I have shared three lessons I learned going through dark times in my life (you can check them out here, here, and here), but we aren’t even close to exhausting all of the lessons that can be learned in the night. I want to teach you one principle that will allow for lifelong learning and application of these nighttime lessons.
The apostle Paul shared how he had matured during his times of struggle. He told the Corinthians he realized that God had delivered him in the past, was delivering him now, and would continue to deliver him in the future (see 2 Corinthians 1:3-11). The key is to hang in long enough to actually see how God brings about the deliverance and teaches the lessons.
Paul told the Corinthians, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can ENDURE it”(1 Corinthians 10:13). And the writer of Hebrews said, “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need toPERSEVERE so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised” (Hebrews 10:35-36).
The Greek word translated “persevere” means keeping focused on the goal despite the struggles that it takes to get there. Jesus used this same Greek word at the conclusion of His parable of the sower: “The seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the Word, retain it, and by PERSEVERING produce a crop”; a crop that Jesus said was a hundred times more than what was sown (see Luke 8:5-15).
I love riding my bike on the White Pine Trail by my house. My long rides have a really fun stretch where I am flying downhill! But as fun as that part is, I’m not really building anything of lasting value. However, when I am coming back uphill and I want to quit because my legs are burning and I can hardly breathe, that becomes a valuable struggle. I cannot build endurance by any other way than to push myself just a little bit farther each time. When I want to quit, I pedal just a few more feet. Gradually, the uphill becomes less daunting.
A friend gave me a t-shirt I like to wear on my rides. When I put it on the blue-lettered message on the shirt says, “Do It!” but as I struggle uphill and the sweat begins to pour off my body, a new message emerges: “Don’t Quit!”
Remember that as you struggle and persevere, you are not only building your own endurance, but you are strengthening yourself to be able to help others. So we can be thankful IN the night because God is building our endurance for the next night, and our endurance for our friend’s next night.
…David sought the face of the Lord… (2 Samuel 21:1).
בָּקַשׁ פָּנִים יְהֹוָה
The Hebrew phrase is baqash paniym YHWH:
baqash is to ask for, beg, desire “specifically in worship or prayer.” It’s a “searching as done by touching.”
paniym literally means the face, but it carries the idea of being in someone’s presence.
YHWH (Yahweh) is Jehovah God.
David repeatedly asked, sought, and begged through both prayer and worship that he might be in God’s presence. “Almighty God, I want to be with You. I want to know your heart intimately. I want to see Your face. I’m not seeking help from any other source, but I am resolutely seeking You alone.”
Perhaps Jesus had this in mind when He told us, “Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking. You will get an answer, you will find what you’re seeking, the door to God’s presence will be opened to you. Your Father—YHWH, God Almighty—longs to reveal Himself to you.”
Q: How long did David seek the face of the Lord?
A: Until God spoke, until God delivered, until God opened the door.
Q: How long am I willing to keep on seeking the face of the Lord?
A: I hope I can say until God speaks, until God delivers, until God opens the door.
When God made His promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for Him to swear by, He swore by Himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.”And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. (Hebrews 6:13-15)
After waiting patiently…
God’s promise did come, but Abraham had to wait a long, long time! One translation says that Abraham waited long and endured patiently. Another says, Abraham stuck it out and got everything that had been promised to him.
God’s promises DO come to those who patiently endure UNTIL the promise comes.
Hang on.
Don’t fret.
Keep focused.
Don’t lose heart.
Endure!
Endure patiently.
Stick it out.
Don’t give up.
Keep going.
Don’t stop.
Persevere until it comes.
God has determined to show us the abundance of His promises, the faithfulness of His word, the trustworthiness of His promises.
Ask Abraham. He’ll tell you that it’s so worth it to hang on until God fulfills His word.
God’s counsel is unchangeable.
His wisdom is profound.
His treasures are immeasurable.
His delights are beyond comparison.
His hope is secure
His word endures.
His promises are sure.
Don’t give up. Patiently endure another day. God’s promise IS coming!
This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.
Spiritual Grit
Salvation is God’s “bit,” it is complete, we can add nothing to it; but we have to bend all our powers to work out His salvation. It requires discipline to live the life of a disciple in actual things. “Jesus knowing…that He was come from God, and went to God,…took a towel…and begin to wash the disciples’ feet” [John 13:1, 4]. It took God Incarnate to do the ordinary menial things of life rightly, and it takes the life of God in us to use a towel properly. … And we can do it every time because of the marvel of God’s grace. …
A stoot hairt tae a stae brae (i.e. a strong heart to a difficult hill). The Christian life is a holy life; never substitute the word “happy” for “holy.” We certainly will have happiness, but as a consequence of holiness. Beware of the idea that so prevalent today that a Christian must always be happy and bright, “keep smiling.” That is preaching merely the gospel of temperament. If you make the determination to be happy the basis of your Christian life, your happiness will go from you; happiness is not a cause but an effect that follows without striving after it. …
There is something in us that makes us face temptation to sin with vigor and earnestness, but it requires the stout heart that God gives to meet the cares of this life. I would not give much for the man who had nothing in his life to make him say, “I wish I was not in the circumstances I am in.” “In the world you will have trouble; but be of good cheer! I have overcome the world” [John 16:33]—“and you will overcome it too, you will win every time if you bank on your relationship to Me.” Spiritual grit is what we need.
From Studies In The Sermon On The Mount
If you have placed your faith in what Jesus did for you on Calvary, and if you have asked the Father to forgive you of your sins, then His Holy Spirit resides in you.
Therefore, you have all that you need to be successful every single time. The question is: Am I using the spiritual grit that God gives me to be holy? Or am I merely looking for a way to be happy?
Allow me to introduce myself in the Aramaic fashion—I am Craig bar Raymond. I am proud of my father and want my name to always be associated with his, so I remember my heritage by telling people I am Craig son of Raymond.
If I wanted to be a little more formal I might introduce myself as Craig Bar Raymond Bar Colson, or even Craig Bar Raymond Bar Colson Bar Walker, to honor my forefathers back four generations.
People took great pride in their family heritage. They wanted to keep their connection to their family and their tribe intact and known to those around them. It’s how they kept their standing in their community.
That’s why it’s odd that Luke—the premier historian that he is—introduces us to a man he simply calls “a blind man” in the city of Jericho. Luke was always so precise in mentioning names throughout both his Gospel and the Book of Acts, and it appears that this man does have a name. In the Gospel of Mark he is called Bartimaeus, and presumably Luke used Mark as one of his source documents. So why would Luke omit this guy’s name?
Keep in mind that “bar” simply means “son of,” so although Mark calls him Bartimaeus, his name is really something like “_________ son of Timaeus.” Is that because he was born blind and his parents didn’t even name him? Or was he thought so little of that people couldn’t remember his first name? Maybe it’s because Timaeus means unclean, defiled, polluted. So this blind beggar is really just the Anonymous son of Filth!
This beggar is looking for alms in Jericho when he hears a commotion. He asks what is happening and is told, that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.
This man knows the reputation of Jesus, recalling that He has even opened blind eyes. Immediately he shouts, “Jesus, son of David have mercy on me!” Son of David is a title only used twice in the New Testament (also see Matthew 15:22), and both times by desperate people who wouldn’t take “no” for an answer.
Actually, his phrase is in the form of a command, so he really says, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me NOW!”
“Who do you think you are, you nameless beggar,” the townspeople rebuke him. “How dare you demand anything of anyone! Shut your mouth, you worthless piece of filth!”
Undeterred, this man now raises his voice to a shriek and repeats, “JESUS, SON OF DAVID, HAVE MERCY ON ME NOW!”
This shriek gets Christ’s attention and He stops dead in His tracks. He commands that this man be brought to him.
Check out the confidence this blind man shows—he throws his cloak aside to get to Jesus. Why is that significant? Because he’s blind! If he can’t see, how is he going to find his cloak again? Who would ever want to help him?
Jesus asks him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He was testing him: did he want a hand-out? did he want revenge on the cruel people in Jericho? did he want to get back at his parents?
He specifically prays, “I want to see.” Jesus is moved by compassion (Matthew 20:34) and says, “Your faith has made you whole.” The blind man immediately is healed!
What was his faith that healed him? It was a loud, insistent, persistent, won’t-take-no-for-an answer, audacious request. The crowd said he was asking too much, but Jesus was moved to compassion by his insistence and boldness and answered his prayer.
That community may have forgotten that man’s name. Maybe the blind man had even forgotten his own name. But God hadn’t!
Jesus is moved by faith-filled, won’t-be-silenced cries for mercy. He wants to answer your specific requests. You aren’t an anonymous son or daughter of filth. You aren’t marginalized, worthless, or overlooked by your Heavenly Father.
God knows your name. He knows your need. He is passing by. Cry out to Him again and again and again! When He answers your prayer, you are made whole and our Heavenly Father is glorified.
A mark of a godly leader is one who resolutely follows God. No matter what!
Jesus calls His followers to the same path He walked—“No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62)
It’s hard because people reject a resolute man.
It’s hard because the accommodations along the way are uncertain.
It’s hard because I have to give up my right to myself.
But the reward is incomparable—Heaven forever with Jesus!
This is part 33 in my series on godly leadership. You can check out all of my posts in this series by clicking here.
Have you ever been in the right place at the right time to experience something wonderful? Maybe you got to meet someone important, or you got the job, or you got the money, or you got to ride in that fancy car.
Some will call you “lucky” or say you “caught a break,” but both of those statements imply that something unexpected happened to you.
Is it still “lucky” to be in the right place at the right time if you knew ahead of time that it was coming? For praying Christians, to be in the right place at the right time when we are expecting God to provide is called “an answer to prayer.”
David prayed, “In the morning, Lord, You hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait expectantly” (Psalm 5:3). The Aramaic word for prayer means “to set a trap.” If we pray, and we live in expectation, then it isn’t luck when we’re in the right place at the right time, but it’s a “trap” that caught the answer to our prayer.
Our daily walking can be our daily praying, as long as we’re walking in faith in the direction God pointed us.
One man who—literally!—walked this principle out was Elisha.
Before we look at Elisha’s expectant, prayerful walking, let’s look at his prayer request—
When they reached the other side, Elijah said to Elisha, “What can I do for you before I’m taken from you? Ask anything.” Elisha said, “Your life repeated in my life. I want to be a holy man just like you” (2 Kings 2:9 MSG).
Elisha was essentially asking to be like Elijah’s firstborn son, to be his spiritual heir. This was the original promise God gave when He told Elijah to anoint Elisha as his successor (1 Kings 19:16). From that point onward, Elisha steadily walked in expectation of God answering this prayer.
Elisha wouldn’t stay in a place of military victory, or in a significantly spiritual place, or even in a place surrounded by godly leaders. Elisha wouldn’t be held back by a lucrative family business, or the warning words of friends or his spiritual mentor, or even the seemingly uncrossable Jordan River. He kept on walking (see 2 Kings 2:1-15).
He kept on walking.
He kept on walking until “suddenly” God showed up and answered his prayer.
But was it really “suddenly”? Elisha knew it was coming. He believed what God had promised. He clung to it even when Elijah told him he had asked “a difficult thing.” Elisha kept on walking until he was in the right place at the right time to receive all that God had planned.
If you have prayed in faith, start walking. Settling anywhere else is robbing yourself of a blessing and robbing God of glory.
Just keep walking! And let your walking be your praying.Don’t get discouraged. Don’t settle. Don’t stop eagerly expecting that the next step you took could be the “suddenly” you’ve been waiting for. Just keep walking!
Join me this Sunday as we learn a valuable lesson from another bold pray-er from the Bible.
The hill, though high, I covet to ascend,
Craig T. Owens 