Unshackled Echo ~ April 19, 2019 ~ Giving Up

Ever have those moments when you're just ready to quit, to give up, to curl into a ball and cry or even die? Do you beat yourself up about it? After all we're supposed to stand our ground and having done all to stand, keep standing, right? We're supposed to hold fast and press on toward the goal, aren't we? We're not supposed to be unable to keep going. We're not supposed to just not be able to take another minute of this "moment" that is starting to feel like an awfully long time.

But feeling like this doesn't mean you're failing God spiritually or loosing faith or anything horrible and negative about you. It happens to the best. It's called exhaustion. Exhaustion can kill us. Exhaustion can make everything harder and make it impossible to go on, regardless of faith and belief. There is a reason God in His Word stresses the concept of rest.

You may be familiar with the story of Elijah the prophet. If not, his tale can be found in the two books of Kings in the Old Testament. This was a man so revered for his faith and the way that God used him that when Jesus walked the earth many believed he was the reincarnation of Elijah. Elijah is one of the spiritual heroes of the Bible. He stood before hundreds of false prophets, mocking them and showed them up by calling down fire from heaven to burn up a water soaked offering. He stood before a king and queen of Israel and called them out on their sin. He refused to take the safe route or back down. It seemed like no matter what he faced he approached it with a let's see what God can do attitude. Until....

One day the queen reacted to his trouble making and calling her out by going after him in return. And what did this mighty man of God and faith do? He ran, hid and cried out to God to just let him die. Then he fell asleep. He'd been fighting the good fight for too long without a break to keep fighting. Exhaustion took his faith, left him scared and hopeless. And how did God react to this man losing his faith and giving up?

He sent an angel who woke him up and fed him. Then He let him sleep some more. He cared for Elijah, He let Elijah rest, and. even more, He provided rest for the prophet. Elijah recovered and went on to continue the amazing story of faith.

Rest doesn't mean sleep. We can become exhausted physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually or a mixture of any and all of these. We can sleep 14 hours or more in a day and still be exhausted or we can rise after not sleeping at all in some situations feeling rested. Lack of rest ruins hope, razes peace and sucks the life out of joy. Sleep matters, because lack of sleep eventually effects every area from the body to the spirit, but sleep is not the answer. The Bible mentions rest over 500 times. That's how important it is, and those are not instructions on how we can manage to rest. The tricks of self help that aid relaxation do not do the trick, at least not for long. The Bible tells us that rest is a gift from God. He provides it, and we must find it in Him.

If you feel like it's time to give up the fight, like you just can't go on, like everything in the world is falling apart and it would be better if the weight just finished crushing you and be done with it, maybe what you need instead of determination, or more faith or strength or anything else is to cry out to God and just stop trying to make it through on your own. Let Him give you rest. Stop believing that you are supposed to be able to carry it, fight it, keep going. Remember that He is our strength and our portion.

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

March 16, 2016.

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