Throw In the Towel or Give a Second Chance?

Some days I just want to throw my hands in the air and say, "I give up...!" I get so tired and weary, sad from all the things I see going on around me, that I want to say, "That's it, I'm done!" Not that I want to give up on serving my God, not that I am saying I don't want to be a Christian, don't want to live for Him, or be there when He calls for me to do something... No not at all! There are just some days you get fed up with people, in general. People will let you down every time if you put your trust in them, and some days I feel like saying to some of them, "good thing God wants to save your soul, because if it were me, I would have thrown my hands in the air and walked away a long time ago."

That isn't surprising that someone would feel that way, right? No it isn't. I am as human, and humans get frustrated, they get mad, they want to throw in the towel sometimes too. I can admit there have been times, not a lot of them, but times when I wondered if the price I was paying for what I am trying to do, is worth the heartache, frustration, and pain. Sometimes at first, I get so excited about a new venture when God says Go, then when I get there, I am trying hard, but can't see a redemptive quality in another person or group I am supposed to be working with, but I have to remind myself that God has a plan for them, just like He had for me, and whether I see the qualities or characteristics that God sees or not, it isn't for me to decide, it is up to God.

I am so glad God makes those decisions and not me or any other human being. I know I would have been given up on a long time ago, if it were up to someone else. When I do finally see a quality or something special about the person or group I am working with, I thank God that He gave me the strength and fortitude to stick it out and go on... I praise Him everyday that He gives me a love for Him that makes me want to serve Him no matter what, so that I don't want to really give up. I just get frustrated sometimes, like many out there in this world.

On days when I want to throw in the towel, I think about Jonah, when he went to Nineveh, told them that because of their wickedness that they would be destroyed in 30 days by the hand of God. He just figured, okay, I will go sit here and watch what happens, watch the destruction so I can start all over again sharing God with someone else when they are gone, since they are done for, they are never going to change their ways. Then, something that Jonah never counted on happened, the people in the city cried out and called on God, repenting, asking Him to forgive them, asking God to give them another chance, and God chose to spare their lives. He forgave them of their sins and they turned from their wicked ways to live for Him there after.

Oh boy, was Jonah mad. He was so angry with God. He thought, that wasn't fair, if you say you are gonna do something, then you should do it, even if they repented, you said you were going to destroy them, you should have done it. When God said, "But they repented and changed from their sins..." Jonah didn't care at all, he was arguing with God that they shouldn't get that second chance, just because they repented. I can just see Jonah saying something like, "What are you thinking God, if you don't destroy them, other wicked cities are never going to take you seriously." Jonah was so done with this city, that he didn't see that true repentance had taken place. He refused to look at it from God's point of view.

He needed to take a step back and look at it a different way. He was told to go to Nineveh, to tell them of their destruction, he didn't want to go because of their sin, because they were such a wicked city, he didn't want to go anywhere near them. So what did he do, he got on a boat, took off in the other direction, to "escape" God. Like he ever really could. God sent a storm, the men on the boat were preparing to their death, they couldn't figure out why such a storm hit them so hard... Jonah told them, "it is me, I am in disobedience to God and he sent this storm. Throw me over and it will stop." So they did what he told them to do, their lives were spared and the storm subsided for them.

God sent a great fish to swallow up Jonah, to get a hold of his heart. Jonah spent three nights in the belly of that fish, not dead, alive, he was in there, going over all that he had done, all he had refused to do, and all that God had told him to do and had done for Him through his life, and said, something like, "I am running from a God that is everywhere, he could have killed me right here and now, he could have even struck me dead before ever getting on the boat, but He let me live, so that I could set things right with Him and do what I am called to do in Nineveh." Talk about a God of second chances, Jonah called out to God, repented of his sin and rebellion, and asked God to forgive him and spare his life, so he could go to Nineveh on God's behalf.

When the fish coughed Jonah up, he landed right on the shores of Nineveh. Right where God had wanted him in the first place. He got the ultimate second chance, God sent this fish as not only a life raft, to save his life from the waters in the middle of nowhere, but he was also his transport to Nineveh. What an amazing God we serve!

It was so wrong that Jonah couldn't even think that Nineveh deserved a second chance after receiving his life in exchange for obedience? He didn't even remember his own moment of rebellion, sin and pride. All he could think about was, I came all this way to deliver a message and now God isn't going through with it, "that's just so wrong!" He was so above these people, because they were so wicked, even though his own life had been spared he couldn't see why God would spare theirs. What a contradiction.

When I get to point of wishing I could just throw my hands up in the air and say "I'm done, I quit! Lord, find someone else!" I look back and think about Jonah. I look at my own life, I think, how selfish and prideful would it be to think that I am so much better than they are, to receive all the second chances after second chances I have received, if I didn't press on and help others get the chance of redemption and restoration I have received in my own life from God. That is the redemptive quality I find in others. That is why God sent me here!