Don’t quit before the miracle happens.

Here's the Precious Prodigal post for August 22, 2014: Don’t quit before the miracle happens. #trustGod #stayfaithful Please "Share" using this "ShortLink" = http://bit.ly/1l0z9Bm

Psalm 30:5 "...weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

I apologize to my Alabama readers in advance because I have to tell you I don’t care very much about football. My daughter and my husband both love football�"make that Alabama football�"enough to make up for my shameful deficit.

They wouldn’t miss an Alabama game regardless of who else is playing, but I don’t usually watch the games with them. I made an exception when Alabama played LSU on November 3, 2012. And I’m glad I did because God taught me an important spiritual truth during the last two minutes of that game.

Already ahead 17-14 with less than two minutes remaining, it was a foregone conclusion that LSU was going to win. Then they tried for a field goal that should have ended the game, but they missed. The ball was instead turned over to the Crimson Tide on their own 28 yard line with a minute and 34 seconds left in the game. Alabama then made three perfect passes and scored a touchdown with only seconds remaining in the game.

How in the world did Alabama turn this around? The answer is simple. They refused to quit. They were exhausted, battered and discouraged. And they looked it. One sports announcer said, “Even their legs look tired.” But they did not quit. And I’m glad they didn’t, because the story wasn’t finished yet.

We can’t quit either. No matter how hard the fight, no matter how powerful the opposition, no matter whether we are so exhausted “even our legs look tired”…we can’t quit. Our story isn’t finished yet, and neither is the story of our prodigal.

God isn’t finished with him, and it doesn’t matter whether your prodigal has turned against everything you ever taught him about your God. That prodigal is almost certainly not even seeking God, and he doesn’t have to because God is seeking him. (Romans 10:20, Luke 19:10)

We don’t need to point out what our prodigal needs to do; that’s not our job. Our job is to stand firm, refuse to quit, and continue to believe God. You can choose faith over fear and say with the psalmist, “…for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” (Psalm 42:11)

We can’t quit even if it really is the last minute and a half before the miracle happens. No matter how long we’ve been fighting, the end of our story may be determined in the last seconds. That truth, perhaps more than any other, is why we can’t quit.

Perhaps you’ve been walking this hard path for a long time, and you’re exhausted and thinking you can’t do it for one more day. But you can; I know you can. And the day is coming when your wilderness journey will be over, and people will say of you, “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?” (Song of Sol 8:5) Until then, remembering the story’s not finished yet is something we need to hold fast.

Challenge for Today: Can you, just for today, refuse to quit before the miracle happens?