What Does It Mean to be Dismayed?
God Morning and God bless you, what does it mean to be Dismayed?
Merriam -Webster Dictionary – definition says of the word Dismayed to cause (someone) to feel very worried, disappointed, or upset.
Here is a Full Definition of Dismayed
transitive verb
1
: to cause to lose courage or resolution (as because of alarm or fear) <must not let ourselves be dismayed by the task before us>
2
Another Definition puts it like this about the Word Dismayed
- to deprive of courage, resolution, and initiative through the pressure of sudden fear or anxiety or great perplexity <dismayedat the size of his adversary>
- sudden loss of courage or resolution from alarm or fear.
Strong’s Concordance rendered this word Dismayed as to be shattered.
Strongs Number H2865חָתַת châthath
khaw-thath’
A primitive root; properly to prostrate; hence to break down, either (literally) by violence, or (figuratively) by confusion and fear: – abolish, affright, be (make) afraid, amaze, beat down, discourage, (cause to) dismay, go down, scare, terrify.
To be dismayed is to be discouraged, a lot of times that discouragement comes through fear, and confusion as we are faced with. Life at times throws us a curved ball, one minute everything is going fine the next minute everything is going wrong, and we wonder what has hit us. This could happen to anyone and will at one time or other happen in an individual’s life.
So what do we do when we are faced with a mountain in our way, or a great challenged, when the storms of life have risen up against us is raging, when confusion has set about us? The first thing any believer should do is go to God, and seek His help and direction, and decide not to quit or give in.
Often when believers are faced with a situation where they are dismayed they decide to be weak rather than strong and trust God to see them through to deliverance. Believe me I have been through a few times in my life when things have been turned upside down, and I become afraid and confused as what went wrong and what to do to get things right again.
But as I trusted God, He saw me through so I came out strong and wiser and more matured.
There are many records in the Bible where believers found themselves where they were dismayed or could have become dismayed.
We will look at a few examples of the believers from the Bible times that went through these challenges and see how they overcame.
There is a wonderful record In the second book of Chronicles that we can learn from when a great problem arose for King Jehoshaphat when the armies of the Moabites and Ammonites can wage war against Jehoshaphat. Let take the story up from verse one.
2 Chronicles 20:1-29King James Version (KJV)
v1 It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.
2 Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi.
3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
Jehoshaphat got the bad news that these armies were coming against him, and a great army at that, the first thing Jehoshaphat done was set himself to seek God. This is lesson number that when we are faced with a problem or bad news instead of running in fear or away from the problem we take our problem and set our heart to seek God, then next great lesson here was Jehoshaphat, got the people involved to go to God.
4 And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.
When you faced with something that is coming against and when all seem lost or you fighting different problems go to God seek His heart and direction and then get other strong believers to pray along with you, God will show who you should ask to help you and pray with you.
Verse 5 – 13 Jehoshaphat prayers to God. In his prayer Jehoshaphat asks God questions, and reminds God of the great things God had done in the past, and he also reminds God of the sanctuary that was built in His name and convent with Abraham and he reminded of the sayings of the believers that built about when evil comes upon then that when they stood be the sanctuary and in God presence and cry unto God in their affliction then God would hear them and help them lets read those verse 5 – 13
5 And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court,
6 And said, O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?
7 Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?
8 And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying,
9 If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.
10 And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not;
11 Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit.
12 O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.
13 And all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
from this prayer God answers Jehoshaphat, and the people from Jahaziel whom God worked in, to speak forth His answer.
14 Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the Lordin the midst of the congregation;
15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
God through the prophet encourage the people and Jehoshaphat to not be afraid nor dismayed God was telling them not to break down or to be scare or confused at what was going on because of the great multitude of the armies coming against them. and the reason they should not be afraid, when the circumstances was shouting to be afraid is because the battle was not theirs to fight but Gods.
This record is so wonderful, because we may not be faced with a great army, but whatever you are faced with we need to remember the battle is not our but God’s when we go to Him and seek him for what He would have us to do and follow His direction to us, that direction could come right to your heart, or through another believer speaking the direction and answer in to your life by the spirit of living God.
In verse 16 we see Gods direction that was give to Jehoshaphat and the people.
16 To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.
17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.
We need to follow what God shows us to do, and we need to be still and know that God is God and nothing is too hard for Him we set our focus on Him follow His direction to us and then God goes to work on our behalf.
God continues to encourage the people not to be afraid to be discourage through fear God builds them up by with encouraging words and a reassurance that He was with them.
Verse 18 And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshipping the Lord.
He will see the humble heart of the King and the people we see this through their act of bowing down to worship God, having a humble heart when things come against is so important, instead of blaming God for what was happening, they were humble knowing and trusting that God would deliver them, many believer though give up and through because they are not recognising, that we are today in spiritual battle, there is fight going on we know the bigger picture that the main battle is won by Jesus Christ, but in the mean time we still have an enemy that is out to steal, kill and destroy and we as believers need to be on Guard and alert know where these attack come from.
The next big key is the believers here began to praise God.
19 And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high.
20 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
King Jehoshaphat encourages the people to believe in the LORD your God, and that is what we all should encourage other to do when they are going through a tough time or times, as people begin to believe God then God can go to work through their faith in Him, next key is to believe Gods prophets those speaking by the spirit of God, if you listen and do what God is working the minister to say to you, you will prosper in other words you will have success in the situation you facing.
21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever.
22 And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.
23 For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.
24 And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.
25 And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much.
26 And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the Lord: therefore the name of the same place was called, The valley of Berachah, unto this day.
27 Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for the Lord had made them to rejoice over their enemies.
28 And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of the Lord.
29 And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel.
From verse 21 – 29 we see Jehoshaphat appointed singers unto Jehovah that they should praise the beauty of His holiness and it was as they praised the LORD that God went to work
The Lord set the ambush against the children of Ammon, Moab, mount Seir they were all defeat. So Jehoshaphat and the people did not have to fight God set them one against the other and the Jehoshaphat and the people took all the precious jewels more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much.
So everyone was delivered and came through victoriously because they set their heart to seek God, they came together as one and in agreement, and they done what God showed them to through His prophets and they all returned to Jerusalem with joy for God had made them rejoice over the enemies, and all the Kingdoms and countries had respect unto God when they heard what God had done for His children.
The times and the type of warfare is played out different in our day and times, we are in spiritual battle, we need to recognised that we have the victory when we walk in our new man nature trusting God with all our hearts and not giving up when things go against us. But we set our hearts to seek God for His direction and we take that direct with a humble and meek heart and God will not only cause you to win but He will give you good success in what you are doing for He is with.
Here are a few more Scriptures that will bless you and I hope thrill your heart like it thrills my heart, these wonderful records living and real and the principles are still the same today and will yield the same and greater results and we trust God and let Him work in our situations.
Now for those of you going through challenging times I pray this lifts you up and encourages you to continue to go to God, and not give up, God is faithful and with lift you up and out of anything problem or situation you are in.
For those of you that everything is going hunky dory I praise the Lord with you and rejoice, this sharing maybe for future purposes so store it in your heart and be on guard, guard your heart with all diligence, be alert and be sober because “your adversary” as a roaring walks about seeking whom he may devour.
Isaiah 41:10King James Version (KJV)
10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Psalm 31:23-24King James Version (KJV)
23 O love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.
24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:57-58King James Version (KJV)
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 16:13King James Version (KJV)
13 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.
Ephesians 6:10King James Version (KJV)
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
2 Timothy 2:1King James Version (KJV)
Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
God bless you have a great weekend and up and coming week
much Love
Laurence
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