The bad news kept coming like sheets of rain pounding against a window. First, we learned of a betrayal in our extended family that rocked us to our core, shattering what little hope was left that the relationship could survive. The grief that accompanied these revelations brought life-altering decisions to our table, and the stress began to manifest itself physically. Sleepless nights were followed by panic attacks, which resulted in a trip to the cardiologist. On top of that, our business was suffering, and our mortgage was crushing. One day, I said the quiet part out loud, “I feel like giving up.”
Have you ever felt that way? There are seasons of life when suffering intensifies. Jesus said trials are like rain that falls on the just and unjust (Matt 5:45), and we should expect trouble in this life (John 16:33). If trials are like water, you might sometimes feel like you’re barely keeping your head above the surface. We feel the weight of sin, broken relationships, sickness, and trials, and while we don’t like to admit it, sometimes we feel like giving up. But if we study the life of Paul, we learn that he suffered far more than any of us ever have, and he offers a better alternative to giving up.
“Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.”
2 Corinthians 4:16
In other words, Paul says, “Keep enduring and don’t give up!” And the only way we don’t lose heart is by finding renewal in God’s Word. Paul received a vision and saw God’s glory, which completely transformed his view of his suffering (2 Cor 3:18). We might not see God’s glory with our physical eyes, but we can see him spiritually. We need to look to his Word, where he reveals the power and strength that is ours if we are in Christ.
Friend, the answer is not to give up but to hold on. Turn to the Word and find the endurance your soul needs. Here are 20 verses to get you started.
20 Bible Verses for When You Feel Like Giving Up
- Galatians 6:9 (ESV)
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. - Hebrews 10:35-36 (ESV)
Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. - Isaiah 41:10 (ESV)
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. - Isaiah 40:28-29 (ESV)
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. - James 1:12 (ESV)
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. - Lamentations 3:25-26 (ESV)
The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. - Hebrews 12:2-4 (ESV)
Looking to Jesus, the founder, and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. - Isaiah 40:31 (ESV)
But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. - Luke 18:1 (ESV)
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. - 2 Peter 3:8-9 (ESV)
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. - Philippians 3:12-14 (ESV)
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. - James 1:2-4 (ESV)
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. - Philippians 4:13 (ESV)
I can do all things through him who strengthens me. - Jeremiah 31:25 (ESV)
For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish. - 1 Corinthians 9:24 (ESV)
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (ESV)
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. - Revelations 3:21 (ESV)
To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me on my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father on his throne. - Romans 8:25 (ESV)
But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. - Romans 4:18-19 (ESV)
In hope, he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. - 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (ESV)
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
When poked, do you bleed Bible?
John Bunyan lived in England in the 17th century and was arrested and sentenced to three months in prison for preaching the gospel. He was regularly offered release if he agreed to recant and stop preaching. Bunyan refused and spent 12 more years in jail, bringing great hardship upon his family. But his refusal to give up reaped great rewards. During his imprisonment, he wrote one of the greatest classics of all time, The Pilgrim’s Progress.
Charles Spurgeon said of Bunyan, “Prick him anywhere—his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his very soul is full of the Word of God.”
This is the secret of not giving up: saturate your soul with Scripture. This is how Paul, John Bunyan, and you and I can carry on and endure to the end.
God help us,
