Photo by: paul (Creative Commons)
Do you feel like quitting? Do you feel like you’ve worked for the Lord as hard as you can and the difficulties don’t lessen but only seem to worsen?
I’ve had, and have, difficulties and challenges. Some of them ministry related. Some of them personal weaknesses and failures related to the sinfulness of my own heart.
Frankly, there are times I feel like quitting. I just want to say, “I give up.”
What should you do when that happens? What should I do?
A recent article by Jon Bloom over at DesiringGod.org is an encouraging and powerful reminder when you feel like quitting.
He writes:
Don’t Give Up
But don’t give up. No, rather “take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded” (2 Chronicles 15:7).
Don’t give up when that familiar sin, still crouching at your door after all these years, pounces again with temptation.
Don’t give up when you feel that deep soul weariness from long battles with persistent weaknesses.
Don’t give up when your long prayed-for prayers have not yet been answered.
Don’t give up when the devil’s fiery darts of doubt land and make you reel.
Do not give up when the fragmenting effect of multiple pressures seems relentless.
Do not give up when the field the Lord has assigned you to is hard and the harvest does not look promising.
Do not give up when you labor in obscurity and you wonder how much it even matters.
Do not give up when your reputation is damaged because you are trying to be faithful to Jesus.
Do not give up when waiting on God seems endless.
Don’t give up when you have failed in sin. Don’t wallow. Repent (again), get your eyes off yourself and back on Jesus, get up and get back in the fight.
Go read the whole thing, it’s packed with Scripture you and I both need when we feel like giving up.