Don't Spoil the Punch Line

The Merriam Webster On-Line Dictionary defines “Punch Line” as: “the sentence, statement, or phrase (as in a joke) that makes the point.”

Of course we most often use this term in reference to a joke. The telling of a joke requires skillfull timing in order to deliver the one line which will invoke the laughs that we are going for... The reason we would warn someone to not spoil the punch line can be that if the teller is an inexperienced “joker,” the punch line could be announced too early. Or even worse, a by-stander who knows the joke, maybe even a younger person might tell the puch line before the person telling the joke has a chance to finish building his case. All of the relevent information must already have been given, put out on the table if you will, before the punch line can be delivered.

Another famous quote which has similar implications is this. “It’s not over until the fat lady sings.” This is a term often used in the sport of baseball. At the end of the game, particularly in days long gone by, a fat lady with a vibratto voice would come onto the field and sing a final song at the end of the game. It used to be that the stereotype of a lady with a good voice was that she would almost always be fat.

Your team might have been down 5 to 8 and you are in your last play. But you should never stop trying to get that hit which could still win the game because “it’s not over until the fat lady sings.”

Here’s my point for today. The enemy is always trying to set you up for a failure or a fall, but God will always take that demonic set up and turn it around so that it can be used as a divine STEP UP.

There are many teachings which admonish us to trust God, let Him fight our battles, give it all to Him, turn the other cheek, don’t take offense, forgive those who persecute us and the list goes on. It is a major theme in the Word of God and one we must understand and appropriate in order to live blessed lives. But I invite you to look at it from the perspective of the two thoughts I have shared today.

Don’t spoil the Punch Line! God’s timing and execution of your needed deliverance from your circumstances are PERFECT! You may look like a fool right now... you may be humiliated right now... your friends and family may have turned on you for now... but it is God’s plan and you are firmly in His grip! This set up that you may be experiencing is ultimately designed to be a step up.... UNLESS YOU SPOIL THE PUNCH LINE. Don’t defend yourself, don’t manipulate the situation, don’t talk to everyone and your brother about it. Quiet yourself down, be still and know that God is working on your behalf, pray, and wait. Do something productive in the Word and in prayer. Build yourelf up in your most holy faith and set your eyes on the hills from where your help is going to come. Let me say it this way. Don’t let the devil win by playing into his plan. Stick with God’s plan and don’t spoil the punch line!

Did you know that the more guilty you look right now if you are being falsely accused, the better you are going to look after God vindicates you? Do you understand that the more humiliated you are right now, the more confidence you are going to have after you are done passing through this fire?

Say this to yourself with me right now... “Everything is going to be great!” Now say this... “It’s not over until the fat lady sings!”