Ministry can at times feel like one big battle against
discouragement. If I experience it as a pastor’s wife, I can’t imagine how
difficult the battle must be for my husband, who is in the spiritual trenches
fighting for souls every day.
Last February was an especially
discouraging time in our family and our ministry. My husband, Kyle, and I had
the opportunity to go away for a few days and almost immediately upon leaving
our city, we were able to get more of a bird’s eye view of what God was doing
in our church and our family, and many of them were exciting. I started
recounting to my husband all the good things that were happening that we’d been
blind to in the everyday grind, and I quickly saw his demeanor change. I
realized in that moment how often we talked about what was going wrong and how
little we focused on all that was going right, and I determined that if I did
nothing else, I wanted to help my husband pastor by encouraging him.
As Kyle and I had that
conversation, God reminded me of something He’d shown me in my study of the
book of Ezra. In Ezra, a Jewish remnant returned from exile in Persia to
rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. They were excited; some were weeping because
they’d seen the original temple and couldn’t believe they were seeing God’s
restoration after a long period of exile and discipline. It is a strong start,
a good beginning.
When I read that, I thought back to
when we first planted our church. We moved to an unfamiliar place with a huge
task ahead, but filled with a sense of excitement and wonder. We felt God’s
pleasure at our obedience and faith. Anticipation was high.
While starting something is
exciting and glorious, we cannot maintain that same level of excitement. Why?
The reality is this: gospel work is not romantic. It is day-in and day-out
faithfulness that is largely unseen and sometimes seems unrewarded or
unfruitful. And then what happened for the temple builders is what also happens
with us: gospel work is always met with resistance.
The one that the temple builders
faced that is most like what we face is discouragement-- the Jews’ enemies
actually hired professional discouragers to frustrate their efforts. As a
result, the restoration work stopped for 15 years. They were paralyzed by
discouragement for 15 years. Later in Ezra, we discover that they
also lost their joy and zeal for the Lord’s work.
That’s what discouragement does if
we listen to it: it causes us to lose our joy and zeal for the Lord’s work.
Though we continue working and going through the motions of ministry, our
hearts grow hard and building stops on the inside, where God can see.
This is the interesting part,
however, the part that God reminded me of as I sat talking with my husband: the
building of the temple eventually resumed. What got it going again? The prophets Haggai and Zechariah spoke
words of encouragement to Zerubbabel, the leader of the exiles.
We actually have their specific
words recorded in the Bible and it’s a lesson in itself to see what they spoke
over Zerubbabel.
Haggai drew his attention to the
Lord’s constant presence: “Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel, says the Lord...and
work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts. According to the word that I
covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you;
do not fear!” (Haggai 2:4-5)
Zechariah spoke to the Spirit’s
power and the daily effort that adds up to a great work: “Not by might nor by
power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Who are you, O great mountain?
Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! The hands of Zerubbabel have laid
the foundation of this temple; His hands shall also finish it….For who has
despised the day of small things? For these seven rejoice to see the plumb line
in the hand of Zerubbabel. They are the eyes of the Lord, which scan to and fro
throughout the whole earth.” (Zechariah 4:6-10)
We may not have these prophet types
standing alongside to encourage us as we serve the Lord, but we can certainly
be a Haggai and Zechariah for one another in our marriages. Because, certainly,
ministry tends to be a constant fight with discouragement, but we always have
something to celebrate regarding what God is doing, and we have the same
promises that the exiles did of God’s constant presence.
We can help our husbands pastor by encouraging
them the way the prophets did: One brick at a time. One person at a time. One
day at a time. One sermon at a time. One response of faithful obedience at a
time. Eventually it all will add up to the building of a fruitful life lived in
honor of the Lord.
This article originally appeared on Send Network, a great resource for church planting.
