Give up or give in

Remember the story of Elijah and the widow? Elijah instructed a poor widow to make him some bread. It seemed like a simple request but for this widow, the request was more than she could imagine. A drought had absolutely ravaged the land and food, flour and oil were scarce. The widow had done all she could do with what she had and sadly had resigned that she and her son would die.

I cannot imagine what her life was like a few days or even a few weeks before the fateful day in which she knew she would die. She would prepare a last piece of bread and she and her son would die soon thereafter. I am sure she prayed and worried and held out hope that something amazing would happen. I bet the morning she thought would be her last broke her heart. She undoubtedly looked at her son and wondered what would his life have been like if her husband had not died and if the drought had not ruined the land.

Then Elijah shows up and asks her to do something impossible. Up to the moment that Elijah insisted, the widow had a choice. This choice would change her life forever.

She could either 'give up' and die or 'give in (to God)' and live a life that would forever be immortalized by a Biblical account. The "woman who never ran out of oil" had a living testimony the rest of her life.

God asks us to give everything to Him. We are to praise Him when things are great and we are to praise Him when things are really...crappy. In addition to praise, we are to give Him our worries, troubles and concerns. If you grow up in Appalachia like I did, you will hear a million times to leave whatever bugs you "at the foot of the cross."

But why does it happen that we just 'give up' sometimes? Frustrations grow and multiply to the point it clouds our vision and we take our eyes of Him. Despair breeds hopelessness and hopelessness causes us to lose all expectation of a miracle or a higher calling.

Giving in and giving it all to God takes courage and faith. When we are weak, He is strong. When we cannot take anymore, He is willing to do what we need. Our stressors are well within the ability of God to handle. We just have to remember that and remind others when they are feeling overwhelmed.