Hey, homeschoolers! If you've been discouraged lately, know that I can relate. I've been through a season that has diminished my courage to keep podcasting, writing, and building relationships. I went through similar seasons while homeschooling.
Sponsor: NIV Application Bible
There are three lies the enemy tells us that can deflate us and three responses that can get us homeschooling courageously again. Before I share them I want to thank the NIV Application Bible for sponsoring the podcast.
I am taking the three lies from a biblical account that is well known to you if you're familiar with Scripture. In Luke 4:1-12, we read that Jesus fasted for 40 days and was hungry. Hungry seems like an understatement, but I like the word for our purposes. We are often hungry for things in our homeschooling: hungry for order and organization, hungry for our children's hearts to be turned toward us and the Lord, hungry for our husbands to be our partners in every sense of the word. We can be hungry for so many other desires that have gone unsatisfied–a return to health for us or our family members, financial provision, healing in relationships.
Lie #1: There is no help.
When we are hungry, the devil comes calling. To Jesus, the devil said, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” I've read excellent theological commentaries on this statement, but when the devil tempts me this way, he is saying, “There is no help. Meet this need yourself. God hasn't provided and He won't. It's time for you to do something.” And with my classic “If it is to be, it's up to me” attitude, that's what I so often do.
I research. I consult. I buy books, courses, supplements. And when I remain hungry, I spend even more time trying to find the answer to my need. Never mind the fact that most of the time the food that will fill this aching need of mine is not what I'm shopping for. The food that fills me comes from the Lord often unexpectedly, subtley, gradually.
While there is nothing inherently wrong with looking for the equivalent of bread when we're hungry, Jesus tells the devil that we need more than what's available in this world to live. In fact, it's been when I have stopped trying to fill my own gnawing need that it seems my needs are attended to as they were for Jesus.
The devil says to us: “Meet your own need because God won't.” Our response can be to repeat to ourselves Psalm 27:14: “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”
A book that has helped me so much in waiting on the Lord is Hind Feet for High Places. I have read a chapter a day and it feels like I am journeying with the main character Much-Afraid every step of the way.
Lie #2: There is no Holy One.
When we are in a discouraging season, the devil comes back with lie number 2. There is no Holy One. The devil shows Jesus the kingdoms of the world and says, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” In this, the devil shares a partial truth. The Bible calls him the prince of this world with some power and control. That is true.
In times of vulnerability, we can start to believe that he's the ultimate authority. Worldly steps to success may seem better than waiting on God to meet our family's needs in homeschooling or our personal needs. The worldly way can seem like a sure thing–Door #1 that's open to reveal what's inside versus Door #3 that holds an unknown future.
Most of us when tempted in this way don't become atheists. Instead, we make some compromises. We give a little here and a little there because maybe God isn't as good as we thought. That's why Jesus' response is so powerful. He says, ““It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”
I pray most days for a nation using the Operation World app. One of the most common descriptions of a nation with a church in crisis is that its believers have mixed aspects of their pagan religion into their theology. Whenever I'm tempted to judge, I realize how well this describes our own culture. We can compromise and justify a little bit every day until we are nearly indistinguishable from our unbelieving neighbors.
When the devil says, “There is no Holy One,” we can answer with 1 Samuel 2:2: “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.” Although the devil has some power, he is certainly not holy. If you need a reminder of that and you've been off the grid for a long time, read the news for just one day. Otherwise, I advise reading a Christian hero's biography. One of my favorites is If I Perish by Esther Kim.
Lie #3: There is no hope.
For the final temptation the devil took Jesus to the top of the temple. He said, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here…” Because the devil also tells him that God and the angels will protect Him if He jumps, I didn't realize that he was suggesting Jesus kill himself. This is the final lie the devil tells us in a season of discouragement: There is no hope.
Hopelessness is not just a symptom of depression but a warning sign that the depression is severe. We are more likely to be hopeless when we have tried to help ourselves and we have tried worldly prescriptions for getting what we need to no avail. Jesus hadn't bought the devil's first two lies and so answered with more truth: ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’
As discouraged believers we don't put God to the test by jumping off a tall building, but we might be giving Him ultimatums: If this tutor doesn't help; if my husband doesn't get this job; if this medication doesn't work… The unspoken end to that sentence is I am giving up hope.
When we are tempted by this lie, we can say Romans 5:5: “…and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Why would our loving God who lives in our hearts disappoint us? When I am wondering why God isn't giving me what I ask, I remember Matthew 7:11, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” The only reasons we refuse to give gifts to our children is because the thing they've asked for is not good or we have something better in mind.
When we are tempted to give up hope, we can list the unanswered prayers we are grateful for. This current prayer of ours may one day be added to the list. As we wait, we can know for certain that God will either answer our prayer as requested or He will give us the grace to accept His will. I love the song “Sometimes He Calms the Storm” for reassurance of this.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I want to point out that Luke Chapter 4 begins this way: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.” If you're in a season of temptation to discouragement and you've been tempted with the lies of there is no help, Holy One, or hope, it is not punishment but preparation. You cannot guide your children through a similar season if you have not been in the wilderness. You cannot mentor other homeschool moms in the future as I am now doing if you have not been in the wilderness. I don't think we can even fully serve God if we have not been in the wildnerness. Another favorite book I want to commend to you for this season is Sidetracked in the Wilderness by Michael Wells.
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Have a happy homeschool week!
