Category Archives: perseverance

Finding God’s Will – Part 1: Looking for God’s Will – Psalm 25:14

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“The secret counsel of the Lord is for those who fear Him, and He reveals His covenant to them” (Psalm 25:14, HCSB).

Ostensibly, what most of us want to do most is God’s will!

While we have good intentions, we don’t really know how to go about doing God’s will–or at least put into practice the patience, perseverance, and obedience required to do it!

But for those really, really looking for God’s will, Psalm 25 provides some practical guidance and apt advice!

While the psalmist doesn’t furnish us with a formula or step-by-step methodology, he does identify a strategic approach to looking for God’s will based on reverence, adoration, and veneration for God.

The psalmist begins by advising us to turn to God, trust in God, and wait on God. When we turn to, trust in, and wait on God, then God will forgive our sins and teach us truth because of His faithful love for us (vs.4-7).

And God will reveal His will to us and definitely direct our lives when we realize our dependence on Him and seek His will penitently and humbly: “He shows sinners the way” (vs. 8) and “He leads the humble in what is right and teaches them His way” (vs. 9).

God’s way, His secret counsel, His will, is revealed to people who trust in Him and are faithful and obedient to Him.

Looking for God’s will is an act of worship by people who depend on God!

While God reveals Himself and His general will to us through His Word, the Bible, God makes it personal for us by revealing specific details of His will and attributes of His character that are appropriate to our need and situation.

So, if I were to pack into just one sentence what the psalmist is telling us about looking for God’s will, it would be this: God reveals His will to people who are desperate to know it!

My pastor says that unfortunately, the approach we more often use in looking for God’s will is: “I’m going to do this, this, and this and, by the way, God, will you bless it?”

But the psalmist reminds us that looking for God’s will is so critical that we must be willing to wait on God to reveal it to us.

And when God’s will is finally revealed to us, then God protects us with the assurance of doing the right thing and helps us remain in His will: “May integrity and what is right watch over me, for I wait for You” (vs. 21).

God’s Plan: Your Success – Genesis 39:2, 21

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“The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master…But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love” (Genesis 39:2, 21, NLT).

Joseph, the great-grandson of Abraham, often seemed to be a victim of his own success.

He was the favorite son of his father, Jacob, and so his brothers were jealous of him.

God chose him from among his eleven other brothers to be the salvation of Israel and gave him dreams and visions to confirm His promise.

But, when he told his brothers these dreams, they threw him in a dry well and then sold him into slavery.

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God’s Merit Badges – Job 36:15

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“God rescues the afflicted by their affliction; He instructs them by their torment” (Job 36:15, HCSB).

In the story of Job, Elihu was the fourth and last to speak from among Job’s friends. Elihu was younger than the others and waited to speak, giving deference to the older men.

Though younger, Elihu believed he was speaking God’s truth in confronting Job, but he claimed neither human superiority nor inferiority to Job.

Elihu had listened carefully to Job’s claims of being pure and innocent and being unjustly oppressed by God.

And Elihu reminded Job that as a human being, he was not in a position to bring accusations against God, his Creator.

Elihu declared to Job that instead of being a sign of God’s unconcern as Job had supposed, affliction was a mark of God’s mercy, keeping one from the path of iniquity.

In other words, the very thing that afflicts you may also be what saves you.

God can use your affliction to rescue and restore you to Him and His will. Your affliction can spiritually develop you into a human being that is prepared for spending eternity with God!

Admittedly, affliction is not my first choice for spiritual growth. In fact, I like to avoid affliction as much as possible. So, I often recite from the Lord’s prayer the supplication that Jesus teaches us to pray for protection from affliction: “And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13, HCSB).

Indeed, our affliction may sometimes be one way that God deals with issues in our lives that could potentially cause us to be unfaithful. But this verse does not say that God afflicts us, but that He rescues and restores us through our affliction. (Remember, it was Satan that afflicted Job; it was Satan that tested Job, not God.)

Because affliction causes us to throw ourselves on God’s mercy!

That which causes my pain and suffering is also that which can restore me to intimacy with God.
     That which causes me to give up and quit is also that which empowers me to endure and persevere.

So what we perceive to be our problem is actually the solution to our problem!

In fact, our affliction may even prevent evil or temptation from overtaking or overcoming us: “Be careful that you do not turn to iniquity, for that is why you have been tested by affliction” (vs. 21).

When I was a boy, I joined the boy scouts. In scouting you earn merit badges for demonstrating a useful skill or a good behavior. By earning merit badges, a scout may advance in rank. Advancement in rank acknowledges the scout’s growing ability to serve others better.

Our afflictions are God’s merit badges. They are designed to empower us to become more obedient and productive as Jesus’s disciples.

“Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons.” (Hebrews 12:7, HCSB)

Who Is a True Christian? – Hebrews 3:14

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“For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.” Whether you believe that Christians who are once saved are always saved or if you believe that Christians can fall away, the sober warning in this passage should be taken seriously by Christians of both views. Being a Christian means you have resolved to be faithful to God no matter what happens in your life—it is a lifetime resolution. When a Christian experiences the ups and downs of life and remains faithful to God, it builds a confidence and assurance that one does, in fact, share in the eternal life of Christ. Because being a Christian doesn’t always come easy, this verse provides a grave warning to everyone who claims to be saved to examine yourself carefully to be sure that you have the fortitude and resolve to persevere in your faith in Christ. Never mind trying to figure out who is a true believer and who is not; build up your own endurance because you belong to Christ if you hold fast your confidence to the end (vs. 5, 14).