READY TO GIVE UP?

I Kings 19:4 Then he went on alone into the desert, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.”

Have you been there? Have you struggled to the point where you have had enough? Has life dealt you such a blow that you just literally want to give up? If so, you are not alone. Elijah was one of the greatest prophets of all time. He had been used of God to do some mighty miraculous things. He had just come down from Mt. Carmel where God had used him mightily to witness to the nation of Israel that He is God. It was a day unlike any other day in Israel’s history. You would think that Elijah would be floating on cloud nine. But just the opposite was true. Elijah had irked the wrath of Jezebel, the reigning queen. He had the prophets of Baal, whom she served, killed. She wanted revenge and threatened Elijah’s life. He was totally exhausted and there was no fight in him. Instead of standing strong before her, he ran. He ran as far as his weary body would take him. He was spent, and all he wanted to do was to die.

     We all get weary at times and want to just give up. We all want the Lord to just take us home. It’s easy to get that way when we don’t keep our gas tanks full. When we run on adrenaline, or our reserve tanks, we sooner or later run out of fuel. It is imperative that we never let our fuel tank run low. We need to constantly stay in the Word and in our prayer closets. We need to constantly seek the Lord while He may be found. We need to make sure that we don’t ever try to go on our strength.

       We need to be wise enough to know when to pull back and recharge our batteries. We are most vulnerable when we are weak, even if it is weakness from doing good. We need to understand that we can’t fight Satan when we are weak. We need to take care of our bodies and minds. We need to take care of our souls.

      We need to be honest with ourselves about our limitations. We are not God. We need to take the time to rest. We need to say no when we are doing too much. We will not do ourselves, others, or the Lord, any good if we get so down that we want to just give up.

       May the Lord give you the wisdom to know that everything does not depend on you and that you need to take care of yourself so that you can give of your best to the Master.