Don’t Easily Give Up
We often give up too easily. We have desires and dreams but can become diverted so the desire gets lost. Sometimes, we become discouraged because the process of obtaining the desire is so long or difficult (Prov 13:12). Maybe we have setbacks. Perhaps others don’t believe we can attain our desires and dreams and we are afraid to go for it without the support and belief of others. However, when we begin to give up on our desires, no longer thinking they will happen for us, a part of us starts to die. We start to lose a vision of what we could become and do. We grieve this loss and may become depressed. Feeling helpless and hopeless, we go about with shoulders stooped and head down. We settle for a destiny far short of what God intended for us to have. He was willing to do His part to make it happen but we gave up. We talked ourselves out of our inheritance.
Losing our inheritance can happen almost imperceptibly (Heb 2:1). We inch toward defeatism with every failure instead of seeing failure, like Thomas Edison did, as knowledge about another way that doesn’t lead us to our goal. God wants to give us what is best (Isa 48:17, NIV). Some desires He is kind enough to leave unfulfilled because they would harm us. He sees the larger picture and can be trusted. On other occasions, He wants to grant our desires but bids us wait because the timing is premature. It would, again, be disastrous for us to get what we want at the wrong time. Then there are moments He simply asks us to do our part and work hard to bring about our desires and dreams. If we prepare as well as we are reasonably able, He will take care of the results in the right time and way.
Are you thinking of giving up on something which He has put in your heart? Don’t! Let go of the desire only if it becomes clear that the Lord really didn’t want that for you. The odds of you getting your desire are unimportant. If it is from Him, it will happen as you do your part (Hab 2:3). Let us, then, do our part and strive to know what is His best for our lives.
When God wants a couple or family to alter course, the revelation is normally clear.