William Wilberforce: The Fight He Refused to Lose (The 20-Year War on the Slave Trade)

A frail young man, barely five feet tall and often too sick to stand, took on the most profitable industry in the British Empire and would not quit for twenty years.

The Great Change That Redirected a Life

William Wilberforce was a rising political star who loved the good life, until he met Jesus Christ in his mid-twenties and called it the Great Change. He nearly left politics for ministry. But his old friend John Newton, the former slave-ship captain who wrote Amazing Grace, urged him to stay. God had raised him up for the nation, Newton said, so do God’s work right there in Parliament. Wilberforce stayed and picked the fight of his life.

Twenty Years of Standing Back Up

He brought his first bill against the slave trade in 1791. It was crushed. So he brought it again, and again, year after year. The money fought him. The newspapers tore him apart. His health failed often enough to excuse a dozen retreats. But every year he stood back up and made the case, until in 1807 Parliament finally abolished the British slave trade and cheered while he wept. He kept fighting for full freedom, and in 1833, three days before he died, the news reached his bedside. Slavery in the empire was over.

When You’re Ready to Sit Down in a Long Fight

Maybe you are weary in a long fight of your own, the same prayer for years, the same hard work with no breakthrough. Galatians 6:9 says, Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. In due season, on God’s clock, not yours. The fight that defines a life is usually the long one you refuse to lose. Do not sit down. Your due season may be closer than you think.

And that, friend, is how God lifts up your day.

Keep looking up!
Pastor Rodney

Listen to the audio version on the Lift Up Your Day podcast.