Push!

Galatians 6:⁹ “Don’t get tired of helping others, of doing what is right. You WILL be rewarded when the time is right, if you don’t give up.” (CEV & LB, emphasis added).

God loves you. God cares about what you are going through. God cares about what is happening to you. God cares about the details of your life. However, God is more interested in what you are becoming than what is happening to you. As much as God cares about what is happening to you, who you are becoming is more important to God. So, the problem you are going through right now is just a test of your faith, nothing more. God uses the problems to test our faith. For you, it could be shortages that you are currently faced with. God uses shortages to test your generosity.

Galatians 6:⁹ “Don’t get tired of doing what is right…”. If doing what is right is not tiring, God will not say don’t get tired. Doing what is right can be tiring, but God is saying do not get tired of it because you will be rewarded. The problem is many of us do not do the right thing for long enough. We only do the right thing until we are tired. But when we get tired is not when to quit. When to quit is when God says your time on earth is done. So, do not quit!

The story is told of a man, Forrest Gump, in South America who had a fishing line. There were also other bigger fishing boats and fishing lines. However, one day, there was a terrible storm. The owners of the other fishing lines decided to dock their ships in the harbour and wait for the storm to pass. After all, they were making a lot of money anyway. But Forrest Gump sent his own ship into the sea in the storm amidst the turbulence and everything. He said, ‘My fishing boats are meant to be on the sea fishing, storm or no storm.’ Guess what? When the storm was over, all the ships in the harbour had been destroyed by the storm. So, those people lost all their businesses and their source of income, crushed by the storm.

It was only Forrest Gump’s ships that survived, so he overturned the industry and became the industry leader. When asked why he did not dock his ships during the dangerous storm. He said, ‘The ships are designed for fishing in good weather and in stormy weather’. Huge! You are designed to be fishing in good weather or in stormy weather. Every time you see a storm and you dock your ship; it becomes a sitting duck for destruction because the storm will wipe it away. So, every time you see a storm and you launch into the deep, with God on your side, you will always come out victorious. We are designed to fish in the storm and fish when it is calm. And when it is all over, we win. That is how God wants you and I to respond.

Prayer (song):  When darkness seems to hide His face. I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil. Christ alone, cornerstone… Amen!