Persevering With Hope

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character, and character, hope. Romans 5:3-4

    I don’t know if I will ever get to the point of being able to glory in my suffering. How about you? When a time of suffering has passed, we may be able to look back and see we have gained wisdom, knowledge, and an ability to identify with someone else’s pain. The best thing to come out of suffering is the intimacy we share with God, finding a way to turn to Him and learning to trust Him.

     Sometimes the perseverance part is the toughest part of suffering. Being patient when we don’t see results, or an answer or hope. We do the work, pray the prayer, do everything we think we should, and see absolutely nothing change.

     A friend of mine since kindergarten died almost exactly two years ago from a heart attack he suffered while he slept. He was a brilliant scientist for a pharmaceutical company in San Francisco. He devoted decades of his life to formulas that he knew may or may not ever work. Right after his death, the company signed a contract with Bristol Meyers, to develop possible cures for some major diseases.

     He never saw the results, but the seeds of his labor and his bio-chemist’s brain live on. God sees through His infinite eyes. We see in finite time frames. The year or month or days we spend waiting with perseverance are but a grain of sand to Him. He understands us, but He is God! His ways are nowhere near ours.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."  Isaiah 55: 8-9

     Let Him take that persevering prayer and hold it until the timing is just right. Let Him use your suffering to bring about something good. Let Him use the small seeds you have planted to grow precious fruit in the years to come. Those hidden hopes in our hearts are honored by our God. Believe in His ways. Trust in Him. Allow our Savior, Jesus, to persevere right along with you. He has been there. He was tempted in every way. He suffered more than any of us combined. He knows. He understands. His ways and His thoughts are higher than our earthly understanding. Let your patient perseverance bring hope.

Dear Jesus,

We suffer. We persevere. We do what we need to do, a step at a time. You know how to use all of it for good. Our perseverance grows character and finally brings about hope. Our hope is in Your loving and capable hands.

Amen