Sometimes you simply feel like giving up. You say, “I’ve had it. I’ve done all I can do. I quit.”

Feeling like you can’t go on doesn’t happen only to weak people or non-Christians. It happens to everyone.

It happened to Elijah. At the most inopportune time, Elijah felt like giving up and quitting. He even asked God to let him die.

Though he had fought the good fight and won, he was exhausted and overcome by the emotion of the experience (1 Kings 18-19). He complained to God that they had killed all the other prophets and he was the only one left.

It happened to Baruch. He was Jeremiah’s scribe, and the enormity of his situation overwhelmed him (Jeremiah 45).

At Jeremiah’s dictation, he wrote out all the messages of Jeremiah. After he read those messages to the people in the temple of the Lord, the king of Judah took the manuscript and burned it in a fire. Jeremiah called on Baruch to write it again (Jeremiah 36). This seems to have been the last straw for Baruch.

What can you do when you feel like quitting?

First, take a break and get some rest. Elijah was physically and emotionally exhausted. Interestingly, the first thing God told him to do was to eat something and then to get some sleep. After getting rest, Elijah was more ready to hear God’s directive to get up and go back to Israel and do the work God intended for him to do.

Second, look at things through realistic eyes. God told Baruch he lived in perilous times. It was not the time to seek great things for himself; it was the time to be thankful for your life.

Many times we don’t look at our world through realistic eyes. It helps so much to step back and take an honest assessment of the situation.

Third, let God lead you through the turmoil. Both Elijah and Baruch were encouraged and blessed when God gave them specific instructions concerning how they were to serve. More than anything else, we need to listen to God.

His direction can take us through those difficult times when we feel like quitting.

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