Don't Give Up

I greet you in Jesus precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 13th of May, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Jeremiah 20:9:

“Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him,
Nor speak anymore in His name.”
But His word was in my heart like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
I was weary of holding it back,
And I could not.”

Folks, Jeremiah had had enough. He was completely ridiculed and he said, “That’s enough Lord, no more, I am not preaching Your word anymore,” but then he said, “But I can’t help it, I have to.”

Then we go to the New Testament to the Book of Acts 17:32-33:

“And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” So Paul departed from among them.”

Have you ever felt like giving up? Have you ever felt like saying, “Lord, that is the last time I am preaching or speaking or talking to people about Jesus because they don’t listen and they mock me every single time”? That’s what they did with one of the greatest preachers of the whole Bible. I am talking about Paul, the Apostle. The same thing happened with Jeremiah. He said, ‘That’s enough. I am not doing it anymore. They are not listening to me.” Oh, I can identify with these two giants. As a young preacher, I went to a little town in the southern part of our little province. Everything went wrong. I was supposed to speak to a group of people in a hotel. The atmosphere was wrong. The people were waiting for their supper and the supper was late, so when they eventually got down to eating many of them were under the weather. They had been drinking too much alcohol. Then I got up and I preached my heart out. I made an altar call. Not one single person responded. I can laugh about it now, but not that day. I have never felt so naked in my life. 

I went to the minister’s home where I was sleeping and I said to the Lord, “Lord, that’s the last time. I am not doing this again. They have a church on every street corner in this town. They don’t need me. I am a farmer. I will go back and farm. The Lord spoke to me in my heart and said, “Are you going to do this or aren’t you?” Reluctantly, the next day I got up, and I started to preach again, then the dam burst. Aah, what a harvest we had! And I have never stopped since. 

The same thing happened to Robert Moffatt, the Scottish missionary who founded a missionary station in Kuruman. He was in Scotland trying to recruit missionaries. It was a midweek evening, a handful of white-haired ladies sat in the front row. He was so disillusioned, but you see, what he didn’t realise was that there was a young 14-year-old boy who was working the pump organ, standing behind the organ. What was his name? David Livingstone - one of the giants of Africa! Don’t give up. Jesus is in control!

God bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.