Pastor's Ponderings, July 14, 2014

Let’s Just “Call It A Day”

The Free Dictionary defines the phrase “call it a day” which means to stop some activity.  You have done all that you can do and now you have decided there is nothing more that you can do. An example of calling it a day occurred during the November 25, 1980 boxing fight, when Roberto Durán II turned away from Sugar Ray Leonard and towards the referee and quit by saying "No más” which is Spanish for "No more."  But he was leading and was roundly criticized for not continuing the fight.

In the Bible, when God told Abraham that he would have a son even though he was old and his wife Sarah was past childbearing, she laughed at the idea (Genesis 18:9-14, Genesis 21:1, 2).  She "called it a day" and asked her husband to have a son with her handmaiden (Genesis 16:2). In contrast, when God announced He would destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham bravely bargained for their salvation and the Lord agreed to his terms (Genesis 18:17-33).

Many times we will give up when all hope seems to be lost.  The employment picture seems hopeless, the relationship seems lost, and the possibility of victory is remote.  Friends are few, bills are due, and ending one’s quest seems to be the only viable alternative.  This is the time to ask God for the solution for your difficult problem.  He knows the answer; He knows just how to solve the problem.  So, let us not call it a day, let us call on God. 

Please visit below and share when you asked God for the solution to impossible problems and how you received His directions. You can encourage others to do the same.

Genesis 18:9-14

New Living Translation (NLT)

9 “Where is Sarah, your wife?” the visitors asked.

“She’s inside the tent,” Abraham replied.

10 Then one of them said, “I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!”

Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent.
11 Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children.
12 So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?”

13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’
14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

Genesis 21:1, 2

New Living Translation (NLT)

1 The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised.
2 She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would.

Genesis 16:2

New Living Translation (NLT)

2 So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal.

Genesis 18:20-23, 32-33
New Living Translation (NLT)

20 Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous
21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”

22 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.
23 Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

32 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”

He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”

33 When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.