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The School of Joyful Endurance Part 1: "O Love that will not let me go" "...count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." James 1:2-3 |
Part 2: In joy or pain our course is onward still
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Over a century ago in Scotland, a blind preacher in "deep mental anguish" penned a hymn that would long outlive his own challenging life here on earth. As he wrote the words that God brought to mind, peace filled his heart. Perhaps you know that song and love its message as much as I do:
O Love that wilt not let me go
I rest my weary soul in Thee;
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in Thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.“I was at that time alone," wrote Pastor George Matheson on June 6, 1882, "it was the day of my sister’s marriage.... Something happened to me, which was known only to myself, and which caused me the most severe mental suffering. The hymn was the fruit of that suffering.”
From anguish to eternal fruit
When we ask God for strength to endure suffering, He may use our saddest moments to fill us with a joy that can only come from Him! He knows well that when earthly answers are beyond reach, we can most readily "see" and receive His heavenly blessings.
No one but Matheson himself knew the reason for his anguish that day. He certainly didn't begrudge his sister's marriage. But she had been his personal helper day after day. She even learned Greek and Hebrew to support him in his ministry, and now she was gone.
Another possible reason for his pain might have been loneliness. As a youth, he had been engaged to a young woman. But when he warned her that he would soon lose his sight, she broke the engagement. "I cannot go through life with a blind man," she told him.
Whatever caused that evening's distress, God used it to produce wonderful "fruit" -- first in Matheson's own life, and later to encourage Christians around the world! Listen carefully to the hope-filled words of the third verse (click here for the melody):
O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to Thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain
That morn shall tearless be.Blindness, personal loss, loneliness, a sense of inadequacy.... Such a painful blend would distress most of us! But God gave George Matheson something far better than a visible solution to earthly difficulties; He gave him spiritual sight to see eternal treasures! And with that revelation came the assurance of His Father's constant nearness and the lasting promise of divine strength, daily sufficiency, and eternal hope. Like the apostle Paul, Matheson could say,
"...we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope." (Romans 5:3-4)
Learning to practice endurance
Endurance is hardly a popular topic these days. Troubling times sow anxiety, not peace. But that's all the more reason to welcome God's training in victorious faith. For when we smile to Him -- even as we cry out in our deepest struggles -- He will surely provide the strength we need to follow Him.
"For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls." (Hebrews 12:3)
In this time of rapid change, such training in endurance is priceless. America's trusted Constitutional "rights" and freedoms are fading away, eroded by a corrupting quest for amoral license and unbiblical unity. Missing are the old certainties: ethical laws, a moral education system grounded in facts rather than a feeling-based group consensus, and the Christian morality that once built safe communities.
No part of this transformation is more ominous than the shift in faith and values. Even in America, Christians are becoming targets in a global war against God, His Word and His followers. Yet, it shouldn't surprise us. Jesus warned us long ago that the world would hate us, just as it hated Him. (John 15:19-21)
If you doubt that this is happening, you may want to read some of our previous articles on this topic. They show the facts behind this transformation -- the spreading web of global rules and government restrictions designed to quench Christian hope, weaken our convictions, and silence the gospel:
Trading U.S. Rights for UN Rules
From Parental Rights to Global Control, Part 1: The UN Seizure of Parental Rights
Essential lessons in the school of endurance
1. To know and follow His Word. It reminds us that we "have need of endurance" (Hebrews 10:34-39), that He will provide it as we trust Him, and that the end of the journey is well worth the pain and perseverance.
"...let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls...." (Hebrews 12:1-4)
2. To seek and receive His strength and guidance each day.
"...we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed... perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed — always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body." (2 Corinthians 4:7-10)
3. To resist any temptation to compromise God's Word and our convictions. Such a stand could cost us friends, but it will bring us to an ever closer walk with Jesus, our Shepherd. Our training school is full of small temptations, which train us for the larger battles.
"No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." (1 Corinthians 10:13)
4. To trust God and not "murmur" or complain when difficulties press, knowing that He will use each challenge to draw us closer to Himself.
"... we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God..." (2 Corinthians 1:8-9)
5. To follow His guidelines, not popular culture. Our Shepherd points us to His narrow way, where He prepares us to endure hostility, rejection, loneliness and separation.
"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things... endures all things." (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
6. To put on God's Armor each day.
"Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." (Ephesians 6:10-11)
7. To know the peace and joy of "abiding" (trusting, "resting") in His love moment by moment.
"The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; for You are with me...!" (Psalm 23:1-6)
The victory of endurance!
After the crucifixion, the followers of Jesus faced hatred, persecution, torture and death -- and thus found ceaseless opportunities to demonstrate victorious faith to others. Unwilling to deny their Lord, they suffered unthinkable tortures -- and gained eternal treasures with Jesus. Counting it privilege to "share in His suffering," they now share in His heavenly glory.
Notice how Paul describes these tests in the school of endurance:
"...we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed... perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed — always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body." (2 Corinthians 4:7-10)
George Matheson, too, was severely pressed but never crushed. Like the blind hymn writer, Fanny Crosby, he learned joyful endurance through painful limitations. His light to "see" the wonders of God's love came through the power of the Holy Spirit, not through finite human sight.
O Light that foll’west all my way,
I yield my flick’ring torch to Thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in Thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.Matheson was remembered, not for the 1,500 church members who came to hear his preaching, but for a profound hymn that still touches hearts and points us to God's victorious ways. Its four verses remind us that--
- If we didn't suffer and surrender our lives to God, we wouldn't know His comforting love.
- If we didn't face darkness, we wouldn't learn to walk by God's special Light.
- If we didn't face pain and helplessness, we wouldn't appreciate God's comforting strength.
- If God hadn't opened our "eyes" to see our sins, we wouldn't appreciate His victory through the cross.
O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from Thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.Our struggles differ, but God's school of endurance fits all our needs. And each time we pass its tests, our faith grows ever stronger and His light of Truth shines brighter on His pathway for our lives.
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)