part of the fellowship of the discouraged is to be a part of a noble group. Job, for example, the finest man alive at that time, knew heartbreaking,

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crushing discouragement, so that he finally cried out, "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle and are spent without hope." Moses, the greatest of the leaders of men, stood one day there in the wilderness with the stiff-necked Jewish people following behind, crying out to him to return to the Egypt they had originally wanted to leave, and broken down by their

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lack of appreciation and the frustration of trying to lead them, he finally cried out, "Oh, Lord, why have you afflicted me? I am not able to bear these people. They are too heavy for me." And I could go on and list other examples of those who were discouraged in Scripture, Ezekiel, Nehemiah, Daniel, Jeremiah, and our Lord Jesus himself. For on this Palm

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Sunday 2,000 years ago, he came and looked out over Jerusalem, that city which he loved above and beyond any other city on the face of the earth, and seeing it and knowing what was to happen to it and how it would reject him, he wept. And as he wept, he said, "Oh, Jerusalem, would that even today you knew the things that make for peace, but now they

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are hidden from your eyes." To be a part of the company of the discouraged is to be a part of a noble company indeed. Not too long ago, the Hayden Planetarium in New York City ran an advertisement in New York newspapers inviting those who would like to make the first journey to another planet to submit an application. Over 18,000 people applied.

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These applications were then given to a panel of psychologists who, on reviewing them, came to the conclusion that the vast majority of those who had applied wanted to start a new life on another planet because they were so discouraged by the life on this one. All of our lips have expressed the words of discouragement. All of us have felt the heartbreak of discouragement.

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Each and every one of us has known at one time or another the slap of setback. To be one of the discouraged is not to be one of an exclusive company, but it is to be part of a very costly company. So using the example of Jesus, I wish to think with you this morning on how to defeat discouragement. And the first thing I would suggest is this. Take a short

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look at that which is discouraging you. Notice I say a short look. Don't focus on it. The birds of discouragement fly about all of us, and we need to observe that they are there, but we don't let them build nests in our hair, if we have any hair. Perhaps you have heard of the sales manager who took a large white card and down in one corner he put a small

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black spot. And he said, "Now what do you see?" to his salesman. And they all said, "We see a small black spot." He said, "That's the difficulty with most people. They see that one spot. They don't see all of the rest of the opportunity that is in front of them." You see, when you tend to focus on the things that are negative and discouraging, then your

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whole life will become that way. The Bible teaches us that as a person thinks in the heart, so that person is going to be. So we want to notice the thing that discourages us, but not focus on it. Now the reason we need to notice it is this. First of all, we need to admit it. You see, there are some people who believe that to be discouraged

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is somehow sub-Christian. To be discouraged is less than you ought to be as a child of God. But the plain truth of the matter is that Jesus weeping there on the Mount of Olives testifies to the fact that even the only begotten Son of God knew discouragement. We ought not to hesitate to admit the fact that we know what it is to be broken by discouragement.

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The other reason we take a short look at the problem is to determine whether we are the cause of our discouragement or not. If we are the cause, then many times we can correct the matter rather quickly. And it's important that we discover that in most instances, we will not be the cause of our own discouragement. You know, there are a lot of people who not

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only bear the pain of discouragement, but then bear also the burden of blaming themselves for something that they in no way, shape or form cause to come to pass. Most of us are not responsible for the discouragements that hit us in the middle of our lives. And we ought not to blame ourselves for these things. You remember how those Galileans were killed

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and the disciples came to Jesus and they said, were these men killed because of their sin? And Jesus said, no. And then there was the tower that fell in Siloam and killed some of the workers. And they said, were these men killed because of their own sin, their own failure? Jesus said, no. They brought a blind man to Jesus one day and they said,

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is he blind because of his sin or because of the sin of his parents? Jesus said, neither. We take a short look at what discourages us to make sure that we're not to blame. If we are to blame, we can correct it. If we're not to blame, then let's not bear the burden of that blame. Now I have a little, a little joke that I like to tell about this, but nobody

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ever seems to get it. It's about a farmer who built a barn and it burned down and he built another barn and it blew down in a tornado. So he decided that he would build another barn and this barn would stand. So he built it all out of bricks, thousands and thousands and thousands of bricks, the walls, the ends, the floor, the roof, all of it bricks. And

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when he was finished with this monumental edifice, he had exactly one brick left over and he stood there looking at that one brick. And what do you think he did with that one brick? Got an idea in your mind? Well, he just threw it over his shoulder and walked away. See, you don't think it's funny either. I think it's funny that people sit around

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thinking about what he did with the one brick. What difference does one brick make? You take a short look and then you throw it away. There on the Mount of Olives, Jesus wept over Jerusalem, but he didn't sit there all day crying about it. It was a short look and then he moved on. That brings us to our second step in how to defeat discouragement, which is this. Take

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a narrow look at yourself. Now, by a narrow look at yourself, I mean take a look at the capacities and the gifts and the good things that God has given you. Edison said that the body exists to carry the brain around. So use your brain, be prejudiced in your own behalf, tally up the assets which God has given you. I had a man come to see me in Southern

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California once who said he was very discouraged and he certainly did look discouraged. And I said to him, "Is there some problem between you and your wife?" "Oh no," he said, "I have a wonderful wife. I think she's the grandest woman who ever lived and she's very well, thank you." I said, "Your children, they've disappointed you in some way. They're in jail."

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"No, no, no," he said, "no, not at all. They're both living far away now, but they call us every week and we get to see them and the grandchildren at least twice a year." "When did you lose your job?" I said. "I haven't lost my job. In fact, I'm doing very well at it. I just had a promotion." "You've lost all your money. You're addicted to gambling

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or bad investments on the stock market." "Not so," he said, "I wish I had more money than I have, but the fact of the matter is I've got enough." "When did you lose your faith?" I said. He said, "I haven't lost my faith. If I'd lost my faith, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you." "This incurable illness of yours, how long do you have?" He said,

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"I'm as healthy as a horse." And he began to get the point. "You've lost confidence in your country. You think America is all of yesterday and nothing for today or tomorrow." "No," he said, "I love my country and I believe in it." And suddenly it came to him that no matter what it was that was discouraging him, he needed to see it in the context of all

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of the things which were wonderfully and truly and absolutely his. Just because you miss one train doesn't mean you have to cancel your whole vacation. David committed a military blunder on one occasion. He left some cities unprotected. And the Philistines came in and killed many people, including relatives of the soldiers

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of David. And these people were very upset. You read about it in 1 Samuel chapter 30. And then, having noted this discouraging circumstance, the scriptures record that David went apart and encouraged himself in the Lord his God. That is, he reminded himself of all of the good things which had been given to him by God.

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There's a man sitting on his porch down in Kentucky, just retired. And as he was sitting there, they brought his Social Security check to the mailbox. And he went down and he got it and he thought to himself, "Is this all my life is going to be from this time on? Just sitting here waiting for my Social Security check to arrive." It wasn't a very happy thought.

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So he decided he'd sit down and try to add up all the things he could do. He took a legal pad and he began to write down all of the gifts, all of the talents, everything that he had going for them. He listed them all. He had almost four pages, listed even small things, like, for example, the fact that he was the only one in the world who knew his

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mother's recipe for fried chicken. It used 11 different herbs and spices. You know the rest of the story. He went down, asked if he could cook the chicken in a nearby restaurant. Very soon, the chicken became the most popular item on the menu. He opened his own restaurant. Then after opening that restaurant, he went on and opened a string

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of restaurants. And eventually, he sold the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise to a national organization for many millions of dollars. He became their public representative and continued in that role until his death. All of this happened to Harlan Sanders after he had known this discouragement. And why? Because he took the time to see the things that he

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still had going for him. Jesus, there on the Mount of Olives, didn't just sit there weeping. Instead, he remembered the things that were his. There was a temple that only he could cleanse. There were teachings that only he could give. There was a Last Supper that only he could share. There was a cross that only he could climb. And he set himself to the

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doing of those things. Now, the third thing you do to defeat discouragement is to take a long look at God, a short look at the problem, a narrow look at yourself, and then a long look at God. I love the music of Mahalia Jackson. She was that great gospel singer, grew up on the docks of New Orleans, first sang in the church, went on to make many records,

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one of them sold more than 8 million copies. She's gone to be with the Lord, she prays so beautifully. And I remember on one occasion hearing her speak and she said, "There's no limit to what God can do with someone who has a made-up mind." And my friends, the things we need to make up our minds about primarily are these, that we are loved of God. Take

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a long look at the love of God, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are loved of God. I spent a decade on a college campus before coming here, and I remember one day we were introduced to the new dean of men. And this man proceeded to tell us what he was going to do to straighten things up on campus. And he announced that the first thing

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he was going to do was to identify all of the enemies of the college among the student body. And I knew right there, this man would fail, and fail utterly. You don't begin by identifying your enemies, you begin by identifying your friends. Two years later he was gone. The truth is that we need to focus in all of our lives on the constant recollection

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that we are loved of God. Listen to the testimony of Scripture. He has made us but a little lower than the angels. Or what about that word of Paul in Philippians, "The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guide your hearts and your minds into Christ Jesus." Or that word of Jeremiah, he speaks for God and he says, "Call upon me and I will

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do great and wondrous things which you know not of." And what about that peon of the Apostle Paul's, "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our

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Lord." Remember a few summers ago being in Germany, we were riding along one of those big Fiat buses. They had huge windshields, great big windshield wipers that high. And it started to rain, really came down. And the bus driver didn't slow at all. Here we are whipping along these narrow little German roads, such a rain that the windshield wipers

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couldn't keep up with it and he doesn't de-accelerate at all. I was nervous about it. The man next to me was really nervous about it. He was so nervous he said, "I'm going to go up and straighten that guy out." So he got up and lurched his way to the front of the bus. I was watching from the rear. And he got up there to the front and he looked down at the

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driver and he didn't say anything. Then he turned around and lurched his way all the way to the back again. I said, "Well, why didn't you tell him anything when you got up there?" He said, "Well, when I got up there, I looked at him and he was whistling and smiling. And I figured if he was that happy about it, there was no reason for me to be upset about

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it." Well, the fact of the matter is that in the driving of our lives, God our Father is at the wheel. And for those who are his children, he has whistles and smiles. That's what comforted Jesus there and that week. Look at the things that were said of him or that he said. And Jesus, knowing whither he came and whither he was going, girded himself

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with a tile. "For I and the Father are one. He that has seen me has seen the Father. And even from the agony of the cross, Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit." Focused always, you see, a long look at the love of God. And the fourth thing you need to defeat discouragement is a wide look at the possibilities. A woman

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riding on a train. She had a little dog. She loved it. She had rented a seat for the dog right next to her. Man sitting in front, smoking a cigar, smoke drifting right back at the dog. The dog's coughing. She taps him on the shoulder. She said, "Sir, I wonder if you'd mind extinguishing your cigar. It's bothering my dog." He said, "Madam, there are no smoking

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cars on this train. This is not one of them. This is a smoking car and therefore I shall continue to smoke my cigar." They go a few more miles and now the little dog's on his side. She taps the guy on the shoulder again. "Sir," she said, "my little dog can't even sit up now and notice the way he's panting. Won't you please, please put out your cigar?"

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He said, "Madam, you paid for that seat. I paid for this seat. You do what you want to in your seat. I'll do what I want to in mine. I will not put out my cigar." Now the dog was a white dog, but by this time was beginning to turn blue. She's very upset, so she reaches over and she pulls down the window. She reaches around and grabs the man's cigar and throws

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it right out the window. He gets up and comes back and picks up the dog and throws it right out the window. Well, she's very upset. She begins to scream and yell. The train is starting to come into a station, slowing down. She's running along behind this man, beating on his back because he's going to get off the train here. The conductor is coming from the

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other end. And just as they get to the bottom of the steps, getting off the railroad car, running up beside the train is the little dog. And what do you think he had in his mouth? He had that brick that the farmer threw over his shoulder. Now you see, you didn't laugh at that before. And it was because you hadn't heard the end of it. And that's the thing

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to remember in dealing with discouragement. You can't really assess it until you get to the end of it. I read of a man in Chicago who was being chased by his wife. He ran down an alley. She was right behind him. There was a seven-foot wall and he jumped over it. Now that's what you call the stimulation of unrecognized resources. He didn't know he

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could jump over a seven-foot wall. He discovered something new and exciting that day. Or here's a young fellow who sold life insurance. And he was working on a particularly difficult client. And he finally succeeded in selling the client a policy, and a big policy, for this was in the 1890s. And it was a $50,000 policy. And he reached in his pocket and he

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gave his fountain pen to the man to sign the contract. And when the man started to sign the contract, no ink. And he tried several times and he couldn't get it to work. Finally, he handed the pen back and the contract and he said, "I better think about this a little longer." Lost the sale. The young man went home very much discouraged, but he promised

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himself that he would never lose another sale because of a fountain pen that didn't work. So he sat down and invented his own fountain pen. His name was Lewis Waterman. And the Waterman fountain pen was the most popular pen in America for the next 40 years. It came out of a time of discouragement. The Franciscan monks out in California, they had a bad year

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one year and there was a drought and all of the muscat grapes that they used to use to make muscatel wine dried up there on the vine. They didn't know what to do with them. So they finally scooped them up and they took them down into the villages and they sold them for what they called Peruvian delicacies. That was the beginning of the Sun Made Raisin

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Company. You see, out of hardship, out of discouragement, out of defeat, can come very positive gain. Our Lord Jesus was discouraged there on the Mount of Olives and out of discouragement he brought Easter. Well, I suppose that some of you in thinking about discouragement are also thinking to

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yourselves that I've dealt with it in a rather simplistic way, making jokes about the subject. But I know what it is to be discouraged. I have been discouraged all of my life in my battles with my weight. I know the discouragement of having coronary artery disease and no way to get rid of it. I know the discouragement of standing by the caskets of those whom I

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have loved and lost a while. I know the discouragement of being betrayed by a friend and colleague. I know the discouragement of pouring myself out with everything I had in the service of a congregation of God's people and having some of those people turn against me. As a bachelor, I know the discouragement of loneliness. But I also know this, that if you take a short

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look at the problem, acknowledging that it's there and not blaming yourself, if you take a narrow look at yourself, be prejudiced on your own behalf, if you take a long look at God reminding yourself of his love, and if you take a wide look at all the possibilities, all the dividends that can be brought out of discouragement, then you can defeat it

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and be victor over it. May God grant you that victory, and that victory right early. Let us pray. [Pause] [End]