What Does It Mean To Quit?

1/30/2023

The LORD was my support. He brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He DELIGHTED in me. (Psalm 18)

Is there any explanation about (at least part of) WHY Abba DELIGHTS in David, or you, or me? Start with the “overview” of how David trains his “radio” instead of self-hate thoughts or striving or pride. We build OUR radios like David does—same purposeful flow of thoughts and Direction—and we are more like Jesus, “a Man after God’s own heart.”

But then there are a number of other things listed that bring God’s DELIGHT of us, if we live in Him this way. Just grab some practicals from Psalm 18 of how we Align in the +1 +1 +1 Place that adds more and more to His enemy’s defeat and therefore His Delight :) I have __. I have __. I kept __. I was __. Therefore __. For You I will __. Your right hand has __. Your gentleness has __.

Psalm 18:3
I called on the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and he saved me from my enemies.

Psalm 18:6
But in my distress I cried out to the LORD;
yes, I prayed to my God for help.
He heard me from his sanctuary;
my cry to him reached his ears.

Psalm 18:25
To the faithful you show yourself faithful;
to those with integrity you show integrity.

And he sang God’s praises and declared His greatness. He had integrity and valued God’s laws and desires.

To that point:

In the sport of track and field, say 10,000 m, what does it mean to “quit”? Does it mean to quit a race or quit the team?

Or does “quitting” simply mean I’m not looking for ways to break my PR, my personal record, or to win the next race—because it “hurts too much” to risk the painful training when it may not accomplish the goal? Quitting doesn’t mean you quit the team or quit the race, it means you quit paying the price to be a better you.

In the sport, if you can call it that, of golf, what does “quitting” mean? Does it mean you never pick up clubs again, or does it mean you have no further expectations, no concern if you ever improve or learn anything, and aren’t paying attention to the failures to learn from them, because you don’t care? Quitting.

In following God, have we quit because we aren’t “following hard after God” and “searching for him with all our hearts”? It is possible to quit on God without declaring yourself an atheist of course. Quitting is when we don’t care to pay the price of changing. Quitting is when the cost or the pain is enough that we decide to shrink back or be distracted by the world, or vanity, or pride, or entertainment. As you know from the Scriptures that is a death move. Define quitting properly, please? Quitting is when one refuses to pay the price for +1 +1 +1 every single day for the rest of time and eternity. No matter what the cost or the so-called results. Anything less than passion and change is quitting. It doesn’t take being an atheist to be a quitter. And “we are not amongst those who shrink back and are destroyed.” He delights in me because...

I have been righteous. I have clean hands, I have kept the way of the Lord, I have not acted wickedly against my God. I kept his judgments and statutes before me. I was blameless before Him and kept myself from wrongdoing. I didn’t quit!

“He sang this song the day God rescued him from Saul and from all his enemies:”

“I love you, Lord; you are my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and he saved me from my enemies.” Psalms 18:1-3

Struck me that the first words pouring from David’s heart after the victory over his enemies were all about God and Who He IS. Not JUST “the good thing He DID for me.” He mentions that too of course and continues with many details. But the first words of worship from his lips were just about WHO God is. Seems like a part of training the radio. “I say to myself...”

Thank you for articulating “quitting.” Paying that price, not saving anything for the swim back, that is where the battle for me often is... I won’t quit.

•  Excite Him to Move Mountains