09302023 Psalm 121 Meditations Part 1

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of our great Helper. What a blessing that we have a definite source of help.

“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2).

Why does he lift up his eyes to the mountains? Obviously, the mountains themselves are not the source of his help. He denies that possibility by asserting in v. 2 that his help comes from the LORD, and the whole psalm is about God as his helper. The mountains aren’t even mentioned again. So the mountains are not the source of help, but there has to be a reason why he started this way.

I think there are three answers, all of which are correct, but distinct in their angle of approach. On the first (and in some ways the lowest) level, lifting up his eyes is a manifestation of deliberate consideration. The other half of the verse shows that he is in a process of remembering or deliberately focusing on the source of his help. This is especially clear if the second clause is considered to be a question, as it widely is. (“From whence cometh my help?”) He is gazing out into the distance in an act of contemplation, ignoring the details and distractions of life that are swirling around him. By gazing up to the mountains, he is facilitating the process of clearly evaluating.

In using the mountains as a tool for thinking, this is a low-level significance, more of a mental tool than a spiritual one. On the other hand, there is great significance, because the practice of doing so is a deliberate action whereby he considers God his helper. It is highly significant that someone stops to consider the true source of his help, and in this case, it is a deliberate focus and an intentional turning of his attention to this topic. It is significant that he does not flounder and flail helplessly, feeling as if there is no help available. He knows there is help, he knows who that helper is, and he knows the necessary consideration process to cause him to properly direct his thoughts.

Which leads to another question. Why is he considering this question regarding the source of his help? The obvious answer is that he needs help. Why would you even ponder this question if you did not need help? But what is interesting about this psalm is that it is completely calm and reassuring. It is confident and trusting. There is no tumult, no anguish, no desperation expressed. Many other psalms include those “negatives,” but this one is starkly free of them. This suggests to me that the lifting up his eyes in consideration is a comfortable practice and a well-established routine. This is not the first time he has considered the question. He is not wildly seeking to find an answer in a moment of desperation. Instead, he is reminding himself of truth that he knows well. He expects his help to come from the LORD, because that is where it always had come from before. God had proven Himself to this man, and the result is unalarmed, confident trust and dependence.

This reminds me of the Old Testament’s words for “refuge.” There are several, but two of them are contrasted. One means “to flee for protection”; the other is also to go for protection, but “not as precipitately.” The Psalm 121 author is the second of those. He has learned where his help comes from, and when new trouble comes, he simply has to remind himself by deliberately asking and answering the question. There is no crisis of trauma; there is only purposeful comforting remembrance.

Back to “why the mountains?” The second answer is that he is thinking of the one “which made heaven and earth,” and that includes the mountains. In the scope of one’s vision, mountains are one of the more prominent and noticeable features of God’s creation. The mountains remind him of his Creator. The verse is not referring to the god who made heaven and earth, as opposed to the god of fertility or the god of war or the god of the harvest. “Which made heaven and earth” is not the identification of which god out of many; rather, it is sharing one amazing thing about his God, who is the only one.

Even the secular world recognizes the peace and tranquility that can be found in nature. Nature is calming. Mountains are relaxing. Wide open spaces are therapeutic. Going to nature, especially when leaving behind the distractions and stress of technology and civilization, can be helpful. But I’m not sure those aspects are even part of this man’s evaluation, at least not directly. They will still be true for him, because God his Creator designed the mountains (and nature) to have that influence.

The psalmist is not looking to the mountains for therapeutic value, however. He is looking to them as reminders and evidence of his Creator. This is a very comforting thought, because if God can make the heavens and the earth, He can easily take care of individuals and the issues of their lives. Considering some of the intricacies of creation – the stars that follow set patterns, the oceans that contain incomprehensible volumes of water, the mountains that still stand after millennia – provides a wonderful reassurance about the power and wisdom of the One who watches over man. That’s some kind of Helper to have!

“Why the mountains?” The third answer has something to do with why it is mountains that he looks to, rather than oceans or deserts or pastures. Each of those could also be the background used for focused thought. Each of them would also be displays of the creative hand of God. So why mountains specifically? I think this is the most significant (and probably primary) answer. I believe he is looking specifically to the mountains surrounding Jerusalem. This is, after all, one of the psalms of ascent, which the Jews used as they made their trips to Jerusalem to worship.

From this aspect, the mountains are reminders not of the Creator, but of the LORD who dwelled there and whom he would worship there. He is Jehovah or Yahweh. He is the only God, the self-existing one, the one who surpasses all qualifications. He simply is – the I AM. In focusing on God by this distinct name, the psalmist is acknowledging the only true God as his helper.

This psalmist needs help. He turns to a familiar routine of reminding himself of who his God is. His helper is both the Creator who is incomparably capable and the unique God who is worthy of his worship. The mountains, in their serenity, in their grandeur, and in their specific location, are a reminder of those truths.

May God help you to fix your eyes continually and confidently on Him as your Helper.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA

09232023 Praying in Suffering - Preparation for Service

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the Author of the Bible. He has given us in His Word all that we need. I’m so thankful for this study on praying during suffering. It has been sobering and encouraging, instructive and guiding for me. While I don’t suddenly incorporate all these categories into my prayers as often or as thoroughly as I would like, the study has definitely affected my praying. I trust that it has been a blessing to you on some level as well. Below is the final section.

Category Twelve - Preparation for Service

The previous category was about spiritual profit. While suffering is one of God’s prime tools for bringing maturity, it is also one of His prime tools in preparation for service. Many of God’s servants have been prepared through prolonged or repeated suffering. That has often included lengthy delays even in their service, when they were willing to serve immediately. I thought of five Biblical examples of men who showed some readiness to serve, but God delayed the timing of their ministry and lubricated the wait with suffering.

Jesus engaged in His Father’s business in the temple at age twelve, but His primary ministry was delayed for twelve more years. In the meanwhile, He willingly endured the limitations of a human body and the misunderstanding of His family. He was taught and prepared by the Father as He learned obedience through suffering.

After his conversion, Paul was ready to preach the gospel. He immediately began speaking out for God in Damascus and Jerusalem. God had other plans, and He whisked Paul away to the solitude of the desert for three years of intense training.

Joseph understood through dreams that God had something special for him, and he obediently did what was asked of him. His role as deliverer, however, didn’t come until after thirteen years of slavery and imprisonment and an additional ten years before he was reunited with his family.

Moses was ready to start delivering Israel, but his early attempts didn’t go well. God sent him to the desert for forty years, watching sheep and removed from everyone he had known. Only then was he ready to serve.

Early after the exodus from Egypt, Joshua was assisting Moses in various ways. His time of leadership, however, had to wait until after forty years of wilderness wandering, which was in no way his own fault.

Whether or not it involves delays, suffering is valuable in preparing us to serve others. “Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. … And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation” (II Corinthians 1:4,6). God does not intend that what He teaches us and does in us would stop with us.

Any time we go through a time of suffering, we learn much. We learn about human nature, about human limitations, and about the peculiarities of human struggle and response in a particular aspect of life. We also learn about how God molds our human nature, how He strengthens our weakness, and how He provides the victory. When we exit the time of suffering, we understand things that we never did before, or we grow in what we already knew. God intends for this growth to be used to help others who are also suffering. He has prepared us to be more effective in ministering.

“How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality” (II Corinthians 8:2). The churches in Macedonia were suffering financially. As they understood the difficulties of that status, they were concerned to help others in the same situation. This certainly agrees with the previous verse, as it indicates a compassion and ability regarding a shared aspect of suffering. What is amazing about these churches is that they did not wait until they were completely past their own suffering before they reached out to others. Even in the midst of their difficulty, their compassionate hearts caused them to reach out to others who were also in need.

“But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention” (I Thessalonians 2:2). Paul and Silas had a rough time in Philippi, (as well as in many other places). It would have been easy for Paul to think he had suffered enough. It would have been easy for him to be reserved and cautious in order to avoid more suffering. Paul didn’t do that. In each new place, he continued to minister, even when opposition arose there as well. When one has suffered much, there is the temptation to pull back- to stop ministering, to cease reaching out, especially if we feel like no one really helped us much in our time of suffering. Time for recovery and healing is natural, and sometimes a reduced ministry or a temporary hiatus is necessary. What we can’t do, however, is decide never to serve again.

“Father, help me to be patient to wait as long as You determine until I am more fully prepared to step into the roles You have for me. May I learn all that You want me to learn so that I am prepared to more effectively minister to others. Help me to resolve to do so, and give me opportunities even now to be a blessing to someone. As I move through and out of this time of suffering, let not my heart grow cold or unwilling regarding service to others.”

God bless you. Have a good week.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA

09162023 Praying in Suffering - Spiritual Profit

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the Master Potter, the One who is constantly molding and shaping us for His glory. Following is the next-to-last section in my study on praying during suffering. (Although the entire study has been a great blessing to me, this section might be my favorite. It fills me with awe for my God.)

Category Eleven – Spiritual Profit

“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (James 1:2-4). “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Romans 5:3-5).

Both James and Paul share the same truth, a truth that is fundamental to the Christian walk. They both speak of rejoicing within trials, and it is a rejoicing based on knowledge of what God does through suffering. God uses it in His molding and maturation process. In the past few years I have come to appreciate these verses as never before. I am realizing the truth that suffering is not a minor tool in God’s toolbox; rather, it is the primary way that He develops maturity. If God wants to mold and mature a man, this is how He does it. Growth is not merely a resultant or accompanying happenstance of suffering; it is a designed and primary purpose. It is not surprising then that Peter declares suffering to be necessary. “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations” (I Peter 1:6).

Trials are not easy, and our flesh suffers through the challenges, but we can find hope in the knowledge that our spirit flourishes. “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (II Corinthians 4:16). As we cooperate with God’s methods, we find improvement in all the ways that matter most.

The ultimate end of that improvement, of the increased maturity, is to transform us into people who reflect the image of Christ and thereby honor Him. God uses all things, including what seems difficult for us, to accomplish that purpose. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:28-29).

As impossible as it seems, suffering was of benefit even to the Savior. “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect" (Hebrews 5:8-9). Likewise, God intends for our holiness to grow through discipline. “But he [chastens] for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness” (Hebrews 12:10). Sin should be rooted out and our lives be more reflective of our Savior. “For he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin” (I Peter 4:1).

One way of illustrating suffering’s maturing work is the production of fruit. “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby,” (Hebrews 12:11). We bloom and flourish afterwards with the beautiful results of God’s Spirit working in us. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23).

A second picture is that of refining precious metal. “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire” (I Peter 1:7). “But he knoweth the way I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). God is in the process of burning off impurities. Yes, the heat is intense, but it is also very effective. We go into the fire with so many imperfections, but God progressively purifies and removes the imperfections, so that we gradually become purer, more valuable, and more precious.

“But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, and settle you” (I Peter 5:10). This is one of my favorite verses regarding suffering. That is partly due to the reassurance that the time is coming when God will step in more evidently and do His work. Although it may take a while for me to see positive results, God is intent on producing them, and He will do it. He will tie up all the loose ends and bring the suffering to its intended conclusion of profit. The other thought I love about the verse is the enumeration of what God does: perfecting, establishing, strengthening, and settling. I have often been aware that these results are exactly what I need, because in the midst of the suffering, I am the opposite of these results. Until God does His concluding work, I am battered and incomplete, I am wavering and doubtful, I am weak and unsteady, and I am shallow and faltering. In the middle of the intense suffering, it can seem like everything in me is ready to fall apart and disintegrate, but in the end, God shores it all up and makes it stronger and deeper and firmer than ever.

When I began considering how to pray during suffering, this is the category of prayers that I first pursued. I wanted results, and I wanted them to be the results that God desired. In one way, this is a self-centered category, as it focuses on what I want God to do in me. But in actuality, this category is also God-centered, because the growth and maturity are not primarily about me. They are for bringing glory to God and for reflecting Him. Regarding the fiery ordeal that is for our testing, Peter observes, “For the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you” (I Peter 4:14).

“Father, help me to constantly remember that suffering is Your necessary and preferred method for producing maturity. Please progressively renew my spirit. Use all things, especially my suffering, to make me more like Your Son. May my sinful nature decrease and my holiness increase as a result of my suffering. Produce in me the beautiful fruit that You desire. Purify me so that I shine as pure gold, delivered from the imperfections that plague me.  I long for Your finalizing work when You will restore and strengthen me beyond what I have ever been before. May it honestly be said at the end of this trial that You have transformed me into a more mature Christian. May You be magnified and glorified through what You produce in me.”

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA 

09092023 Praying in Suffering - Humble Dependence

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the God of all grace. Following is the next section in my study on praying during suffering.

Category Ten – Humble Dependence

Suffering is too big for us. It is too hard. Maybe we can muddle through some of the little stuff without too much trouble, but when the major trials of life come, we quickly realize that we are too small and too weak to handle them. We desperately need God’s help.

Even Jesus cried out earnestly to the Father during His darkest hours. “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death” (Hebrews 5:7). There is a right and a necessary Person to turn to when we are beyond ourselves. The beauty is that even when we don’t know how to pray, when there seem to be no words but only silent anguish, we can have divine help for our prayers themselves. “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27).

In our times of deepest need, when we are desperately in need of divine help, God is waiting and willing to give that help. “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). It is God alone who can be depended on in these desperate times, and it is God alone who is capable of giving the help that our souls need. “At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me … notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me” (II Timothy 4:16-17).

Coming to God in our need is a demonstration of our humble dependence, but humility must involve more than just admitting need. It also must include submission to the One who will help us. Only He knows what is best, and He must be trusted to do the right thing. “Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator” (I Peter 4:19). That might mean, as it did for Paul, that our suffering continues for longer than we choose. Paul prayed three times to be delivered from his thorn in the flesh, but God chose for him to remain under that torment. “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (II Corinthians 12:9-10). Humility means we must be willing to remain under the trial if He chooses to prolong it.

Suffering quickly reveals our weaknesses, sometimes to our deep chagrin. Suffering can be a needed reminder not to rely on our own strength. “Lest I should be exalted above measure. … that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (II Corinthians 12:7,9). If anyone could have boasted about having strength to withstand suffering, it would be Paul. After listing his record of imprisonments, beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, travel dangers, deprivations, etc., Paul chose not to glory in his superior resilience. Instead, he declared, “If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities” (II Corinthians 11:30). We can never wear our “success” in suffering as a badge of honor, but only as a testimony to God’s grace.

Any bit of victory and success that comes during our suffering is due to our great Savior. “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Romans 8:37). Our victories and escapes from disaster are divinely supplied. “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (I Corinthians 10:13).

Our role is simply to submit to God’s methods. We have to allow God’s plan to work out as He has designed it. “But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (James 1:4). This involves remembering His Word and the instructions He has given. “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord” (Hebrews 12:5). For whatever situation we face, God’s Word has appropriate instruction.

The divine help we seek has a gentleness to it. The Helper we need has a heart of compassion, and He makes ways to comfort us in the midst of our suffering. “For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears. Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus; and not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you” (II Corinthians 7:5-7). “Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith” (I Thessalonians 3:7).

Ultimately, our humility must come to the place that Job’s did. Job finally recognized his extreme insignificance and the contrasting greatness of God. He completely silenced himself in submission to God’s plan. “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further” (Job 40:4-5). This humble response is exactly what is required to receive the enabling grace of God. “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble’” (James 4:6).

In the midst of suffering, God’s grace is needed in so many ways, and it is also granted in so many ways. I’ve heard grace explained as everything we need for everything we face. We often think of grace as an inner peace that enables us to walk through situations in a way that is humanly inexplicable. That can mean strength, peace, assurance, comfort, wisdom, guidance, or reprieve, but whatever the grace looks like, it comes when we humble ourselves dependently before God, our powerful, wise, and compassionate Helper.

“Dear Father, I absolutely cannot do this without Your help. I can’t do any aspect of it – managing the practical demands, possessing the needed wisdom, corralling my mood and emotions, having calmness and victory in my spirit, or even praying effectively. I choose to humbly submit to Your plan in each of its details, but I need Your help to maintain that spirit. Help me to look to You for the blessed outcomes that You have in mind. Grant that in no way would I exalt myself through this suffering, but rather that all the glory would be Yours. Thank You that You compassionately care for me and bestow the abundant grace that my profound weakness desperately needs.”

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA

09022023 Praying in Suffering - Enduring Faith

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of our faithful God. He remains faithful even when we falter, but praise God that He also helps us to be faithful. Following is the next section in my study on praying during suffering.

Category Nine - Enduring Faith

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not” (Luke 22:31-32a). The previous categories have explored various foundations for prayer that are each rooted in Scripture, but this is very interesting, because it is what Jesus Himself prayed regarding Peter’s time of struggle. Jesus prayed that Peter’s faith would not fail under the Satanic attack.

Peter himself later echoed this same concept. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith” (I Peter 5:8-9). Peter linked the idea of resisting Satan with remaining firm in faith. Paul had the very same concern for the church in Thessalonica. “And sent Timotheus … to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith: that no man should be moved by these afflictions … I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain” (I Thessalonians 3:2-5). Paul feared that the afflictions and Satanic attack would result in a derailed faith.

Probably each of us has seen or heard instances where Christians have turned away from their faith during times of testing. We have probably also heard Christians say, “I would never turn away!” The inspired cautions above by Jesus, Peter, and Paul indicate that this temptation to turn aside is a very real danger. By God’s grace, many do remain faithful, but it is presumptuous to confidently assert that there is no possibility of falling. Many believers who have thought themselves strong have been surprised by their weakness under the right trial, either due to its particular nature, to its intensity or length, or to the combination of successive (and seemingly unending) challenges. Even if just for a short time, it is not uncommon to confront times of doubt and wavering.

The concept of struggling faith involves more than just Satanic attack. God wants to know that our faith is genuine. He wants to prove its worth and purity. “Ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith … though it be tried with fire” (I Peter 1:6-7). “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you” (I Peter 4:12). Anyone can say he follows God when life is wonderful, but the true heart emerges when life is less than wonderful.

God wants to see faith. “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). The entire chapter of Hebrews 11 is filled with examples of believers who were tested and who responded in enduring faith, and so they received the approval of God.

Abraham was one such example. God progressively confronted Abraham with more intense challenges to his faith. Abraham did not always respond perfectly, but his overall pattern was that he persisted and grew in faith, even when impossibility shouted loudly. “Who against hope believed in hope … and being not weak in faith … He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform” (Romans 4:18-21). Abraham endured the trial of waiting because he had faith in God's promise.

We do not have specific divine promises for the particular circumstances of our lives, as Abraham did. While we do not know that God will certainly deliver us from our earthly suffering, we can have faith in His promises, His Word, and His character. Because of what we know of God, I believe it is appropriate to have faith that He CAN deliver, even though we don’t know that He WILL deliver. As was discussed under category one (praying for deliverance), sometimes God is answering more important prayers from other categories, rather than immediate physical deliverance. We can still endure in our faith that God is good, wise, and powerful, and that He is worthy of following.

God wants us to resolutely cling to faith, to endure, regardless of the source of the suffering. Is it Satan’s attack? Is it God’s testing? Is it unjust human treatment? Endure in faith. “For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. … But if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. … [Christ] committed himself to him that judgeth righteously” (I Peter 2:19-23).

We often say that we want to please God during our suffering, and rightly so. One major way to do that is simply to remain anchored to God, faithfully and patiently following Him regardless of circumstances. “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. … Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him” (Hebrews 10:35-36,38).

Part of the reason for God’s approval in such situations is the motivation for the endurance. “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him” (James 1:12). The persevering is a sign of our love for God. When we love Him, we don’t turn away from Him, but rather trust Him even in the difficulties.

Paul’s prayer that the Thessalonians would not fail in their faith (I Th. 3:2-5) was answered! He was later able to rejoice that they had faced their afflictions with enduring faith. “So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure” (II Thessalonians 1:4).

How is it possible for faith to endure? In the weakness of our human flesh, it is not possible. As much as we desire and determine that we won’t be one of the spiritual casualties, the reality is that we cannot trust in ourselves to obtain that objective. “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us” (II Corinthians 1:9-10). Our hope to be kept is only in God. We must fix our eyes firmly on our Savior and so be encouraged in our faith. “For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds” (Hebrews 12:3).

“Father, I realize the seriousness of this danger, and I do not want to turn from my faith in You, not even slightly or for a short time. My resolve and willpower are not enough to keep me. I need Your help. Help me to keep my eyes on You. Please grant me Your hope and strength so that I can continue to follow You faithfully, no matter what happens. May You be pleased by my purified and enduring faith that stems from my love for You, and may my faithfulness be an encouragement to others.”

May God strengthen you this week as you continue in this earthly journey of faith.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA