Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Never Give Up!

Exodus 3:1-4 “Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.”

In this story, we see Moses tending to His father-in-law’s sheep in the wilderness. Moses had been a prince in Egypt but had to flee because he had killed an Egyptian taskmaster. He ran to the wilderness and became a shepherd.

While he was tending the sheep, Moses’ mind may have often gone back to his mistake. He probably thought of his failures and of letting God down. He may have thought that he would be stuck in the desert for the rest of his life and that God couldn’t use him.

Moses probably felt like giving up many times while he was herding those sheep. Here he had gone from being a prince to being a peasant, from the palace to the pasture, from success to failure, from wealth to poverty, from significance to insignificance. Yet, he remained faithful to what he was supposed to be doing in the desert.

Then one day, God appeared to Moses in a burning bush and told him of His plan to rescue Israel. God told Moses of how He wanted him to lead His people from bondage to a land that He had promised them. What an honor! God chose to use Moses when Moses probably thought he was the least likely candidate to be used by God.

Have you ever felt like giving up or just quitting? Maybe you’re “having a bad day” or you just can’t see God’s hand in your situation, so you feel like giving up. When times get tough, the devil will try to get you to quit. He will show you how “easy” life is outside the will of God. He will try to make the world’s way of living seem simple and fun. And he will make the Christian life look hard and boring.

Don’t give in to him! Living like the world is not all fun! Listen to what God says in Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” It’s not worth it! Sin may seem fun for a little while but the end is death and destruction!

Friend, don’t give up. Don’t give in to the devil when things get hard. A great man of God once said, “When the devil starts fighting you harder, you can be sure victory is very close.” You will never know what God could do through you if you give up. Stay strong in the Christian life! Seek God’s help each and every day!

by Dr. Paul Chappell

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

“When the devil starts fighting you harder, you can be sure victory is very close.”

How true I have found that quote to be!! Many times I've wanted to give up because of a situation that wasn't going the way I had hoped or thought it would and then God reveals His final plan.

Thanks for sharing!

~Kristi

Abdool N said...

While reading this message it came to my mind how important the mountain of God was in Moses' training in the wilderness.

Moses had to know that place well in order to lead the Israelites with confidence back to it.

Of course Moses could have done it without such knowledge because his God was leading them with the fire and the cloud.

Keep the good work up brothers Joshua and Caleb.

God bless you.

Brother Abdool Nizamuddin

Anonymous said...

Excellent post and very encouraging!! Thank you!

Anonymous said...

You have posted a very good truth here. I know that I have gotten to that place in my life several times when I have felt like giving up...either due to unanswered prayer (God wanted me to continue praying)...or sickness and being weak due to not being able to pray or read for those couple of days or so...or due to testing and trials in my life seeming to be neverending. But whenever I feel like quitting...the Holy Spirit is faithful to take me back to the cross and remind me of what my Saviour did for me and where He has brought me from. It's then I am able to continue on.

The Good Reporters said...

Glad each of you enjoyed the post.

Bro. Abdool,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.