I am a certified wimp.
I admit it! If the going gets tough, I get going back to my comfort zone. I have no problem giving up. Well! I tried my best, my mind comforts me. There’s no shame in skipping the stress and anxiety. I deserve a break!
And honestly, I’m not ashamed of this. In fact, it feels justified and logical. Sometimes it just makes sense to give up. Sometimes you really have no more options.
Can you blame me?
Just say no
David finds himself right in the middle of one of those situations in 1 Samuel 30. All out of options. Ready to give up.
He’s just been let go from Achish’s army, who was lining up to fight the Israelites, David’s native people. This is a good thing! A God thing, if you will.
But just as David and his newly freed men round the corner to come back home to their families and start thinking of a new plan—they see smoke. They see debris, rubble, soot.
Their homes have been burned to the ground. Their wives and children are missing.
The horror of those moments is hard to imagine. The guilt. The regret. The despair.
The anger. It doesn’t take long for David’s men to turn around and blame him. And why not? He was their leader. He was supposed to lead them in the safest way possible. He was supposed to do what he could to make sure things like this didn’t happen.
And he had failed.
I would have given up a long time ago. But what did David do? How did he move forward? How would he pull himself out of this?
David played the part of a model Christian. He rose up and became an example to all followers of God:
“David found strength in the Lord his God.”
verse 6
Great! Amazing! Good job, David. Let’s all go and do the same, everybody.
“Ask and it will be given to you.”
Wait a second. “David found strength in God”. This brief, straightforward sentence doesn’t feel genuine.
It’s giving “Just don’t be depressed!” It’s giving “Are you having a crisis? Stop.”
It’s giving, “Not actually possible for people in real life.”
I mean, come on, what did David do? How did he “find strength”? And how can I do what he did?
Well, let’s review. “David found strength in the Lord his God.” He didn’t pop a pill. He didn’t utter a magic spell. He didn’t even just grit his teeth and keep going, else it would have said “David found strength in himself.”
He had to have asked for it. He was all out of options, at the end of his rope, this close to giving up, so he turned his tear-streaked face to God and whispered a desperate prayer.
And God gave him strength.
Can it really be that simple? Can strength, victory, peace, answers be just a prayer away?
It doesn’t seem possible, but the stories in the Bible dare us to believe it is.
So next time we’re on the edge, moments away from giving up, let’s take that bet.
Let’s ask God for help, strength, hope, faith.
And then, like David, let’s watch Him work a miracle.
What do you think? When has God kept you from giving up?
Delicate Pages 