In the first post of this series, “What to Do When You Feel Like Giving Up”, we looked at how fatigue factored into Elijah’s desire to quit life and ministry. We looked at the importance of keeping up with your physical needs. In part two of this series, “More What to Do When You Feel Like Giving Up” we looked at some other factors like comparison and focusing on facts instead of feelings. In this final post, “Even More What to Do When You Feel Like Giving Up” here are some concluding points on responsibility and failure.

1 Kings 19:1-8 (NLT)
1 When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel what Elijah had done and that he had slaughtered the prophets of Baal. 2 So Jezebel sent this message to Elijah: “May the gods also kill me if by this time tomorrow I have failed to take your life like those whom you killed.” 3 Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. 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.” 5 Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” 6 He looked around and saw some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 Then the angel of the LORD came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, for there is a long journey ahead of you.” 8 So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. 9 There he came to a cave, where he spent the night. But the LORD said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10Elijah replied, “I have zealously served the LORD God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I alone am left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”

ILLUSTRATION: The Devils Yard Sale
I read once that the Devil was having a yard sale, and all of his tools were marked with different prices. They were a fiendish lot. There was hatred, jealously, deceit, lying, pride–all at expensive prices. But over to the side of the yard on display was a tool more obviously worn than any of the other tools. It was also the most costly. The tool was labeled, DISCOURAGEMENT. When questioned, the Devil said, “It’s more useful to me than any other tool. When I can’t bring down my victims with any of the rest of these tools, I use discouragement, because so few people realize that it belongs to me.”

Don’t Confess If It Wasn’t Your Mess

• Elijah took the blame for not being able to change the nation like he thought it ought to be changed.
• This move left him vulnerable to thoughts of giving up.
• He said “I am the only one left and I am no better than my fathers.”
• The revival following the fire fall at Carmel did not bring a change in government.
  • Ahab and Jezebel were still on the throne.
• In order to protect yourself against thoughts of quitting remember the old saying.

Every tub must stand on its own bottom.

• Jezebel was responsible for her sins.
• Ahab was responsible for his sins.
• And, the children of Israel was responsible for theirs.
• People need to be responsible for their own choices.
• Don’t give advice to people when they come to you for help.
• Give them observations.
• Give them options.
• But, let them choose. Don’t choose for them.
• Today, people have a greater desire to live longer than they do to live well.

People need to choose for themselves.

• Choose to love rather than hate.
• Choose to smile rather than frown.
• Choose to build rather than destroy.
• Choose to persevere rather than quit.
• Choose to praise rather than gossip.
• Choose to heal rather than wound.
• Choose to give rather than grasp.
• Choose to act rather than delay.
• Choose to forgive rather than curse.
• Choose to pray rather than despair.
• You don’t have to take responsibility for someone else’s choices.
• Parents get into this over a child who hasn’t turned out right.
  • They condemn themselves with woulda, coulda, shoulda thoughts.
  • Thoughts ‘Like I should have taught them this or that.’
  • Many times, children fight for the right to be adults. Eighteen is the magic number to them.
  • They want the privileges of adulthood but the responsibilities of childhood.
• You cannot control other people’s wills.
• Since you can’t, there’s no need to get down over something you cannot control.
• Constantly confessing a sin that is not yours to begin with leads to depression and the feeling of giving up.
• Don’t take the blame for things you had no control over.
• Mark this down and don’t forget it.
  • It is much easier to fix blame than to fix problems even if it is yourself that you are blaming.

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Philippians 3:13 (NCV)
¹³ Brothers and sisters, I know that I have not yet reached that goal, but there is one thing I always do. Forgetting the past and straining toward what is ahead,

Experiencing a Single Failure Doesn’t Make You One

• Every successful person is someone who has experienced failure.
• Did you know?
  • Mozart was told his opera, “The Marriage of Figero’, was far too noisy and contained far too many notes.
  • Artist Vincent Van Gogh, sold only one painting during his lifetime.
  • Thomas Edison was considered unteachable as a child.
  • A Munich schoolmaster told Albert Einstein that he would never amount to much.
• Failure is a reality of living life on planet earth.
• You are going to make some mistakes.
• There is no use throwing in the towel over it.
• Do not take failure personally.
• God uses people who fail because there aren’t any others around to use.
• Brian Tracy wrote a book entitled ‘The Pyscology of Achievement’.  In it he talks about 4 millionaires who made their money before age 35.
  • They failed an average of 17 x before they found the business that took them to the top.
  • There secret was they kept trying and changing until they found what took them to the top.
• No matter how many times you fail, you are not a failure.
• Remove the ‘you’ from failure.
• Great tranquility of heart belongs to the person who cares for neither praise when he does well nor blame when he fails.

The purpose of being guilty is to bring us to Jesus. Once we are there, then its purpose is finished. If we continue to make ourselves guilty-to blame ourselves-then that is sin in itself. — Corrie ten Boom

Cures for the Common Thoughts of Quitting

ILLUSTRATION: Going into Outer Space to Avoid Problems
The company of the discouraged is a very noble company. Not too long ago, the Hayden Planetarium in New York City issued an invitation to all those who were interested in applying to be a part of the crew on the first journey to another planet. Eighteen thousand people applied. They gave the applications to a panel of psychologists, who examined them thoroughly and came to the conclusion that in the vast majority of incidents, those who applied did so because they were discouraged with their lives here and hoped they could find a new life somewhere else.

• The Christian version of this is the rapture.
• People who are more than conquerors do not need the rapture as an excuse to get away from dealing with life.
• The Rapture is a blessing from God not an excuse to evacuate responsibility.

Psalm 42:5-6 (NLT)
⁵ Why am I discouraged? Why so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again — my Savior and ⁶my God! Now I am deeply discouraged, but I will remember your kindness — from Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan, from the land of Mount Mizar.

Thoughts of quitting can be relieved by meditating on God’s Word.

• Meditate on the record of God’s goodness to you.
• This will take your mind off the present situation and give you hope that it will improve.
• It will focus your thoughts on God’s ability to help you rather than on your inability to help yourself.
• When you feel depressed, take advantage of this psalm’s antidepressant. Read the Bible’s accounts of God’s goodness and meditate on them

Thoughts of quitting can be relieved by expecting God to act.

• Faith in God is the ultimate and most reliable cure.
• If you will simply look to God, He will pull you out of the miry pit.
• “I will put my hope in God” are strong words that will drive thoughts of quitting from your life.
• The psalmist confidently closes this song with a statement of hope in the midst of difficult emotions. He may not feel like it, but he knows that he will “again have plenty of reason to praise him for all that he will do” (Psalm 42:11).

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Thoughts of quitting can be relieved by having a talk with Jesus.

1 Samuel 1:1-11 (NLT)
¹ There was a man named Elkanah who lived in Ramah in the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham and grandson of Elihu, from the family of Tohu and the clan of Zuph. ² Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, while Hannah did not. ³ Each year Elkanah and his family would travel to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at the Tabernacle. The priests of the LORD at that time were the two sons of Eli—Hophni and Phinehas. ⁴ On the day Elkanah presented his sacrifice, he would give portions of the sacrifice to Peninnah and each of her children. ⁵ But he gave Hannah a special portion because he loved her very much, even though the LORD had given her no children. ⁶ But Peninnah made fun of Hannah because the LORD had closed her womb. ⁷ Year after year it was the same—Peninnah would taunt Hannah as they went to the Tabernacle. Hannah would finally be reduced to tears and would not even eat. ⁸ “What’s the matter, Hannah?” Elkanah would ask. “Why aren’t you eating? Why be so sad just because you have no children? You have me—isn’t that better than having ten sons?” ⁹ Once when they were at Shiloh, Hannah went over to the Tabernacle after supper to pray to the LORD. Eli the priest was sitting at his customary place beside the entrance. ¹⁰ Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the LORD. ¹¹ And she made this vow: “O LORD Almighty, if you will look down upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the LORD, his hair will never be cut.”

• Hannah had good reason to feel down.
  • She was unable to bear children;
  • She shared her husband with a woman who ridiculed her.
  • Her loving husband could not solve her problem.
  • Eli, the high priest misunderstood her motives.
• But instead of retaliating or giving up hope, Hannah prayed.
• She brought her problem honestly before God.
• Hannah discovered, prayer opens the way for God to work.
• Hannah returns home uplifted
• Earlier Hannah had been discouraged to the point of being physically sick and unable to eat.
• At this point, she returns home well and happy.
• What changed her attitude?
  • She honestly prayed to God (1 Samuel 1:11).
  • She received encouragement from Eli (1 Samuel 1:17).
  • She resolved to leave the problem with God (1 Samuel 1:18).
• When she did God solved her problem (1 Samuel 1:19).
• The moral?
• Tell God how you really feel and leave your problems with him and let Him solve it for you.
• Careful for nothing, prayerful about everything, thankful for all things is a great way to live (Philippians 4:6).

Call to Action:

Galatians 6:9 is a fitting verse to conclude this series. It states “Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Keep doing the right thing, the right way, with a right heart and you will gain the victory if you don’t quit.

Question: How have you combated the feeling to quit? What did you do to overcome it? Please leave your comments in the comments section below.