DON'T GIVE UP TOO SOON
Galatians 6:9,
"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
When hunting and fishing are tough, it's sometimes tempting to throw in the towel, to quit a and go home. But so often I hear the stories of those that caught the trophy fish on the last cast of the day or harvested their best trophy in the last minutes of the last day of a hunt.
One year in Colorado, one bitterly cold morning 4 of us left camp heading into a long deep valley. As we trudged on in the fresh snow one after the other of my companions decided to stop and hunt in an area closer to camp. Finally I was alone and at daybreak I got the place we wanted to be. The valley was filled with elk and I filled my tag with a nice bull... the others... tags went unfilled.
So often we quit on things when what we really needed was to press on and press through. Sometimes we grow tired of the struggle... tired of trying. How many blessing have we missed because I threw up our hands in the battle and said, "its just not worth it...Just forget it."
Do you remember the battle plan for Joshua to take the Promised Land? It was simple and it was strange. After all of the years waiting to move in... it couldn't be this easy. Just marching for seven days around the city of Jericho, a whole army shouting and priests blowing trumpets? It can't be that easy.
God's ways often don't make sense in our human minds. Sometimes you have to be willing to look and be radical to live a remarkable life for Him. The choices you make when you feel God's nudge will shape the rest of your life
According to Joshua 6:, Jericho was "tightly shut" . But God made a promise and it meant the Israelites couldn't give up, quit and go home. That meant they suited up, stepped up and kept moving forward.
In Joshua 6:2, God said something amazing, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands" . Notice the verb tense. God did not say, "I will deliver Jericho into your hands." He said, "I have delivered Jericho into your hands". He had already done it, but the Israelites had to obey and put their foot down to receive it. I love how God speaks in past tense to our present problems.
But here's the issue for most of us that want to give up... What do we do when what God says doesn't match up with what we see? When all we see is a big, seeming impenetrable wall standing between God's promise and our present situation?
There'll be times when we're doing everything we know to do, and we still don't see any movement. Those Israelites walked around Jericho for six days, and nothing happened, or had it? Not one brick had fallen.
This is where many of us give up, when we don't see any kind of progress. We cry out "Lord, show me a little something! Let me see just a little progress! Can I see one brick fall... anything?" And God answers, "Just keep walking ... keep the faith."
Jesus said, "My Father is always working" (John 5:17 Just because we don't see God working does not mean He isn't doing it.
Hebrews 10:35-36 tells us,
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised"
Have you come today to the end of lap number six around the "Jericho" you're facing and you're questioning your own sanity? Consider the Israelites, what would have happened if they had quit and given up? What lies on the other side of that wall?
Gods promises haven't changed He still wants you to know...
Jeremiah 29:11-13
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.t text here…..
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