Want To Give Up On God? Try Him One More Time!

This post is for you if you have been going through a difficult season for quite some time and have been experiencing disappointment after disappointment. Have difficult situations bombarded you that you have lost all hope there is? Maybe you have even gotten to the point where you want to give up on God entirely and the thought of trying one more time seems pointless. Have you become so frustrated that even the zeal you had is not there? Maybe you have even stopped praying altogether. Or maybe you still pray and still do everything God requires of you as a Christian, but your heart is no longer there.

Where do you stand? Have you quietly quit on God? There is this quitting where you openly deny God and keep it pushing. And then there is the quiet quit where to the outside world, it would seem like you are still a Christian because you act like one. But deep down your heart is so far away from God. Maybe you have built walls so high because of previous disappointment that you have become so distant from God. Today I have something for you that will encourage you to try one more time. And no I am not talking about going through the motion. I am talking about letting God fully in and inviting Him into the deepest areas of your life. 

It is understandable why you have gotten to that point. Maybe you have been praying over a situation for so long and have yet to experience a breakthrough in that area. Or maybe you prayed for something with so much faith and you still were disappointed. Have you ever prayed for something only for you to receive an answer contrary to what you prayed for? Or maybe you have experienced disappointment in so many areas of your life that you are just over it. And you know, the problem with experiencing frequent disappointment is that you slowly detach yourself until you get to the point where you no longer believe. And yes, you might think that you do still believe, but let me ask you this. 

What response do you have when what you expected falls through? Do you usually say something like ‘well, I expected it? No surprises there? Or do you just shrug it off and keep it pushing? Maybe instead of saying that you just ignore it completely and have no reaction whatsoever. If you identify with any of these responses then you could be dealing with hope deferred. You might even go ahead and console yourself by saying such is life. And whilst that is true, life does happen. The fact that you have grown numb to whatever situations you are facing is quite frankly scary. This is because the more disappointed you get, the less your faith is and it is very easy for you to even become cynical. Do you feel like God has let you down?

The sad reality is that so many Christians are living in this reality where they experience disappointment in so many areas that they just become Christians by their doing and not by faith. They get to the point where they think of the worst-case scenario before thinking of the best-case scenario. And because they do so subconsciously, they don’t realize that they no longer have that faith.

Reading the Bible, praying, fasting, tithing and the whole aspect of Christianity is great but where is your heart? Are you doing them because you love God or are you doing them because you are required to do them?? When you think of giving, why do you do it? When you pray, do you come out of your prayer sessions feeling like a Victor or do you come out feeling defeated? Could it be that you have lost your faith completely but are still living right?

Could it be that your heart has grown cold for God, but you don’t realize it because you are so busy checking boxes of your to-do lists? The scary part about total surrender is that in the same, the pain cuts deep when you are disappointed. The deeper the trust the deeper the pain of disappointment. It is one thing to know about God. But when you have had an encounter with Him and had experiential knowledge, it usually hurts the most when you experience disappointment and have to navigate through unanswered prayers. The fact that you know that God is overall and has the ability to change a situation but does not change it is quite frankly frustrating.

Having experienced God in the mountain top and having to deal with the valley moments after that can be challenging. So once again, I would like to pose a question for you. Have you lost the love and zeal for Jesus you had before? The truth is that when you examine yourself you can know if you have or not

But if you are having a hard time identifying, let me pose some questions to you.

1. How is your prayer life? 
2. Are your prayers shallow or are they vulnerable, raw, and honest? 
3. Whenever you experience a good or bad thing, who do you turn to first? 
4. Do you have faith that God can change your situation? Yes, you might believe that He has the power to do it, but do you think He wants to do it for you? 
5. Have you fully surrendered every area of your life? 
6. Do you trust God in the darkest areas of your life? 

What was your response to the questions? Is your zeal for God still there? God takes us from glory to glory and this means that your relationship with God deepens the more you spend time with Him. If this is not your reality, could it be that you have allowed hope deferred to cause your heart to grow cold for God? 

Maybe today, you have realized that your heart has grown cold. And want to know what you need to do. God today is asking you to try one more time. 

The disciples had experienced that relationship with Jesus for the 3 and a half years He was with them. But now it was time for Him to go to the grave. And the whole process did not make sense to them. Here was Jesus who had the power to raise the dead, who had been transfigured and had an encounter with both Moses and Elijah, and now He was surrendering to the Pharisees.

Can you imagine that? This was the person they had put their hope in. They had given up everything for Jesus and now He was surrendering to the enemy. The disciples thought that Jesus would overthrow the Roman government and save the Jews from the oppression they were experiencing, but that wasn’t the case. Has this been your case? Did you come to God because you saw all the beautiful things He did for others and wanted the same for yourself? And now that you are here, has your life been a mess that you are wondering what gives? Or maybe you have had beautiful encounters with God in the past but now it almost seems as if all hell has broken loose and you can’t seem to catch a break. 

 Anyway, the disciples watched as the soldiers took their only hope. They watched Him be tortured and even crucified. You know it’s funny how we almost judge Peter for denying Jesus, but let me ask you this. How would you feel when what you had put your trust in is shaken to the core.

To bring it closer home, as children most of us viewed our parents as superheroes. But the older we get we realize that they are human beings and that they do experience the same things we do. This can crush you. Can you picture the first time you realized that your parents were human just like you? How did you feel? Peter here was trying to reconcile what he thought with what he was experiencing at the moment. He knew that Jesus was the Son of God. But at the moment it did not look like Jesus was the son of God. After all, how could The Son of God allow mere mortals to torture Him? It did not make sense to him.

No wonder when Jesus rose from the dead and the excitement had died down, the disciples still went back to fishing. They were dealing with a case of hope deferred. They did not know how they could trust Jesus. And also they did not know if believing in Jesus was it for them. In this scripture we see that the disciples had not stopped identifying with Jesus, they still lived right. But their hearts were shattered so they went back to the familiar. Whenever you find yourself going back to the familiar it is usually a sign that you are detaching from God. It does not have to be a big move. It starts with one thing and gradually grows. No, I am not talking about going back to your sinful ways.

The disciples did not go back to their sinful ways, they just went back to what felt familiar. To you, it could be going to a career you had given up for Christ because your ministry is not growing. And maybe you have been at it for 2 years and have not seen any growth and because of that, you decide to give up altogether. In this case, you have not really gone back to the sinful ways, but just what’s comfortable because the new looks so bleak. Maybe it looks like no matter how much you try, things are not working out and so you decide to take a different route because you no longer trust that God will do it for you. And the thought of trying one more time sounds so scary that you would rather leave than try again.

God knows and sees what you are going through. He understands the disappointment you have experienced for far too long and He wants to heal you. 

Jesus healed the disciples by meeting them where they were at. He did not make them come to their level. Rather, He went to where they were. He could see that they were disappointed but He wanted to validate them. In John 21 we see Jesus validating Peter and healing him from hope deferred. The first one was through the catching of fish. Jesus wanted Peter to know that it did not matter how long he had fished all night with no hope. He wanted Peter to know that it was okay to try one more time. He wanted to give Peter the opportunity to try one more time. And because Peter tried again, his faith was ignited.

Maybe God wants you to know that this time it will be different. Is He asking you to try one more time?  You see, Peter was double frustrated, he had not caught any fish, and also although his teacher had risen from the dead, he did not know what that meant for him. He was so far from God that he did not know how to find his way back. And maybe you can relate today. Maybe your heart is so far from God because of disappointments.

God wants you to know today that you do not have to go on living like this. Peter denied Jesus, that’s the truth, but if for a second we would put ourselves in his shoes we would understand why. His only hope had been shattered and he did not know how he would pick the pieces up so he quietly quit on Jesus. Disappointed and hope deferred can lead you to quietly quit on Jesus. But today I want to encourage you to come back to your first love. He is waiting for you with arms wide open. He wants to heal you, ignite your faith, and make you whole.

How can you come back one more time?

Do not deny what you are feeling.

Quitting quietly stems from a lack of addressing the pain. The only reason you can do so is when someone hurts you so bad that you don’t even know how you can pick up the pieces. Look at Joseph in the New Testament. After Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant he quietly quit on her. The Bible even tells us that he resolved to leave her quietly and not embarrass her. He must have loved her so much to do so. So imagine the pain he must have felt.

There is a pain that cuts so deep that you don’t even wish bad on the other person, you just want out. Can someone say the same thing for you? You might have trusted God so much so that when the disappointments kept coming in, you did not want to publicly denounce Him but privately. It hurts even more because you know He has the power to change the situation but is allowing it to go on.

God does not want you to ignore what is happening. He wants you to be honest about it. Are you angry? Express it. Tell Him. Stop ignoring the pain and the feeling of disappointment. David did not ignore what He was feeling in Psalms 88 and neither should you. There are moments where the last thing on your mind is worship and that is okay too. Address exactly what you are feeling at the feet of Jesus. Tell Him how hurt you are that the situation is not changing.

Be honest with Him about it. He understands because He has been through it. At the cross, He felt abandoned by God and He even addressed it. This gives you the room to do the Same. Tell Him what you are feeling, do not shy away from being vulnerable. That is how your healing will come. Take a look at what the Psalmist said. He was expressing his feelings and did not hold anything back. 

God, you’re my last chance of the day. I spend the night on my knees before you. Put me on your salvation agenda; take notes on the trouble I’m in. I’ve had my fill of trouble; I’m camped on the edge of hell. I’m written off as a lost cause, one more statistic, a hopeless case. Abandoned as already dead, one more body in a stack of corpses, And not so much as a gravestone— I’m a black hole in oblivion. You’ve dropped me into a bottomless pit, sunk me in a pitch-black abyss. I’m battered senseless by your rage, relentlessly pounded by your waves of anger.

You turned my friends against me and made me horrible to them. I’m caught in a maze and can’t find my way out, blinded by tears of pain and frustration. I call to you, God; all day I call. I wring my hands, I plead for help. Are the dead a live audience for your miracles? Do ghosts ever join the choirs that praise you? Does your love make any difference in a graveyard? Is your faithful presence noticed in the corridors of hell? Are your marvelous wonders ever seen in the dark, your righteous ways noticed in the Land of No Memory? Psalm 88:1‭-‬9 MSG

Come to Him one more time.

 God knows that you have been away from Him for some time. Turn back to Him. Tell Him that you are back and you need Him to heal you. Give Him that situation one more time. Yes, it did not go as planned before. Trust Him still with the same situation. Don’t resign yourself from trusting Him. It might not look like it BUT he is more than ready to listen and He wants you to take it to Him. Peter cast his jets one more time. He chose to follow Jesus again. Maybe it is time for you to do the same. 

Check your motives.

Stop going through the motions. Instead, check the motive for everything you Do. God’s desire is for you to have a relationship with Him. If the focus was on works the Pharisees would have been given a trophy and Jesus would not have had to die. Salvation comes through faith in Jesus alone. But God is not like that He desires to have you know Him personally. Let the revelation of who He is, be the driving force for your actions. Remember, it is faith that saves you and faith alone. So check the state of your heart. As you do so, ensure that what you do stems from a relationship WITH God. Be then do. 

Heal.

For you to heal, you will have to spend time with God. The disappointments have been too much, but God wants to heal you today. Sit quietly in His presence and as you listen to some worship music or His word, let those words wash your inner being and fill you with hope again. Do it as often as you need to receive the healing you need. It is a journey so don’t expect it to happen all at once. Though it could after all God is sovereign. Healing is a journey. You will have messy days, but just hang in there. Don’t give up when the going gets tough.

Conclusion.

Do not allow hope deferred to cause you to quietly quit on God. Try one more time. Do not give up on God. He is still on the throne and He still wants to deliver you. 

Do not go on another day feeling as you are. Allow God to heal you today. Allow Him to wipe every tear and heal your crushed heart. God is asking you to try one more time because this time it will be different. He knows that you are weary but He wants you to try again, will you? 

Exercise

1. Find a Biblical character who experienced disappointment. You can read Psalm 88 once more and identify the emotions you can relate with,
2. Journal every thought that comes to mind and as you write them down, surrender them to God. Do it as often as you can and take note of what happens to your heart and soul every time you do that.