Delayed:
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Persevere
Pursue love, pray, and persevere. My wife had a dream last night in which the Lord told her that she and I are to persevere through the storm in which we presently find ourselves. The dictionary defines persevere as, "To persist in or remain constant to a purpose, idea, or task in the face of discouragement or opposition". Funny how it's not really the opposition that undoes us as much as the discouragement which we frequently experience as a result of expected or unexpected hardship.
Moses addressed the Israelites as they approached the promised land and told them not to fear or be discouraged. They asked Moses to let them send scouts ahead to check out the land, and when the report wasn't good, they refused to proceed. Moses told them not to be afraid, and that the Lord would go before them and fight for them, but they wouldn't be disuaded.
Look, the LORD your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the LORD God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged.' "And every one of you came near to me and said, 'Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us, and bring back word to us of the way by which we should go up, and of the cities into which we shall come.' "The plan pleased me well; so I took twelve of your men, one man from each tribe. And they departed and went up into the mountains, and came to the Valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. They also took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought back word to us, saying, 'It is a good land which the LORD our God is giving us.' "Nevertheless you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God; and you complained in your tents, and said, 'Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. Where can we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our hearts, saying, "The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there." ' "Then I said to you, 'Do not be terrified, or afraid of them. The LORD your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.' Yet, for all that, you did not believe the LORD your God, who went in the way before you to search out a place for you to pitch your tents, to show you the way you should go, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day. "And the LORD heard the sound of your words, and was angry, and took an oath, saying, 'Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers, (Deu 1:21-35)
Being discouraged sounds like a perfectly understandable and acceptable response to life when we are disappointed, and isn't it interesting how the Israelites even blamed the spies that brought back the report for discouraging them. We need to be careful because sometimes the root cause of our discouragement can actually be our lack of faith in God, and that is never a good thing.
Be strong and of good courage, and He will strengthen your heart (Psalm 27:14).
Yours in Him,
Pastor B.
