2007-10-26 - Faithful Endurance

Psalm 119:117, "Uphold me that I may be safe, that I may have regard for Thy statutes continually."

Has God been faithful to you today? Almost all of us would say that the Lord has been faithful, even when we are in the middle of struggles. Sometimes we sense God's faithfulness and nearness to us even more when we are in difficult times, than we do when the path of life is smooth. The best of Christians often find themselves in the worst of places. In the midst of the struggle, the Lord is the saints' choicest portion. If we are given grace to endure, what matters the struggle we undergo? Afflictions often bring the gold of our faith to the surface, and the Lord would have His saints to shine. May the Lord grant us all grace to persevere, even in those times when we experience the throbbing, smarting times life often brings.

What a blessing that the Lord who is faithful today, who was faithful yesterday, will still be faithful tomorrow, and forever. The righteous are never forsaken. Those who own their righteousness, and draw upon the eternal, never-depleted springs of eternal grace are always sustained in the appearing deluge. We are never abandoned while we hold fast our profession. We are upheld, sustained, and maintained in the glorious grace that Christ gives. Many of us have known deep waters, and many of us will know them again. Let us ever keep our minds set upon the Lord. When the trial comes, those who have their foundation established in the Lord will endure even under the hardest of trials and temptations. All other foundations are like sand, and when the trials come into our lives, especially those unexpected trials, such a foundation is sure to fail. Let us grow in grace, while the time for growth is choicest, so that when difficulties become our experience, we will be able to endure.

Also true is that we would be less likely to know the sufficiency of grace, were it not for those past trials and tough times. It is when we are forced to lean upon the Lord, because nothing else will sustain us, that the competency of our trust becomes less our hope and more our experience. It is then that our trials become triumph. And when a new trial comes our way, remembering the faithfulness of the Lord in the past will lead us into and through the struggle.

Soli Deo Gloria,
T-

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