Have you ever started a project or a class or some other endeavor and then failed to complete it? Or have you worked hard to accomplish something and then saw it all disappear perhaps through no fault of your own and then have to start all over to do it again? To complete any task we must have perseverance. I think of William Carey, a missionary to India, who wrote by hand a dictionary of the Sanskrit language which took years to accomplish only to see it go up in flames when a fire ravaged the building where the dictionary was kept. He had no back up copy, there was only one and he had to start over again to rewrite the dictionary. It was a major setback for him but he possessed a character trait of perseverance which enabled him to succeed.
We live in an era of wanting everything quickly and this gets transferred into our lives when it comes to making decisions about what we should do. Often we are presented with choices in which one can happen quickly and the other will take much more effort in order to accomplish. Fast and easy are often the choices that we make and in doing so we cheat ourselves out of gaining something more valuable and important.
A pastor I know has a son who just began training to be a doctor in Guatemala. It will take 6 years for him to complete his studies and it is a rigorous course he will undertake. Without the ability to persevere it will be easy to quit and find another occupation that is perhaps less demanding and most likely less rewarding.
The dictionary defines perseverance as : continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition.
We all enjoy having some things come easy but most of life involves great effort against great opposition, difficulties and failures to be able to achieve something of value. People who take the easy route seldom accomplish anything of value. Those who are willing to take risks and persevere through all the adversity are able to achieve things beyond what they thought was possible.
I have been reading the book of Exodus and thinking about the challenge it was for the Israelites and especially for Moses to leave Egypt and face all the trials that were before them. They were walking into unknown territory. I don’t think any of them had been through the wilderness. They had been slaves for many years and the only thing they knew was how to work hard to please the ruler. When Moses came to lead them to freedom, they had to develop trust in him and perseverance through all of the changes in decisions of Pharaoh who stated he would let them go but then changed his mind to keep them captive. God was at work accomplishing his purposes to be able to send the Israelites out of Egypt with the financial support of the Egyptians who readily gave them gold, silver and clothing to send them on their way. After all the plagues that they endured they were more than ready to be done with them. God was at work to bring glory to his name among all the nations not just Egypt. His name and his fame would spread through the nations causing them to tremble before his people. Moses and the Israelites had to persevere through this time of testing and not give up on God’s promise to bring them out of captivity.
When they finally were released there was great joy among the people but it was short lived as they faced the barrier of the Red Sea. Because of their lack of understanding and lack of faith in God and Moses, they misinterpreted the circumstances when they saw Pharoah’s 600 chariots coming after them. To gain their freedom, they had to persevere with God’s plan and not turn back. Some thought Moses had brought them out only to set them up for failure. God never sets us up for failure but for success. He knows the end from the beginning and he asks us to trust him and persevere in the circumstances we are facing so we can reach the goal. God’s plan was to destroy the Egyptian army. The Israelites did not know this, all they knew was that the enemy was right behind them and they were seemingly trapped. God intervened and kept the Egyptians from advancing by placing a cloud between the two camps, while sending a strong easterly wind to part the waters of the Red Sea and make a dry path for the million plus Israelites to cross.
When we persevere in adversity and opposition as we follow God’s call he will go before us and make a way for us. If we quit and give up we surrender our dreams, goals, desires and return to our captive state. When the Israelites crossed the Red Sea and saw the Egyptian army destroyed they rejoiced with song and dance. They were ecstatic and well they should have been to finally be out from under the harsh labor of Pharoah. I think God allowed Pharoah to make life harder for them so they would have greater joy when they were set free.
One would think it would be smooth sailing from this point for the Israelites but they were in for several more challenges that would test their faith and perseverance. It did not take too long before the water supply they had brought with them was consumed. After 3 days of journeying they were dry and the only water that was available was not potable but bitter. Ex. 15:22-25
22 Then Moses ordered Israel to set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter. That is why it was called Marah. 24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 He cried out to the Lord; and the Lord showed him a piece of wood; he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.
This was yet another test that God had set before them to see if they would trust him for a miracle and persevere in their faith or if they would murmur and complain. They responded negatively which seemed to be their natural bent. They were not convinced of God’s promise to bring them to the Promised Land. When we are not convinced we easily complain. God intervened by miraculously purifying the water and meeting the needs of the people. Their next destination was an oasis in Elim that had plenty of fresh water for them.
The next test was lack of food.
Exo 16:1 They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt.
Exo 16:2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness,
Exo 16:3 and the people of Israel said to them, "Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."
The Israelites had been out of Egypt for a month and all their food was gone. They were challenged again in their faith in God’s ability to provide for them along with their perseverance in adversity. In this situation they looked back at what they had in Egypt and longed for the meat and bread that filled them forgetting about the hard life of slavery.
The flesh is always at war with the spirit. It always wants to drag us down and send us in the wrong direction to keep us from accomplishing God’s best and the true longing of our spirit. It always exaggerates the problem, looks for a quick fix and distorts our perspective. It relies on rationalization of solutions that are contrary to what God wants us to do in the circumstances. The physical hunger they experienced had one solution and that was to retreat to Egypt and forget about the promises God had given them. Retreat for the purpose of quitting is never the right option. It is always the wrong choice. If we retreat to regroup and renew our strength to move forward that is another thing, a good thing. The Israelites lost sight of the future and no longer wanted to persevere. The flesh always seeks for instant gratification while the spirit is willing to endure because it sees the future with eyes of faith in the promises of God. The flesh brings no profit or benefit. It is destructive and leads to death of a vision, dream and goal.
God again demonstrated his care for the Israelites by providing manna every day. Again they had to trust him to provide and obey what he told them to do regarding gathering it each day and a double portion on the Sabbath. In all these tests God was trying to establish in their minds his faithfulness and concern for their needs. He was also training them in obedience to his word. They would need to trust and obey him when they faced the opposition in the Promised Land. The wilderness experience was a time of learning, trusting, persevering in preparation for the future.
God had already miraculously delivered them from the Egyptians but the Israelites would need to learn how to fight against their enemies and that was the next test they faced. To prepare them for this they had to face the Amalakites. Amalek was a descendent of Esau. They opposed the Israelites and would not give them safe passage to the Promised Land. Moses commanded Joshua to gather men to fight against them. This would be hand to hand combat that would require faith, obedience and perseverance. God gave them victory. Ex. 17:8-13
8 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some men for us and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands grew weary; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; so his hands were steady until the sun set. 13 And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the sword.
God gave the victory but he required the Israelites to fight the battle until the enemy was defeated. God’s goal was to completely remove the Amalekites because of their opposition to him. We will like the Israelites face opposition to God’s call on our lives. It is at this time that we will have to learn to depend on the Lord to fight for us and with us and we will need perseverance to continue until the enemy is defeated. When Israel entered the Promised Land they were to completely destroy the enemy because God knew that if they remained in the land they would be a persistent problem and draw the hearts of the people away from him.
One of the enemies of perseverance is contentment. Once Israel entered the Promised Land and began their conquest to possess the land they reached a point where they stopped fighting for what was promised to them and they became content with what they had. They stopped short of achieving everything God had promised to give them. Joshua reprimanded them for their lack of perseverance in obtaining all they could have. Joshua 18:2-3
2 There remained among the Israelites seven tribes whose inheritance had not yet been apportioned. 3 So Joshua said to the Israelites, “How long will you be slack about going in and taking possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you?
This is a challenge we all face. It is easy to become content where you are at and just hunker down and just continue with the status quo. We have to guard our hearts against this form of laziness that can easily creep into our lives and bring us to a stalemate in our pursuit of what God wants to give us. There must always be a drive within us to press on to achieve what God has for us. It requires perseverance on our part to motivate us to keep active in our pursuit of God’s plan for our lives. Paul had this drive that propelled him to keep moving forward with God. Philippians 3:13,14
13 Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
Paul had a passion to know Christ in all his power and to experience the fellowship of his sufferings. He did not rest on any past accomplishments but continued to strain forward as a runner reaching for the finish line to win the race.
This should be our desire as well, to passionately pursue Christ and persevere in our efforts to carry out his work while we are on this earth. There must be a desire on our part for spiritual growth but also a desire to continue to seek for ways that we can carry out God’s desire to reach the nations through evangelism and discipleship.
John Shippam related a story to me of a church that was composed of many elderly people who had lost their passion for reaching people with the gospel. They were more concerned with their comfort that they were about reaching souls and discipling young people. They made a decision to release the youth pastor so they could use the money to build a ramp that would benefit the elderly. God help us to never reach that point in our lives where we are more concerned about our personal comfort and contentment than we are about reaching people with the gospel.
Another enemy of perseverance is delays and discouragement.
It happened in Southwest Asia in the 14th Century. The army of Asian conqueror Emperor Tamerlane (a descendant of Ghengis Khan) had been routed, dispersed by a powerful enemy. Tamerlane himself lay hidden in a deserted manger while enemy troops scoured the countryside.
As he lay there, desperate and dejected, Tamerlane watches an ant try to carry a grain of corn over a perpendicular wall. The kernel was larger than the ant itself. As the emperor counted, sixty-nine times the ant tried to carry it up the wall. Sixty-nine times he fell back. On the seventieth try he pushed the grain of corn over the top.
Tamerlane leaped to his feet with a shout! He, too, would triumph in the end! And he did, reorganizing his forces and putting the enemy to flight. (source:Bible study tools.com)
I think of the many missionaries who have labored for years in countries that are very resistant to the gospel message. William Carey labored for 7 years before he saw his first convert in India. Adoniram Judson labored for 8 years before seeing any results. Delays and discouragement can cause us to quit or they can propel us to stay faithful, become creative and trust God for the results. The nations of India and Burma (Myanmar) are indebted to two men who would not give up but persisted in their calling. Many missionaries today are laboring in countries that are very difficult to reach and their persistence and perseverance to stay faithful to their calling will produce results that they may or may not see in their lifetime. God is in control and he only asks that we be obedient to what he asks us to do. At times we get to see the fruit of our labor while other times we may see it only through the eyes of faith. We have to be persistent like the ant was and keep doing what we know we need to do.
Paul encouraged the church at Ephesus to persevere in prayer.
18 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Eph. 6:18
Prayer is one of our greatest weapons yet for many people is seldom used with perseverance. We are challenged in Scriptures to “keep asking, keep knocking, keep seeking”. Paul is saying to all of us that we need to keep each other in our prayers, to keep praying for the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul always asked for prayers to be offered for him and he offered prayers constantly for the churches he established and ministered to. Our prayer lives must have this dynamic of perseverance because our prayers accomplish God’s work. It is encouraging to hear people say to me that they are praying for me daily or almost every day. They are persevering in prayer on my behalf and I am grateful for it.
Tonight I want to encourage each of you to be persevering in our walk with the Lord. The easiest thing to do is to quit, give up, settle for second best, rest in our contentment, allow discouragement and delays to cause us to stop doing what we know we should do. Victory and success is the fruit of those who are willing to persist in spite of opposition and adversity. We are all facing challenges and we need to pray for each other. I want to take some time tonight to do that, to pray for each other that God will help us persevere in the battle until we see get the victory.
Whatever you are facing tonight, God wants you to know that He is fighting the battle for you and with you. He will accomplish his purposes in your life as you stay strong in your pursuit of him and preserver in the battle.
No comments:
Post a Comment