The End of the Rope

You've been working on your verses all since the beginning of June. Though it's been hard, you have been able to do it, and as you move on, you think nothing can stop you. You're going above the number of verses you have to be doing daily. You're on track with your sword study. You've got a good review system going. But then...
But then you get overwhelmed. The time you spend on reviewing Bible Bee verses is getting more and more. Memorizing all of the references for all of the different cards is difficult. You don't get to do as much studying as you want for the Bible Bee, and many passages you don't know as well as you wanted to.
You're discouraged. You're spending many hours a day working on this, and... And you aren't where you want to be. You have so much work to do. You're exhausted; you're tired of doing it. All you want to do is to give up and call it quits.

Generally in trying to do something, there are two main time periods where it is easiest to give up. The first is a couple weeks after you started. You started the task with boldness and vigor, but it can too quickly die out, and you can give up. But the other time period when it is easiest to give up is when you're nearing the final stretch. You aren't quite at the point when you can see the end in sight, and you still have so much to do. The amount of time and effort is getting to you, and perhaps you don't have the strength to continue working at it. "Where can I get the strength to do this?" you might ask.

Psalm 11:1 says, "In the LORD I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, Flee like a bird to your mountain?" If our soul has taken refuge in God and we hope in God, what weariness can discourage us from our journey? God is our all in all; he is every thing that we need.

Galatians 6:9 says, "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." Are you discouraged? Do you want to give up? Look ahead to the end goal! Look to the time when you have done all of your verses, the Bible Bee is done, and you can look back at this time with satisfaction of having a job done well. Look forward to the time when the hardness is over! Look to when you can relax and rest and rejoice that you had the strength to get through it all.

But where do you get this strength? In Hosea 10:13, where God recounts the wickedness that Israel has done, He says, "Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many warriors..." The strength to persevere and to continue on is not to be found in ourselves. We have no strength in and of ourselves to continue on. If we were just relying on our own strength, it would be best for us to just give up here. Because we wouldn't be able to do it.

But the glory of it is, is that we do it not of our strength but of God's! Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Through the strength we receive in Christ we are able to do it. This is a strength by which we shall be able to do all things, even memorize 250-500-800 verses in one summer for the Bible Bee.

Is your strength failing you? Isaiah 40:31 says, "but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." If we hope in the Lord, we will have our strength renewed. We will soar on the wind as if we were majestic eagles. It is when we realize that our own strength can do nothing to help us that God blesses us by renewing us with strength that comes from him?

So, like I am now, are you weary? Had you been hoping to have been doing better right now? Is the time commitment becoming burdensome? "Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved." the psalmist says in Psalm 55:22. Look to God and trust in him. Cast your fears, your worries, and your burdens upon the Lord and hope in him. Because he will never suffer the righteous to be moved. If you trust in him, then he will not fail your trust.