HEBREW WORD STUDY – DISCOURAGED – LO THACHATH   

Deuteronomy 31:8: “And the LORD, he [it is] that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.:

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed

When you are discouraged thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings named them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

-Johnson Oatman Jr. –

Yesterday I read the alumni news from Moody Bible Institute, the Bible school I attended many years ago. I read about a former classmate and his large church, another student who was a successful author and donated a lot of money to the school, another student that was on the faculty of a prestigious Christian school I begin to get thachath. Thachath comes from the Hebrew root word chathath which means to become discouraged, dismayed, disappointed and beaten down. 

Yet, nowhere in the Bible is success as a child of God measured in numbers or position.  Jesus only had twelve followers and they weren’t shining academics.  We see someone with a large church, a few letters after their name, a title or position and we say: “Ooo wee! Ain’t he blessed by God.”   But that is our Western concept, a capitalistic mentality.  Note Deuteronomy 31:8.  God says that He goes before us.  The sages teach that this means that God lays out our path our destiny.  He is then with us to help us fulfill our destiny and during all that time He will never fail us.  The word fail in Hebrew is raphah which means to sink down or withdraw.  On top of that, He will never forsake us.  The word forsake in Hebrew is ‘azab which is to depart, leave behind, neglect.  It is sort of like when I help someone off my disability bus.    I go before them and clear away any obstacles, particularly at this time of year when we have snow and ice, then I walk with them to the door of the doctor’s office or their home.  If they stumble, I am there to make sure they do not fail and fall, I hold them tightly. If my phone rings or I am in a hurry, I will not ‘azab leave their side or forsake them.  At times they are fearful but I assure them I will get them to their destination safely.  As a result, they are not thachath, dismayed or discouraged.  This is God’s commitment to us.

Johnson Oatman was an ordained minister in the late 1800s with a struggling congregation.  He was well educated for the task of being a minister, but he could not seem to find much success as a minister and had to work a full-time job as a clerk to support his family.  At the age of 40, it appears he had accomplished little. He was trying to pastor a small church that refused any growth and despite his education, was working a low-level job, just barely keeping a roof over the head of his family.  Only one who has been a pastor could know the depths of discouragement one faces after spending 20 years devoting your life to a small congregation and seeing little if any, results. 

At the age of 40 Johnson Oatman took a good look at this life. While many of his classmates had gone to successful careers, Johnson Oatman still struggled with a small congregation, barely keeping food on the table for his family.  But rather than get discouraged, Johnson Oatman began to count his blessings, one by one.  He saw a wife who loved him, children who were healthy and Godly, and a congregation, although small, were loyal, loved and respected him.  As he began to add up all the little things God had blessed him with, he realized they added up to more than one big major blessing like a large, growing congregation. 

As he entered his 40^th year of life, he put these thoughts into the poem cited above which was later added to music and became one of the most popular hymns of the early 20^th  century.   In the next 20 years, he wrote over 5,000 hymns and became one of the leading writers of hymns of his day.  He still pastored a little church in Lumberton, New Jersey that still refused to grow, although it had many visitors due to his fame as a songwriter.

Fortunately, God does not measure our success as we do in the Western world with numbers, wealth, education or position.  So long as God walks before us, with us, and does not fail us, then we need never fear nor become discouraged.