Don’t give up!

“Don’t give up!” It’s easier said than done. When people around you tell you to not give up, they do this with the best intentions. Unfortunately, when you are in serious trouble, those words often sound hollow.

It is useful to have people around you to encourage you, but it is much better when you can reassure yourself in the Lord. Why? Because that type of encouragement is lasting. Moreover, you may not always have people around you. And if you have them around you, they may not understand what you are going through, or even notice what you are dealing with. There are moments in life when you feel you are all by yourself. It is therefore essential to stand on your own and to tell yourself not to give up.

What do I mean by encouraging yourself?
An excellent example of self-encouragement is David, when his wife and children, all his belongings, and that of everyone else in the same town, were stolen. As if his personal condition wasn’t bad enough, the surrounding people wanted to kill him because of what had happened. Instead of shifting into self-defense or self-pity, he rather turned himself away from the problem and the people around him and encouraged himself in God. He knew where he could get real comfort and encouragement. It gave him the strength to go on.

‘And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.’ 1 Samuel 30:6 (KJV).

How do you encourage yourself?
You can strengthen yourself in the Lord in so many ways:
– studying His word, especially passages like what you are going through.
– meditating on encouraging scriptures.
– boosting your morale by singing praise and worship songs.
– praying and having a quiet time with God.

No matter what you are facing (a marriage problem, a stubborn child, a tough boss, gossiping colleagues, a financial crisis, sickness, loss of a loved one, loneliness, emotional turbulence, etc.), you do not have to go through it alone. God has promised to never leave us nor forsake us. He is always with us. Always!

God does not give up on you.
God is our Father and a good Shepherd. Getting to know this, was a tremendous revelation for me. I remember when I got born again, I literally felt a heavy load being lifted from my shoulders, the moment I was told God is my Father. I knew immediately that I didn’t have to do ‘it’ alone anymore. The same assurance is available for every child of God, whether new-babe-in-Christ or a long-time Christian. God gives power and strength to His children, and He does not give up on them in hard times.

“He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:29-31 (NLT).

Finding ourselves in a tough situation can let all strength leave us, both physically and emotionally. However, God tells us not to give up, but to trust in Him. And He promises that when we trust him, He will renew our strength. This strength will give us ‘wings’, enabling us to soar above our situation. Causing us to walk the walk of despair and yet not get exhausted.

This does not mean our troubles will vanish in one day. No. But we will be able to face anything at all, in God’s strength. He is the one of whom we can say. “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

Are we easily able to do this?

Our human reaction
Our human nature tries to find logical solutions for the problems we face. However, trusting God is not about logic. That’s why, usually, we first look around for man-made solutions or try to blame others for any difficulty we find ourselves in. Making excuses is also a typical human reaction. Other reactions are anger, escapism, and being defensive. With these types of behavior, it is difficult to go through troubles constructively.

It is simply not in our nature to deal honestly with our challenges and trust God. And that is where grace comes in. Grace to trust God, grace to go on, grace not to give up. With God on our side, it is possible not to give up.

Joseph is an example of the grace not to give up and he continued trusting God in the worst situation of his life. His brothers betrayed him and degraded him to the level of a slave. Potiphar falsely accused him, leading to a jail sentence of several years while being an innocent man. And his former cellmates forgot about him when they had the chance to speak well on Joseph’s behalf. However, he did not give up on himself and did not give up on God. Joseph’s life story states several times that the Lord was with him. And exactly that carried him through.

This same grace is available to us. Jesus died not only to give us eternal life but also to strengthen us while we are still in our mortal bodies. What we must do is shift our minds from our human perspective to God’s perspective. Focus on God instead of our distressing situation.

Trusting God does not mean denying your problems, it means fixing your thoughts on Jesus.

“You will keep in perfect peace, all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” Isaiah 26:3 (NLT).

Don’t give up in any situation
When we fix our eyes on Jesus, trust God, and rely on His Word, we will receive the strength to go on, no matter what. This applies to difficult situations we must go through, but there are so many other things the bible says we shouldn’t give up on.

Our faith
Our faith gets us through. Our faith lets us focus on God. Our faith gives us hope. So, don’t give up on your faith! Go on. Finish the race. And you will receive a crown of glory.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7

Our race
We are in a spiritual race. God has prepared a track for us and given us the strength to run. All we must do is run and continue to run without ever giving up. We will receive a prize for finishing the race, not for starting it.

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.” 1 Corinthians 9:24.

Our Christian good deeds
God wants us to add good deeds to our faith. Faith without good works is dead. We can, however, easily get weary in doing good. Why? Because we don’t get the gratitude we are expecting, we don’t get favors in return, we get tired, or we simply want to live our own life without bothering about others. But, again, we only get a reward when we don’t give up. Our good deeds are simply our Christian mandate, not because of doing the deed, but because Jesus lives in us.

“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.

Trials and Tests
In the Kingdom of God are many (eternal) gifts to win, but only when we don’t give up. But we shouldn’t just go on without God’s guidance, trying to do things on our own. Tests may come into our lives, and it is then that God watches whether we will give up on Him or still follow Him, no matter what. He doesn’t want us to go through tests and come out crooked, burned, and broken. No. He wants us to hold on to Him, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and emerge out of the fire without a single singed hair, nor scorched clothes, or even smell like smoke!

“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.” James 1:12.

Temptation
When we face temptations, we often think what we are going through is too much and worse than everyone else’s situation. And that we didn’t have a choice than to give in to the temptation (or didn’t see it). But that is not what the scriptures say. It is written that each temptation is like what others go through. Moreover, God provides a way out of each temptation. No exceptions. He shows you the way out, so that you can stand and not give up. What a faithful God!

“The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.” I Corinthians 10:13.

Criticism
Few people would voluntarily want to be criticized. But in life, we will be criticized. We can receive constructive criticism or destructive criticism. In both cases, we should remain standing. We should not allow our heads to get swollen by positive criticism, neither should we allow our spirits to plummet by negative criticism. Face it. Learn from it. And then go on. Don’t give up.

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11.

Take-away
Life can (and will) throw many things in our face. Whether or not we see the trouble coming, we can trust God that He will give us the strength and the grace not to give up. We can encourage ourselves knowing that God does not want us to give up, because He is on our side.

We can reassure ourselves by whispering, “don’t give up, God is on your side”.

We can confidently declare: “I trust in the Lord and will find new strength; I will soar high on wings like an eagle; I will run and not grow weary; I will walk and not faint!”.

Because of God, we can proclaim: “I WILL NOT GIVE UP!”

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