Don’t Give Up

This is a simple article to tuck away for one of those times we all have when we find we cannot go on.

Don’t Give Up…

When emotions seem all too wrong,

And feelings are all too strong,

When issues have come to grate,

And there’s a very real sense of hate.

When we’ve no way to steady or hold on,

And it’s all taking far too long,

When we richly need to create,

And instead there’s a perilous fate.

Don’t give up.

When things get far too deep,

And we cannot afford any longer to keep,

When we richly need renewal,

And we worry we haven’t the fuel.

When the deluge begins to inwardly seep,

And we do not like what we reap,

When we recognise life is a duel,

And that many outcomes are cruel.

Don’t give up.

When we know we haven’t the space,

And we can no longer afford the chase,

When we can’t even hope to get through,

And we’re overwhelmed in feeling blue.

When horror fills our face,

And we cannot help count the waste,

When our capacities are all too few,

And we hope still ever to hold lovingly true.

Don’t give up.

I am easily overwhelmed. Feelings of giving up frequent the mind. But I’ve found these emotional lapses into hopelessness go as quickly as they come. And the sense for resignation that I carry everywhere now never entirely shuts God out.

We all face crises at the least expected junctures of life, and when God finally has us ‘weak’ then he is able to bring us to a more adequate and speedy surrender. To be ‘weak’ serves God’s purpose. He knows we are never stronger nor safer than when we rely on him.

Giving up is inevitable. We will all give up. We will all try on sackcloth and live for many trials in the ashes.

But the time comes for getting back up and dusting ourselves off a little once our self-pity is exhausted. This is the moment not to harden our hearts as mentioned in Psalm 95.

Don’t give up, not ultimately. Though we are excused if we do give in for a time, we are not blessed by God nor anyone when we stick to our stubbornness.

We have strength to get through — and it is safely God’s strength that prevails.

Do not ever, ever give up,

Though things can at times get rough,

Remember whose you are,

That till now you’ve come so far.

You’ve stood the tests in the past,

And you have what it takes to last,

God’s got your future and it’s clear,

But he needs you now to draw near.

© 2015 Steve Wickham.