When Trouble Comes

In chapter 4 of his memoir Nehemiah finds himself surrounded by the enemy.  He is under attack from all sides.  At that point, he and those who are helping him experience four losses: 1) a loss of strength; 2) a loss of vision; 3) a loss of confidence; 4) a loss of security.  These are the four leading causes of discouragement; so it should not be a surprise to discover that discouragement attacks those who are helping Nehemiah build the wall in Jerusalem.  After all, they experience all four of the leading causes of discouragement.

Have your ever felt that way?  You are so tired that you cannot think straight. It is the kind of emotional and spiritual exhaustion that cannot be prayed away or vacationed away. You are suffering from major burnout and only divine intervention will help.  (A loss of strength.) When that happens it is easy to "take your eyes off the ball."  You lose sight of the big picture and the details frustrate you to no end. Bogged down with the minutia of life you quickly lose speed because the finish line is so fuzzy. (A loss of vision.)  And then there are the voices.  A million subtle messages that bombard you and tell you  that everything is wrong with your life.  Listen to closely to the wrong voices and you find yourself in emotional and psychological quicksand.  (A loss of confidence).  Finally, you no longer feel safe.  Any major change in your external circumstances will send you into a downward spiral of self-pity and discourage-ment. (A loss of security.) You have expereinced the four leading causes of discoragement: A loss of strength, vision, confidence, and security.  Now What?

There is a way back.  Nehemiah shows us that it is possible to break through the four leading causes of discouragement.  The key is to act fast and confront the problem as soon as it hits.  Nehemiah does just that.
How does he do it?  Four things he does consistently over time:

1. He talks to God about it (4:4,9) -- The power of prayer is not what it does for you, but rather what it does in you.

2. He talked to his supporters about it (4:14, 19-20) -- Don't do it alone.

3. He developed a plan (4:13-14; 16-18) -- Developing a plan takes the emotion out of it and keeps the main thing the main thing.

4. He stayed the course (4:6, 21) -- Don't underestimate the power of tenacity.  He just kept showing up for work and before long the wall was built.  Just show up.

In his book, The Dip, Seth Godin attempts to describe the slumps in life that keep us from success. Godin describes the typical experience after a new project or career or business venture is started and the "newness" wears off.  There is a period of let down after the initial excitement of startup.  That let down can cause discouragement and a quick slide into a deep slump. According to Godin, there are times when the slump is a cul-de-sac (no way out).  Other times the slump is just a dip in the road.  The problem is two-fold:  those who hang on too long and never realize that they are in a cul-de-sac; those who quit to quickly and never realize that they were simply experiencing a dip in the road. 

Bottom Line:  If you have the strenght to push through the slumps of life (discourage-ment) you will almost always find a measure of success on the other side.  Nehemiah certainly did.  And he gave us the tools we need to get through the dips in the road.  He gave us all we need to confront the problems when they come.
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