"Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that He has promised" Hebrews 10:36 NLT
I don't know about all of you out there, but for me so far 2013 hasn't been that great. But after Ike's message at The Basement team meeting last night, I started thinking this morning about some people in the Bible who didn't just have a bad year, but had a bad FORTY years--the Israelites...
What would have happened if the Israelites decided not to endure, to push through and cross the Jordan river? I mean if you really think about it, they wouldn't have had terrible lives. Yes, there are always challenges and struggles in life, but they had set up a pretty comfortable camp. How many times to we get so comfortable in the camp that we've created for ourselves that we settle instead of continuing on to the even better place that God has for us?
Thank God for Joshua. God helped him to be strong and courageous enough to push the Israelites out of their comfort-zone and across the Jordan river to the Promised Land. He really believed that what was on the other side of this "problem"--this big river--was so much better than where he was then.
Because of that bold faith, God didn't just allow the Israelites to cross the river, but he stopped the flow of the ENTIRE RIVER so that they could cross on dry land. The Bible says in Joshua 3 that "as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, the water piled up in a heap a great distance away" (Joshua 3:16). It's crazy how when you take a step of faith and obedience you always find that God is already there at work. Sometimes all you have to do is get your feet wet and God will do the rest!
If you're reading this right now, I just have one question for you--What's your river?
What is the thing you've got to endure, you've got to go through, before God can get you to his best for you? Notice the Israelites weren't able to go around the river. There was no other way to get to the Promised Land without going right through the middle of the hardship, the difficult thing that was right in front of them.
Maybe you're having some hard times right now. Maybe you're having financial troubles, you've lost someone, your relationships are a wreck, you're struggling with sickness and pain...Maybe everything around you feels like it's falling apart and you just feel like you're being rubbed with sandpaper--everything hurts and it's difficult. If that's you, I would say I'm right there with you!
BUT this isn't a pitty party. We don't rub things with sandpaper that we don't care about--we do it to restore, to improve, to make something better and even more beautiful than it was before and so does God. We're not going to feel sorry for ourselves, because we aren't helpless victims--we're not victims of anything! We are OVERCOMERS--more than conquerors through Christ who gives us strength (Romans 8:37)!
God is growing you through exactly what you're going through right this second! Trials and tests are difficult, and Jesus didn't promise that we wouldn't have them, but He did say that we could take heart because He has overcome the whole world (John 16:33)! Because we have this strength and this hope in Jesus, we can "count it ALL joy." We can ENDURE because we know that "when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing" James 1:2-4.
Even if it's difficult, even if it hurts right now and seems like too much, don't quit! "Quitting is the quickest way to fail"(Ike Ubasineke). Instead, take a Joshua mindset and just believe that whatever is on the other side of this circumstance, this trial, is SO much greater than what you're going through right now! God is not only going to bring you to the place of His blessings, but He's also going to show you just what He can do through you!
