“You have Need of Endurance”

Hello, faithful friends! I apologize for my long delay in sending new Chats to encourage you. This has been an emotionally difficult year for me. I echo the Psalmist, who wrote, “Reproaches have broken my heart so that I am in despair” (Psalm 69:20). While God has been faithful to comfort and help me with His strength and His gracious instruction, I could not find the emotional strength to communicate with you. Every time I tried, the enemy buried me in grief and self-doubt, twisting the slander of others deep into the broken corners of my heart —“Who are you to talk to them? You have no voice!” Well, I’m just a sinner who is seeking the face of God, and God delights in teaching me in the way (Psalm 25:8). It is then my delight to point others to the truth God is using in my life. As I daily dig into God’s Word during these difficult times, He continually instructs and encourages me. The following is just one of the pep talks I desperately needed: 

You Have Need of Endurance

Sometimes the brokenness of this world squeezes the strength right out of me. I firmly believe I am “more than a conqueror through Jesus”, but sometimes I feel more like a battered soldier ready to go home. Can you relate? Let God gently pull you to Himself as He did so graciously with me as I read Hebrews 10:35-39.

“Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, ‘Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.’ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.”

The Hebrews had already faced reproaches and afflictions (:33). They had suffered confidently and endured with their faith firmly intact, but now they needed a pep talk. They needed a reminder and a charge not to throw away their confidence. Like the Hebrews, you have surely witnessed God’s grace and strength in times of trouble. God will never leave you or forsake you! He is your strength. You may also need a reminder like they did…like I do. Throwing in the towel is so tempting in the heat of yet another storm. Don’t do it! No matter how weary you are, don’t throw away your confidence!

Instead, as the writer continues his pep talk, “you have need of endurance.” Life is hard. Endurance is the only way, and the only way to endure is to live by faith! It’s crazy that I never melded this part of Hebrews with the next chapters—the famous Faith Chapter, Hebrews 11, and the next beautiful chapter 12 describing Jesus’ endurance. 

(A short pause here to challenge us not to segregate chapters in books, but to meld them as we read to get the full meaning)

In Hebrews 11 we find that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” See the confidence there? The unwavering knowledge and conviction of things we cannot see, but are assured of its truth. We cannot see God’s presence, but He promised He is here. Faith then lives in this awareness. Faith lives in the awareness that even the struggles and pain are ultimately for God’s glory and my eternal good. Faith views life through truth. It does not rely on what is seen with the temporal eye. Faith is what kept Moses sane as he led the children of Israel.

Hebrews 11:24-27 “He (Moses) considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.”

How did he endure the crabby, cranky people? The threats of harm? The lack of water? The enormous responsibility? He saw “Him Who is invisible” and the eternal reward for his faithful obedience to God’s purpose for him.

We are called to endure, even as our precious Savior chose to endure. 

Hebrews 12:1,2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Do you see the recurring theme? There is more to life than meets the eye. This struggle, it’s not the end. It’s the middle. This is the moment that genuine faith is revealed. Do you see Him Who is invisible? Do you see the reward? It’s the only true way to endure. Live by faith and endure… 

“so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised”

The Bible is abundant with promises to claim by faith. These special verses have become my daily reminder to help me live in the awareness of God’s constant care from now till eternity. 

“Nevertheless, I am continually with You;
You hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.”
Psalm 73:23,24

Continuing to endure with thanksgiving,

Kim