In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. (Job 1:22)
You will never read biographies of great quitters. You will never see a long line of followers behind great quitters. You will never see trophies and awards given to great quitters. There is a man in the Bible who is in the Bible and has a book about him in the Bible, because of one thing – his perseverance. He ran the stop sign and didn’t quit, but he had every reason to. His name was Job.
No man in the Bible, outside of Jesus Christ himself, suffered more than Job. It would even be fair to say that outside of Jesus, no man suffered more unjustly and more unfairly than Job. If Job had responded the way the vast majority of people would and do this book would have never been written and Job’s name would have never been known. We learn a great character trait called “perseverance” from this man who teaches us that tough times never last, but tough people do.
The next time you think you’ve got problems, go read the book of Job. It may not make you feel better at first, but it will put your problems in perspective. When all of these terrible things started happening to Job, he began to ask the same questions we all would ask, “Why?” and “Why me?” After these questions usually comes the worst question of all: “How do I get out of this?”
The question we should be asking is, “What should I get out of this?” As you face difficulties, you are going to learn that problems are not meant to defeat you, depress you, or even discourage you; they are meant to develop you. Problems are not tools to tear you down; they are tests to build you up. So don’t get discouraged when you face tough times. Instead, ask the Lord to help you learn from them and grow from them so that you can point others to Him.
Dear Lord, thank you for the faithful example of Job. Help me to remain faithful to you and to trust you when life gets hard. Give me the strength to persevere, even when I’m tempted to quit. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Topics: Perseverance
