God never gives up

I have read many of Max Lucado’s books and I still do today. Allow me to share with you an excerpt from one of his books.

How do I know God is with me? What if this is all a hoax? How do you know that it is God who is speaking? The thick and dreadful darkness of doubt. The same darkness you feel when you sit on a polished pew in a funeral chapel and listen to the obituary of the one you love more than life. The same darkness that you feel when you hear the words, “The tumor is malignant. We have to operate.” The same darkness that falls upon you when you realize you just lost your temper again. The same darkness you feel when you realize that the divorce you never wanted is final. The same darkness into which Jesus screamed, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Appropriate words. For when we doubt, God seems very far away. Which is exactly why He chose to draw so near.

Though God’s people often forget their God throughout time, God doesn;t forget them. He keeps his word. God doesn’t give up. He never gives up. God didn’t give up when his brothers dropped Joseph into a pit. When Moses said, “Here I am, send Aaron,” God didn’t give up. When the delivered Israelites wanted Egyptian slavery instead of milk and honey, God didn’t give up. When Aaron was making a false god when Moses was with the true God, God didn’t give up. When only two of the ten spies thought the Creator was powerful enough to deliver the created, God didn’t give up. When Samson whispered to Delilah, Saul roared after David, and David schemed against Uriah, God didn’t give up. When God’s word lay forgotten, and man’s idols stood glistening, God didn’t give up. When the children of Israel were taken into captivity, God didn’t give up.

He could have given up. He could have turned his back. He could have walked away from the wretched mess, but He didn’t. He didn’t give up.

When He became flesh and was the victim of an assassination attempt before He was two years old, He didn’t give up. When the people from His hometown tried to push Him over a cliff, He didn’t give up. When His brothers ridiculed Him, He didn’t give up.

When He was accused of blaspheming God by people who didn’t fear God, he didn’t give up. When Peter worshiped Him at the supper and cursed Him at the fire, He didn’t give up. When people spat in His face, He didn’t spit back. When the bystanders slapped Him, He didn’t slap them. When a whip ripped His sides, He didn’t turn and command the awaiting angels to stuff that whip down that soldier’s throat. And when human hands fastened the divine hands to a cross with spikes, it wasn’t the soldiers who held the hands of Jesus steady. It was God who held them steady. Those wounded hands were the same invisible hands that had carried the firepot and the torch two thousand years earlier. They were the same hands that had brought light into Abram’s thick and dreadful darkness. They had come to do it again.

So, the next time doubt walks in, escort him out – to the hill, to Calvary, to the cross where, with holy blood, the hand that carried the flame wrote the promise, “God would give up his only Son before he’d give up on you.”

Great words from Max Lucado. This is why he’s my favorite author and probably yours, too.

(Francis Kong’s podcast “Inspiring Excellence” is now available on Spotify, Apple, Google, or other podcast streaming platforms).