What if we just said, “Okay I’m done with it. I’m finished, I just can’t keep going. I quit!”? This is so often our response when life gets hard, when the roads we take keep getting harder to climb and we just want to be done, finished, and no longer desire to finish the race that the Lord has set before us. But, lets turn that around for a minute. What if God said that to us? “Sorry, you just are too much trouble, you aren’t worth it, I can’t keep fighting for you. I quit!”
If he did we would be living in such a sad world, where there wasn’t any joy, no laughter, we would be in complete darkness for there would not be any hope. At this point in the Race we are starting to or are ready to go home, we want to start these new dreams and desires that God has placed in our hearts. Or we are just done with spending all our time with the same people, we miss our friends, our family back home and want to be around the “normal” life we had before. We want our bed, actual clean clothes, home cooked meals, a shower where we don’t have to hold the head of it with an actual shower curtain, our cars for easy transportation, the list could go on and on.
Here is the thing that I want to speak to everyone who is at this point, will be, or has been in their journey (and this pertains to you all back home too!). You cannot quit! I know, I know, you have heard it before “keep fighting, keep pushing, keep hanging in there….” and you are tired of hearing these words said from people because, to you they just don’t get it, they don’t understand what its like. I want to remind you that you have changed, home has changed since you have left. God has been growing you, changing you, and making you into the man or women he wants you to become. He has you on this journey, on this road for a reason and a purpose.
Right now I want you to pause and reflect. To look back and think about where you were a few months ago….think about how through all those really high, highs and all those really low, lows God has brought you to this point. Okay now I’m serious sit there for twenty minutes, an hour, two hours if you have to and reflect and write it all down. Then if you feel led go and ask those around you how they have seen you grow and change, they will have some other insights as to how you have changed too.
The reason I say press the pause button and reflect is because we get too caught up in the everyday life to really ever look back and see where we came from. Taking the time to though allows you to see the growth, allows you to see the journey unfold right before your eyes, and to be encouraged by it too.
Now that you have done that, you can keep reading…..
Remember how I said what if God said he quits on us? That made me pause after I typed it, because how many times in my life have I wanted to just give up and quit on him? To throw in the towel and not get up for another round. God never quits on us! So why would we want to quit on him? He has given us so much, he has lead us even when we don’t feel his presence. But, he was there each and every step of the way, sometimes pushing you, sometimes pulling you, other times walking beside you, or even at times carrying you through it all.
God never wants us to give up on his promises that he has placed in our lives even when we may not understand or know the outcome of those promises. He leads us on to the crown of victory! As James writes “ Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4).
Those words convict me. To really push through and persevere through the whole trial, so that the trial may have its complete and total effect. Yeah, no thank you…but, then what I get out of it is that I may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Paul writes in Romans “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
What James continues to say is this,
“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it was conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (James 1:12-15)
James not only gives a blessing but a warning to us. He tells us that we are blessed by persevering through the trials, that God rewards us. He shows us that God cannot be tempted and he wouldn’t tempt anyone, only the enemy will do that. The question that comes to my head is, by me quitting and doing the things I want to do then a sin? Well to that I pose another question, by you deciding to go a different rout, is that in the footsteps or the will of God? Sure there will be times when God will tell you “its been enough, you have fought the good fight” but, if you are not feeling prompted and it is your own desire then yes, I would say to turn off the path of trial is to fall into sin because you are placing your desire above God’s. Like James said “Then desire when it was conceived gives birth to sin…”
Now I am no theological professor, I haven’t studied the Bible in and out, I am just someone who is putting her thoughts out there, the things that have been convicting me when I hear people want to go down a different path than the one the Lord has them on now. And I’m not saying this only to them I am saying them to myself too.
So, when you are down for the count remember to sing out “Oh praise the one who fights for me, and shields my soul eternally, blameless now I am running home, welcomed as your own, into the arms of majesty!”
