THE DISCOURAGING TONGUE

The Discouraging Tongue

When they were discouraged, I smiled at them.

My look of approval was precious to them.

Job 29:24




Have you ever dampened someone’s hope, con-

fidence, or enthusiasm by raising objections to his

proposed action? An untold number of individuals

have missed their destiny because of someone’s dis-

couraging words. Teachers have dashed the dreams

of students who had mediocre grades or other short-

comings. Would-be inventors abandoned their

pursuit of innovative ideas once family members and

society ridiculed them. I do not believe that people

who have dissuaded others in such a manner deliberately intended to discourage them, but rather spoke out of their own lack of faith in God’s ability to “do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20).




Discouragement has wreaked havoc for ages.

Consider the Israelites and their quest for the

Promised Land. Right at the brink of reaching their

destination, Moses sent Joshua and Caleb along with ten other leaders on a 40-day exploration of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey. There they saw everything in extreme abundance. The size of the fruit surpassed anything you would ever see at the county fair. Why, it took two men to carry a cluster of grapes! They also noted something else unusual—giant-sized men. When they reported back to Moses and the multitude, Joshua and Caleb encouraged the Israelites to proceed to conquer the land. Their cohorts, however, had a different perspective.




The other men who had explored the land

with him answered, “We can’t go up against

them! They are stronger than we are!” So

they spread discouraging reports about the

land among the Israelites: “The land we

explored will swallow up any who go to live

there. All the people we saw were huge. We

even saw giants there, the descendants of

Anak. We felt like grasshoppers next to them,

and that’s what we looked like to them!”

(Numbers 13:31-33)




Despite all of the miracles that they had witnessed

God perform on their behalf, the multitude believed

the discouraging report. They talked of returning to

Egypt and even wanted to stone Joshua and Caleb

for their optimism. God’s punishment for their

unbelief was swift and severe.




Then the ten scouts who had incited the

rebellion against the LORD by spreading dis-

couraging reports about the land were struck

dead with a plague before the LORD. Of the

twelve who had explored the land, only

Joshua and Caleb remained alive (Numbers 14:36-38).




Not only did the Lord kill the discouragers, He

forced the entire multitude to turn back and to

wander in the wilderness for 40 years. Further, God

forbade all of those—except Caleb and Joshua—who were more than 20 years of age at that time to enter the Promised Land; they all died in the wilderness. The discouraging words of ten men caused thousands of men and women to miss their inheritance. If only the ten had chosen to be encouragers instead!




What about you? When you see others faced with

negative circumstances, do you lose hope in their

ability to succeed? Further, can you listen to someone’s dreams and plans without making disheartening remarks? This is not to say that you should not question the viability of an idea that seems to have no merit, nor fail to offer objective input to warn against potential failure. However, a well-phrased question can be much more effective than a straight out “That’s impossible!” For example, asking a young entrepreneur, “How did you determine the market for your product?” sounds better than, “Gee, I don’t think many people would be interested in that!”




Even if you cannot envision the dreams of

another, at least agree to stand in faith with him for

God’s perfect will to be done regarding the proposed

endeavor. Henry Ford once said that the ability to

encourage others is one of life’s biggest assets.




Think of the people who have encouraged you during your lifetime and what a positive effect their words had on you. In a world plagued with negativity, everyone needs a little encouragement from time to time.




Make a conscious effort to always speak sincere

words of affirmation, support, and inspiration to

those within your circle of concern. If, perchance, you are confronted by a discourager, do not let him derail your destiny. Very graciously let him know your eyes are fixed on God, who specializes in doing the impossible. Better yet, be highly selective of those with whom you share your dreams. Their lack of initiative and faith, and even their envy, may very well cause you to abort your plans.




Today’s Affirmation:

Worry weighs a person down; but my

encouraging words will cheer him up.