God is NOT done!
It’s easy to give up. In fact, it can often be the easiest thing to do in many situations. Whether it’s a marriage relationship, small business venture or even planting a church you can find plenty of support for your case to quit if you look around for it. There will be cheerleaders in abundance to tell you it’s a waste of time to continue or that your circumstances must be different in order for you to succeed. Their voice will sound something like this: “You may as well give up because it’s over” or “It was a good thought but it just didn’t work out the way you planned.”
The problem with this is that it’s your marriage that’s at stake, your livelihood that is in jeopardy or your God-ordained vision that is suffering, not theirs. Maybe your situation does look bleak from your perspective. You’ve made some bad decisions/choices; you’ve experienced some setbacks or your life just hasn’t turned out quite like you expected and you feel that no matter what you do at this point, it’s not going to be any better than it is right now. You are tempted to quit or worse, to resign to existing in a continuous state of defeat.
Enter another scene. An influential & wealthy man has a daughter that is very sick. Indeed, the doctors are perplexed about what is wrong with her or even how to treat her. They tell him the situation is serious and that he and his wife should probably prepare for the worst. The 12 year-old girl is declining rapidly and her dad, desperate for help, resorts to a last ditch effort. He rushes out to find Jesus. He’s heard the people talk about how Jesus has healed quite a few people. When he finally reaches him, he falls at his feet and begs him to come to his house to heal his daughter. As Jesus starts to go with him, news comes to the dad that his daughter is already dead. It’s too late they say, don’t bother any longer.
Ignoring their statements, Jesus tells the man to not be afraid, just believe and He continues walking with the man. As they reach his home there are people gathered mourning with his family. Jesus tells them to stop grieving for the girl is not dead but asleep. The people laugh at Jesus and the possibility that the little girl was only asleep. The next move by Jesus was to put them out of the house and to bring in only the girl’s parents and three of his disciples. He then commands the little girl to get up. Amazingly she does just that and she was restored to her parents.
I wonder if you feel your situation is so past hope that to say otherwise would cause you or others to laugh. Maybe you think it’s too late and so you might as well give up…just like everyone is saying. It’s time to put those voices OUT and go in where Jesus is and listen to His command to GET UP! (Mark 5:40-41) Your story is NOT over and God is NOT done with you. I don’t care how badly you feel like you’ve blown it or how desperate your situation is, God has the final say about your life! Don’t be afraid, just believe Jesus!
