Don't give up!

Reading of the Day: 1 Samuel 11-13

1 Samuel 12:20: And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart;

After a victory against the enemy with Saul leading the people, the prophet & judge Samuel knew it was time to officially leave the people in the hands of Saul their king & remind them of what The Lord had done for them up to that point. He also reminded them of their disobedience to The Lord, in their sinful decisions but also in asking for a king. Now this might sound strange, considering they had just experienced a victory, but Samuel knew that in choosing a king to reign over them, they were ultimately not choosing God as their true King. But Samuel did not leave them without a message of hope! God always has hope for his people, no matter how far we feel we've strayed away! God always provides a way back for us to accept Him as the true King over our lives. Samuel says, "ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart." We may have messed up. We may have messed up many times. We may feel like, "I've done all this...I have no choice but to give up on myself & give up on God..." But we can be so thankful that instead we can say, "I've done all this...but God never gives up on me, so I will keep going!" Of course we know, this doesn't mean we have a pass to sin. This doesn't mean that any track is the "right track." But it does mean that when we make a mistake, God does not permanently block the road which leads back to the right path! The door is always open to return to Him! Even though we have a long list of disappointments, we can know that God does not look at US as disappointments! He loves us so much and always wants us to be a people who belong to Him! 1 Samuel 12:22: "For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name's sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people." Let's not give up! Let's turn back in true repentance & give our all to serving Him once again!