It’s Always Too Soon To Quit

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9

Sooner or later, we will know what it feels like to be knocked down by adversity. The prophet Micah said, “Rejoice not over me, O my enemies, for when I fall, I shall arise. And when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light unto me.” It’s possible for you to get knocked down but not knocked out. 

There was a story about an American war hero. He took his duties on in a very special way. This brave soldier said that “he would absolutely be willing to put his life on the line to recapture twelve POWs of the American Armed Forces.” He had a desire and a vision to rescue these men and take them all back home.

Twelve American soldiers had been captured behind the enemy lines. A plan was drawn up to send a platoon of soldiers in to get them out of this place where they were being held hostage. As the brave soldier was running across the field, he stepped on a land mine that blew off part of his face. He wiggled in the dirt, picked himself up, and continued. Somehow, he got to where the soldiers were being held captive, and he and three other soldiers fought their way through and led them out.

As they were running back across the field, one of the enemy soldiers shot him in the back, and somehow he managed to fall into the helicopter. Just as they were about to take off, they counted and realized they only had eleven of the twelve POWs. They all agreed that someone had to go back. The soldier, with his face blown half off and a bullet hole in his back, said, “I will go!” He took off running before anybody could stop him. He found the missing POW, but on the way back to the helicopter, he was ambushed by a soldier from the enemy forces and was stabbed in the chest. Somehow, he managed to take the weapon away and kill the soldier and still get the last POW to the helicopter! 

As the helicopter took off, the medics began looking over all the wounded. When they saw this man lying in a pool of his blood, in a semi-conscious state, with his face messed up, a bullet in his back, and a stab wound in his chest, the doctor said, “Just leave him alone; he’s too far gone, let’s move onto someone that we can help.” When the wounded soldier heard that, he somehow managed enough strength to sit up in the helicopter, and he turned to the doctor and spit. Then he just laid back down as if to say, “You may think I’m too far gone – and you may think I’m not worth working on, but I want you to know that there’s still a whole lot of life left in me. And I may have been through a battle, but I’m not dead yet!”

Sometimes, the enemy may think he’s got you knocked down, and you are ready to give up, but you just remind him that as long as you have breath in your lungs, you are not going to quit doing what God placed you here to do!

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