state. At that point, immediately after the victorious election, that he went into deep depression. Tremendous victory and then, all of a sudden, great discouragement! In a sense, here was the same situ ation which faced Jonah. In re sponse to the prophet's complete collapse in dispondency, God came and said, "I have every right to destroy the city of Nineveh and its people. But if it pleases me to save them, Jonah, why should you be so upset?" Discouragement can frequently come from a lack of a vital, grow ing relationship to the Lord. As Dr. Richard Chase has pointed out on these programs, the second fruit of the Spirit, listed in Galatians 5:22, is "joy." That is the exact counter part to discouragement. Joy can also be described as contentment, satisfaction, fulfillment. Discour agement robs us of that union of joy with the Lord which He intends for us to have. There's no question but that the pressures of modern society have undoubtedly triggered an enor mous increase in this malady. Dis pondency is there and very real for many people. And if we allow depression and discouragement to continue we will find that our judgments will be cloudy. Separa tions and even divorce may come in a marriage if we allow ourselves to be swept along by the angry tide of discouragement. When people have been depressed they have sold homes. They have lost or they have quit their jobs, some times in anger or panic. They have unfortunately turned away loved ones. Later, when the depression has left, everything is in complete shambles.
Jonah, still believing Nineveh to be a threat to Israel, that he decided to take up his position on the east ern side of the city, sitting up atop a hill, where he could watch to see if the Lord might not still possibly change His mind and ultimately destroy the city. Certainly Israel's Defender should do something! So he built himself a kind of lean-to to set up vigil. God miraculously caused a gourd to grow up, instan taneously covering over the rustic structure to provide shadow and shade for Jonah. The next morning when the dis mayed prophet arose, he discov ered that a little worm had gnawed off the vine at its base and it was now dead. To make matters worse, the Lord caused a strong east wind to blow it away. Poor old Jonah sat there looking out to the sea, finally realizing that God was not going to do anything but to really keep His Word and deliver the city of Nineveh. In desperation, this man, who had been so greatly used, in complete despondency commisser- ated, "It is better for me to die than to live!" Is that not a strange thing? Here he had had tremendous suc cess in preaching. What minister would not be overcome if 50 to a hundred people decided for Christ, much less several million. Then all of a sudden, because God honored his preaching by honor ing His Word, Jonah got discour aged. I was reading not too long ago something that I am sure you have known before. It concerns the fact that when Senator Thomas Eagle- ton first ran for political office he was about the age of 35. A young man in Missouri, he got the posi tion of Attorney General for the
Page 42
Made with FlippingBook HTML5