Joshua 21:45 (ESV) declares, “Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.” Further, Isaiah 40:8 (ESV) confirms, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”
Therefore, just in these two verses of scripture, we learn that God can do everything except fail. As many of us already proclaim, there is no failure in God. When things don’t always turn out the way in which we want them to do so, some of us get the feeling that God has failed us. Take note of what it says in Luke 1:35-37 (ESV) about Mary and the birth of Jesus and that Elizabeth was considered barren, but she conceived: “And the angel answered her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy — the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’” Glory be to God, for He can do everything except fail!
If there is a miracle for which you have been waiting, just keep on praying and waiting on God to deliver. We have just come through and celebrated the Christmas season. However, there is something that I want all of us to think about. “Santa” came and delivered on one day in December 2019, just as we know him to do every year. He has come and gone and won’t be back to deliver until that one day in December 2020.
Guess what? Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ comes and delivers every day of the year! Wait on Him and give Him a chance for your delivery of a miracle. As it is proclaimed in Numbers 23:19 (ESV), “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”
Whatever you do, don’t give up on God or yourself because He has promised faithfully in His Word that He will deliver. Be patient, be still, and know that He is God. Job confided in God when he told Him: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2 ESV). Therefore, God can do everything except fail!
Let me share just a few brief stories of people who did not give up on their dreams. Hopefully, they will inspire you not to give up while you are waiting on God to deliver. These inspirational “never give up stories” were taken from two excellent books by Jack Canfield and Mark Hansen: “Chicken Soup for the Writer’s Soul” and “A Cup of Chicken Soup for the Soul.”
Henry Ford failed and went broke five times before he finally succeeded.
Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions instead of improving his technique. His teacher called him hopeless as a composer.
Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas. Disney also went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland.
When NFL running back Herschel Walker was in junior high school, he wanted to play football, but the coach told him he was too small. He advised young Herschel to go out for track instead. Never one to give up, he ignored the coach’s advice and began an intensive training program to build himself up. Only a few years later, Herschel Walker won the Heisman trophy.
When General Douglas MacArthur applied for admission to West Point, he was turned down, not once, but twice. But he tried a third time, was accepted and marched into the history books.
When the first “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book was completed, it was turned down by 33 publishers in New York and another 90 at the American Booksellers Association convention in Anaheim, Calif., before Health Communications Inc., finally agreed to publish it. The major New York publishers said, “It is too nicey-nice” and “Nobody wants to read a book of short little stories.” Since that time more than eight million copies of the original “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book have been sold. The series, which has grown to 32 titles, in 31 languages, has sold more than 53 million copies.
Whatever you are going through or are expecting to take place, remember that God can do everything except fail. Trust and believe in Him because His word is true. Never give up on God because He will never give up on you.
Have a wonderfully blessed week, and never leave home without Him!
(Anna Bright is a minister and educator in Walterboro. She can be reached at abrightcolumn@lowcountry.com)
