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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for July 23, 2009
“Be Strong and Work”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
Professional discouragers.
That’s who you call in when regular discouragers aren’t getting the job done.
Sure, there are plenty of volunteer discouragers, but you know volunteers. It’s hard to get them to show up.
Plus they don’t have the best skills. It’s more like a hobby.
So when it’s critical that you discourage someone, you have to call in the pros.
That’s a rare need, though, because most people, given enough time, will do it to themselves.
Just watch. People start things, work on them for a while, and then any old thing will discourage them – and they’ll just quit.
Well the Israelites weren’t like that when they started rebuilding the temple in 536 B.C. They finished the foundation and threw a big party. In fact, the people made so much noise that Ezra 3:13 says “…the sound was heard far away.”
But some didn’t like it. Some of the neighbors decided to foil the plans, but how? They decided to use the tool of discouragement.
Ezra 4:4 says “the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah…”
Then verse five says, “They hired counselors to work against them and frustrate their plans…”
And it worked. The professional discouragers were quite skilled. They wove their magic, and the last verse in chapter four says, “Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill…”
Have you ever done that? Have you started on something, then got discouraged?
Discouragement comes when we hit a rough patch. We start out with a burst of excitement, but then, you know, storms pop up, the going gets rough, and we get discouraged.
And one thing that really throws us for a loop is when we are doing something we think God wants us to do. It’s a good thing. It’s a God thing. You’d think God would bless it and make things go smoothly.
Well if there was ever anything God really wanted done, He wanted that temple rebuilt in Jerusalem. When they finished the foundation, that was definitely God’s will.
But then the going got rough, and they got discouraged.
And I think they took that as a sign. Listen to what they said, according to Haggai 1:2, “The time has not yet come for the Lord’s house to be built.”
Have you ever done that? You started on something, you thought it was God’s will, but then it got hard and you took that as a sign, “Well, I guess this just isn’t the time.”
I knew a man who felt called to start a Christian radio station. He enlisted another man to help him, and that man ran into a few roadblocks. He got discouraged and took it as a sign – maybe this wasn’t God’s will after all. Then the first man stepped in and said, “What? We’re going to let a couple roadblocks stop us? I don’t think so. I believe God called me to do this and we are going to do it. Period.”
So Ezra chapter four ends with everyone discouraged and the temple work halted.
And then comes chapter five, and I love the first four words, “Now Haggai the prophet…”
Good old Haggai. Haggai the prophet.
Haggai did not go with the flow. Remember, the flow was saying to just wait, now is not the time to rebuild the temple. That’s what all the neighbors said. That’s what everyone in Jerusalem said.
But Haggai had a word from the Lord, and he stood against the current.
And, long story short, he told the people to get back to work.
This was a message from the Lord, and the Lord basically told the people, “Be strong and work, for I am with you.”
And I love that phrase, “Be strong and work.”
That is great advice when you get discouraged. When you feel like quitting, when you are beginning to think, “Maybe this wasn’t God’s will after all,” – well wait a minute. Was it God’s will to start with? What changed? Did it just get a little hard? Did God not pave the way like you thought He would?
Well God doesn’t always pave the way. Sometimes He just says, “Be strong and work.”
That was His advice to the people of Jerusalem, and they took it. This time they looked the professional discouragers right in the eye and kept going. They had resolve. They were committed and they would not let discouragement stop them again.
And this time they finished the temple.
What a great example for all of us.
So is there some good thing, some God-called effort you are working on – but you are getting discouraged?
Well don’t quit just because you hit a rough spot. Instead, see if this isn’t God’s word for you today.
Be strong and work.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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