Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9
Remember that friend, teacher, parent, coach, somebody along the way that told you, “You can do it! Don’t give up!”
Yeah. Absolutely we remember those people. We remember because they motivate us. They are encouragers who see our potential and drive us toward our best.
And why quit when someone is there either in present time or memories from long ago telling you you’re going to make it through?
God does exactly that by showing us He is on our side.
Treasuring our lives is part of His nature and character.
He made us because He wants us. He doesn’t just say it, he proves it over and over, first, by allowing His only Son to die on a cross and live again to cover our sins so that we could be made whole, clean, forgiven.
And He doesn’t stop there.
We have a desire to live and prosper that comes from who God is, from what He teaches us about Himself.
Unlike fallible people, we can expect God to be who He says He is every time. He never gives up on us, never fails to be there when we hit rock bottom and the last thread of our rope, in some especially tough area of our lives, just took a break – in all the wrong ways.
This is where it becomes very easy to allow ourselves to accept a position of being stuck – resulting from shock that things could actually have turned this bad – hoping we are only in a holding pattern, that will not get any worse, at least until we can find some type of fix.
This is also where we can forget to even turn to God for help. We instead can sit frozen, uncertain who is on our side at the time, even God, because we cannot imagine He sees or knows what is happening to us. All we want at the moment is to change a negative to a positive – as fast as possible.
Thankfully these are true:
- God already knows we feel stuck before we get to that point. He knows what we lose sleep over and think about all day during moments not taken up by the many demands vying for our attention.
- He already has a plan to handle the problem about which we are shocked or disillusioned.
- He wants to help us more than we want to ask for help.
- We do not have to know any perfect words or prayers to ask God for help – just turn to Him, and acknowledge He is able. It is good to pray specific prayers, but when we cannot, just simply asking God to help is always sufficient. The details of our prayers are for the benefit of building our faith, not God’s ability to help us.
But God chooses the proper time to answer needs and not always on our timeframe. He also cares about what we want and does not keep information hidden to cause us fear. He has the big picture, and tells everything we need to know at the right time.
He understands we want to know why something is happening to us or someone we love including our nation or the world. He doesn’t string us along just expecting us to trust He is in control. He proves faithful in His Word, how He relates to us, and wants us to not doubt He has our best interests at heart:
- He knows we need His faithfulness especially when things are least clear:
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23 (NIV)
- He knows we need to sense His control over a situation, that He will only do good by getting us through the tough things happening – circumstances we are unable to budge – points where we must trust He will so something about our impasse:
Every generous act of giving and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father who made the heavenly lights, in whom there is no inconsistency or shifting shadow. James 1:17 (ISV)
He knows we want to be want to feel productive, meaningful, and as if we are reaching goals.
We are designed, however, to succeed in ways that do not drive us backward. But in order to succeed, we have to understand what is forward and what is backward.
Seems obvious, right? Not always. If this was obvious, we would all make better choices the first time around instead of having to learn from many mistakes.
This takes gaining understanding and wisdom, not just knowledge.
A person can know many things and still tear his own house down with his own hands because of inability to see consequences for actions. We all do this in some area of our lives. Some, unfortunately, do it consistently and end up losing everything important to them.
If we run ahead of God and ignore what He says in His Word is right, we not only lose opportunities, we lose freedom to live in ways most prosperous which can mean a number of things – peaceably in relationships, health wise, personal finances, business, and so on.
If we are in positions of leadership and give up on what is right, out of exhaustion from doing the right things again and again, only to get kicked again and again for doing right, we unfortunately end up losing the most for failing to trust God with every part of our lives. This is never easy, especially when these days right is being called wrong, and wrong is being called right. It is easy to wonder how doing what is right can win anymore.
But God does not force us to trust Him.
We choose.
Every time.
We wonder why it takes so long for God to meet some need or desire when He answers some things before we breathe a prayer out of a thought still forming in our minds.
He reminds us, by way of quick answers to some prayers that, He has not forgotten, that He wants us to persevere, and realize He is working on the answers to what matters most to us.
God is not like people who will sometimes avoid replying about something because they do not know how to answer. God knows and He does not forget to reply.
To persevere, we must keep in mind that God intends good for us and not evil.
God made us for Himself. He also made us for others. And sometimes it seems we were made for more than we would rather take on in life. Our faith gets stretched to the max.
Sometimes bad things happen to those that seem to be doing everything right in life. But we live in a world where sin exists and people make choices. And God does not stop every negative action that comes our way.
But if we are caught up in some sort of sin that we just cannot turn over to Him because we think we would not be able to handle problems without it, then we will not be at our best. But knowing we were made for more than managing troubles helps us maintain a positive perspective.
Remember, when your faith seems thinnest, God sees the answer He is bringing to you even if you do not.
When it seems you are at the point of giving up on something that appears will never change, only to sit frozen in the most difficult of places, shocked at how bad things have turned – stop for a moment.
Actually give up, but give up in the right direction.
This surrendering of the problem over to God is the most delivering and empowering thing you can do. Do it by saying, “God can fix this. He wants to help.”
Then ask Him what He wants to do, and to show you in a way you can understand – what He wants you to do. Ask Him to help you do what He is showing you and to help you not give up on Him before the solution comes.
