The Need for Perseverance in This Difficult World

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What is stressing you right now? How long has it lasted? Do you feel like your faith is continually being tested but don’t know why? Do you recognize God developing something good in your life? This is post #1 in the Old Testament Men blog series. In this series, we will cover the lives of four very real, historical men in the Old Testament—Joseph, David, Elijah, and Nehemiah. They stayed true to their faith walk with God through long and difficult lives. Their examples teach us how we can do the same. And we can know that there is a reward for that faithfulness. Ready?

Listen to this post as a similar podcast from our Profiles of Perseverance Bible Study covering the lives of Joseph, David, Elijah, and Nehemiah.

Constant Stressors

Something is going on somewhere in your country, in your town, in your neighborhood or in your family that’s got someone upset, nervous, or in a panic mode—maybe even you. Cancer. Disaster. Job loss. Death. Enemy attack. For those of us who like to plan and control our environment so that our loved ones (and ourselves) can rest, relax, and be productive, these interruptions to life are very hard to bear.

So we try to escape to something that makes it go away for a while—a feel-good movie, book, or a retreat—or perhaps other not-so-healthy things. But then we get back to the rough-and-tumble of real life and find that whatever is stressing us is still there. Most stressors don’t last just for a day—more like a month or year or even a decade. Right?

Jesus said this to His followers,

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

We will have trouble in this world. It is a given. All of us. It doesn’t matter where you live or how much money you have or what kind of success you have gained. It doesn’t even matter how much faith you have or how faithful you have been to God in your daily life and work. You and I will have trouble at some time in our lives.

Some troubles simply come from living in this fallen world and are common to everyone such as illness and natural disasters. Other troubles like persecution and rejection are related to being a child of God living in an unbelieving world. Then there are those we inflict upon ourselves because of sin still present within us—our own bad choices—or troubles that others inflict upon us because of their bad choices. Either way, we get stuck with the results. Maybe that’s what you’re experiencing right now.

In order to not only survive but also to thrive over a lifetime of ups and downs, you and I need to have something called perseverance, something the Bible says is good for us. But perseverance is only learned when there is a challenge to our comfort. Who likes that?!

What Is Perseverance?

Holding to without giving way

The word perseverance is not a commonly used word. We use the word endurance more often. Endurance race. Endurance test. Endurance is a good word, but it is not as intentional as perseverance. The Bible talks about perseverance a lot.

By definition, perseverance is holding to a course of action, a belief, or a purpose without giving way.

Holding to—without giving way. Perseverance refers to active staying power and tenacity to hold up under some long-term burden, not just getting stuck in traffic. It carries the idea of whole-life experience and is the quality that enables a person to stand on his or her feet when facing a storm head on.

That reminds me of our family’s experience backpacking. My husband, Ron, conducted a wilderness camping ministry for twenty years. So we’ve done a lot of backpacking. One time, we were in the White Mountains of New Mexico with another family. Our youngest daughter, Heather, was 6. As we started to walk out on a ridge between two mountain peaks, I could look out and practically see all of New Mexico. That was awesome!

But then, the winds hit us. I’m not kidding. It felt like 100 mile/hr. winds, probably just 50 mph. My little girl was about to be blown away off the ridge. So I grabbed her hand and held onto her to help her stay on her feet until we got safely to a place of shelter from the wind.

Winds will try to blow you down. But you keep standing and moving forward. That is perseverance.

Bearing under

The Greek word used often in the New Testament means “bearing under.” It is holding up a load with staying power, tenacity and stick-to-it-iveness. You have to be “under” to bear “under.” That requires some kind of weight.

A good analogy is how we as women can prevent osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a condition where bones have lost so much density that they look like “swiss cheese,” full of holes making them weak. That is not good for anyone, especially older women. What we want to have are bones of iron. That requires regular intake of vitamin D and calcium plus load bearing exercise. Nutrition alone won’t develop strong bones. Bible study alone won’t develop perseverance. Staying on your feet and moving forward in a storm does.

Sadly, for those of us who are book learners, we can’t learn perseverance from a book. Only through going through suffering. Ugh!

Suffering Teaches Us Perseverance

Testing faith

James chapter 1 says this,

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4)

Suffering tests our faith then perseverance through that suffering matures our faith.

Testing refers to the process of melting down rock that has suspected gold in it. It is tested to see how much gold is in it and to remove anything that’s not gold. Fire melts the ore, the heavier gold metal sinks, the weaker crud that’s not gold floats to the top, is skimmed off, leaving just the real stuff. The gold in the ore was already gold before being melted. But after melting and skimming, what is left of the ore is pure and is useful for making jewelry, money, and decorations. Beautiful stuff.

The testing of our faith is on faith that is actually there. That is one thing you can rejoice about. You have faith worth testing. Gold in any amount is beautiful, isn’t it?

Jesus uses those tough times, when we are under stress, pressure, pain or suffering to float to the surface the parts of our character that are not so beautiful, not so strong, not so godly. And if we let Him, He will remove that not-so-beautiful stuff and strengthen what’s left so we can persevere. We will grow up to maturity, having stronger faith.

Producing perseverance

Not only that, perseverance accomplishes something else in our lives. When we persevere through any pain, distress, or long-term challenge, we will be mature, complete and lacking nothing (James 1:4). And even have joy in the process because of the reward at the end for that staying power, for holding on without giving way.

Motivation by reward helps, but we need one more ingredient in the mix in order to “hang in there” over a lifetime. We need hope in this difficult world.

The Need for Hope in This Difficult World

Hope as an anchor

In Hebrews chapter 6 verse 19,

God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. (Hebrews 6:18-19 first part)

God sets hope before us. This hope is described as an “anchor for the soul.” Don’t you love that image? Picture an anchor giving security and stability to a ship in the midst of a storm. That is what hope does for us, and more!

Our God is faithful. That is a fact. We can trust Him through present difficulties and pains. So we can hold onto Him without giving way because we know the outcome. We can face trouble with courage and peace. Jesus said we can.

Biblical hope

Biblical hope is not wishful thinking.

Biblical hope is a confident, eager expectation of a coming certainty based on the character of God to back up His promises to us in His Word.

Our hope is rooted in the faithfulness of God. That hope enables us to persevere through the rough-and-tumble of real life. We can be empowered by faith and sustained by hope in an always faithful God.

Life in this UNTIL time

We live in the time period between Genesis 3 and Revelation 21. Sin entered the world in Genesis 3. Where there’s sin, there is decay, destruction, and death. Relationally, emotionally, physically. We have to endure this until the time when God does away with all sin and its effects described in Revelation 21. We live life in the waiting.

Hard stuff is going to happen to everyone, even the best of Jesus’ followers. Jesus said so, the New Testament writers repeated it. Sometimes we are promised by other people that if we just have enough faith, “Nothing bad will ever happen.” Have you heard that? Nice thought. Possible? Yes. Reasonable? No!

So when bad things do happen, we’re blown away, or we’re so disappointed we give up on our faith-walk. But Jesus doesn’t promise an easy time. He puts it right out there in John 16:33 so we will know, “in this world you will have trouble,” trials of many kinds.

This is the time period in which we live, and if we are going to faithfully persevere, we are going to have to accept this, not like it. But we must recognize it and not be discouraged. God is working during this time in history. Through the verses I have already referenced, He is basically saying to us, “Okay I am going to use those very things, those tough things to develop something in you, my daughters, so you can get through life faithfully and have joy in the process.”

Know perseverance through living it

When James said you will know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance, this “knowing” is gained through living it, not head knowledge gained through reading about it. I can read about this and believe in my mind that it’s true. But until I’ve experienced the testing myself or walked with a friend through a trial so I can see it’s real, it just sounds like pie-in-the-sky, churchy kind of thinking.

Remember how I said that if we let Jesus do it, He will remove that not-so-beautiful stuff and strengthen what’s left so we can faithfully persevere and have joy in the process. If we let Him. There’s a choice to not let Him.

The Choice to Persevere

You must choose perseverance for it to finish its work.

What happens if you don’t choose to persevere

What would be the opposite? Whining. Complaining. Grumbling. Anger at God. Giving up. Using an acceptable but unbiblical practice of your culture to fix it—whatever IT is.

We forget where we are going with Jesus. We move, change jobs, divorce, avoid, blame, consider ourselves victims, buy our way out, drink and drug our way out. You’ve seen your friends do this, haven’t you? So have I. Maybe you’ve done it. I know I have.

What happens if you do choose to persevere

But if we will let Him, Jesus will remove that yucky stuff to make us mature and complete, not lacking in anything needed. That is what it means. We will have what’s necessary to live out Jesus’ life in us. It doesn’t mean perfect. We’re not promised perfection in this life. But God will finish His particular work in us before He takes us home.

For you and me, God has things for us to do, kingdom work to do here on earth, during this time between Genesis 3 and Revelation 21. And He needs us to be mature. To be grown up. It is hard work to grow up, isn’t it?

I am not good at letting perseverance finish its work when I have a way out. What about you? It is like exercising. I know I need to do it so I get started then get sidetracked and don’t get back to it. When I don’t have a way out, I am pretty good at persevering. That is the value of backpacking. You are stuck out there. You have to bear under the load and complete the trek in order to get out!!

Prepare by Instruction, Learn by Experience

God’s way of developing perseverance in our lives is this: “Prepare by instruction; learn by experience.”

Have you noticed this in your life? Our instruction comes from the Bible, especially viewing the work of God in the lives of men and women during much of their lifetime. We can see God’s faithfulness to them and be confident in His faithfulness to us as well. He is the same God.

In Romans chapter 15, the apostle Paul wrote this for us,

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4 NASB)

When we look at life just with our own eyes, we become fearful and pessimistic. We think to ourselves, “Nothing’s going to work. I don’t know if I can get through this.” But when we look at the Bible and see how God empowered everyday people like you and I to face their challenges, the Holy Spirit uses that scripture to strengthen us and to give us courage that we didn’t know we had.

God is the best teacher. So in this Old Testament Men blog series, we will look at what was written in earlier times for our instruction through the lives of several Old Testament believers. By looking at their stories, we gain a long-term perspective about God’s faithfulness to them as they persevered over many years, not just during a scene from their lives. Together, we will discover what it means to be sustained by hope in the faithfulness of God, enabling us to persevere in the rough-and-tumble of life.

Each blog in this series will have an associated picture with a lighthouse in it. The lighthouse stands for you and me as we persevere. Jesus said this,

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)

Perseverance through every trial of life allows your light to keep shining.

Are You Ready for Perseverance in Your Life?

Are you ready for perseverance in your life? If so, I want you to remember four action steps. They are like lane markers for our race. I’ll repeat them in every blog. And you can share the picture below with your friends to help them.

Choose to persevere through every challenge.
Count on God’s promise to give you hope.
Let that hope sustain you through the trials of life.
Celebrate the joyful reward.

Are you ready for perseverance in your life-four action steps to get there-Perseverance blog series

In the next blog, we will look at why it is important to stay focused on Jesus in order to develop perseverance in your life.

Let Jesus satisfy your heart with hope as you persevere through everyday life.

All of the above information is covered in the Profiles of Perseverance Bible Study covering the lives of Joseph, David, Elijah, and Nehemiah.

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