You may never know the effect of what a little encouragement can do for someone else. A smile, a note, or just a word can provide all the encouragement a person needs to fulfill his potential. Do you remember a time in your life when something seemingly little propelled you to great heights? For me, English class in high school seemed difficult and held little of my interest. However, one day my English teacher handed back to the class a test we had taken a week earlier. On one of the discussion questions, the teacher put the word, "wow" beside my answer. You know what? That one word encouraged me to do even better on the next test! Her encouragement awakened me to the joys of the class that I had previously thought were nonexistent. I fondly remember this teacher because of her faith in me.
Our heavenly Father is an encourager. Just read chapter one in Joshua to see what he said to Moses' successor. Three times in four verses, he tells Joshua to "be strong and of good courage." Joshua could do this because the Lord promised to be with him wherever he went. God's word encourages us today (cf. Romans 15:4), as we read about Joshua and others God encouraged. He does not wish that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). We see this when God tried to encourage an angry Cain to overcome the temptation to sin (Genesis 4:6-7). As faithful Christians, the encouragement we have in Christ (Philippians 2:1) strengthens us each day as we live with the assurance of eternal life (Romans 8:1; 1 John 5:13). The encouragement we receive from God should motivate us to encourage others, as it did a man named Joses. The apostles affectionately gave him the nickname, Barnabas, which means “the son of encouragement” (cf. Acts 4:36, 11:22-26).
But we can also see the damage that discouragement can do. Twelve men were sent by Moses to spy out the land of which God was giving to His people, but ten of the twelve brought back a discouraging report. The results were fatal. Moses said, "For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, so that they did not go into the land which the LORD had given them. So the LORD’s anger was aroused on that day, and He swore an oath, saying, ‘Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and above, shall see the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they have not wholly followed Me, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the LORD.’ So the LORD’s anger was aroused against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the LORD was gone" (Numbers 32:9-13, NKJV).
I believe one of the greatest sins of omission is the failure to encourage others. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin (James 4:17). That is sobering. But all of us can learn to be great encouragers. We simply must be a student of the greatest Encourager. The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to hear as the learned. The Lord GOD has opened My ear; and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away (Isaiah 50:4-5). You may soon be in a position to provide encouragement to someone, even someone who may be ready to obey the gospel. A smile, hug, or encouraging word may be all he needs to respond. Encouragement is powerful, but so is discouragement. Be an encourager just like your heavenly Father.
Brotherly, Jamie
