Have you ever been discouraged? Sure you have! Can you imagine spending all that time in captivity, in exile, and being told to stop. Ezra must have been pretty discouraged. He knew in his heart that God has called him to continue to rebuild the temple, but was stopped from doing so. I believe we can find a biblical way to rebound from discouragement.
Run to the Word v.1
God was using His prophets to instruct His people! He still does that today. What was Zechariah telling them? It’s recorded in Zechariah 1:2-3 “The Lord was very angry with your fathers. Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.” How could they repent and return? By rebuilding the temple! How can we repent and return, by rebuilding our relationship with Jesus Christ!
The Word of God not only gives us instruction, it gives us stability. You cannot weather the storms of life without a firm foundation!
Psalm 1:1-4 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so,but are like chaff that the wind drives away.”
The deeper a person is rooted in the Word, the better they will be able to withstand the storms of this world!
The Word encourages, it exposes sin, it examines one’s heart, it energizes one’s soul. Why do you think Satan hates it so much.
Remain Engaged in God’s Work vv.2-5
The people of God had heard from the Lord to be steadfast in His work, not to give up.
1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
Restore The Proper Place of Worship 6:7-10
King Darius looked back into when Cyrus made a decree and reestablished it for the people of God. We have to reestablish worship when we become discouraged. The most important thing you can do when you are down is to cry out to and worship Christ.
Refrain From Allowing the Flesh to do Wrong 6:11-12; 22
God again had changed the heart of yet another King. He does that. The king made a decree that was seriously deadly to anyone who opposed the rebuilding of the temple. Let’s do warfare on our knees!
Here is another example of God telling His people that he has got this thing taken care of! Listen to Exodus 14:14 “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
Rejoice In God’s Ways 6:15-16
The temple was completed on March 12, 515 B.C., a little over 70 years after its destruction.
The devil had a garage sale. He marked all his tools with their appropriate price: hatred, envy, lust, deceit, lying, and pride. Laid apart from all of these was a rather harmless looking but well-worn tool marked much higher than the rest. A buyer pointed to it and asked, “What is that tool?” The devil replied, “That is discouragement.” “Why is it priced so high?” the man asked. “Because it is more useful to me than the others. I can pry open a man’s heart with that when I can’t get near to him with the other tools. Once inside, I can make him do whatever I choose. It’s badly worn because I use it on almost everyone. But few know that it belongs to me.” The devil’s price was so high that the tool of discouragement was never sold. He still uses it on God’s people. By God’s grace, through His Word, we can overcome discouragement.