Archive

Have you ever reached the point where you thought, “I just don’t know how much longer I can do this”?

Maybe you’re exhausted from dealing with a strong-willed child.

Maybe your marriage has become a source of constant hurt and discouragement.

Perhaps you’ve experienced a devastating loss, and the holidays only made the empty place more noticeable.

Maybe you’ve lost a job, suffered a financial setback, received a frightening medical diagnosis, or you’re simply weary from one problem after another.

You’ve prayed.

You’ve tried.

You’ve kept going.

But now you’re tired.

What do you do when you don’t feel as though you have enough strength for one more day?

The people in Zechariah’s day knew something about discouragement.

They had returned to Jerusalem with a job to do. But sixteen years later, the temple still wasn’t finished. Opposition and difficulty had worn them down until the work had nearly stopped.

So God sent Zechariah with a message for Zerubbabel.

It wasn’t:

“Try harder.”

It wasn’t:

“You should be stronger by now.”

Instead, God reminded him where the strength to continue would come from:

“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” says the LORD of hosts.

Perhaps that’s exactly the reminder some of us need today.

Because sometimes God allows us to reach the end of our own strength so we’ll stop depending on it.

So how do we keep going when we’re discouraged, worn down, and tempted to give up?