Inspiration
Friday, August 3, 2012
Struggle and heartache are part of the human experience. Who has not walked through valleys that seem hopeless or unending? Even Jesus cried out on the cross, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46). Isn't it true that we sometimes ask the same kind of questions: Where are You, God? Why won't You do something in my life?
I want to encourage you to keep hold-ing on, even in the bleakest hour. When your faith is stretched thin, your strength seems nearly gone, and your dreams have shattered like broken glass, do not give up on the Lord--that would lead only to damaged self-esteem, forfeited blessings, and a strict limit on your usefulness to God. It's also a denial of 1 John 4:4, which teaches, "Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." Abandoning divine help in favor of our own human strength is a rejection of the truth that God is faithful all the time.
The opposite of giving up is not always immediate triumph; sometimes we are called upon to persist until victory. The Lord may want us to bear up under affliction and remain steadfast in the face of temptation. Like Moses, we may be called on to endure, "as seeing Him who is unseen"(Heb. 11:27).
Endurance requires patience and time, so hold your post like a good soldier until the battle is won (2 Tim. 2:3). That means shouldering the burden of evil, affliction, or persecution courageously while trusting that the God who allowed your circumstances will see you through.
