Patience and Perseverance

While driving to Seminole on Monday I began anticipating seeing the cotton fields ripe for harvest. What I found were barren fields where in some places the crops never came up due to lack of rain. I witnessed a dismal sight of sparsely under grown fields. I expected to see fields of green plants laced with cotton balls. I found a wasteland depicting broken hearts and broken dreams for a great harvest.

I thought of all the farmers I know. I thought of how year after year they plow in hope. They sow seed in hope. They pray for rain and wait in hope. Most can no longer irrigate because the water below has dried up. For the third year in a row the harvest was bad.

One man told me the crop insurance companies are discussing classifying the farm lands as dry land instead of irrigation land. Those farmers are some of the most stout hearted people I have ever met. Year after year they climb on their tractors with the hope for a better year. They never give up. They press on in faith and hope year after year.

James tells us to consider the farmers and their patience waiting for their precious crops [James 5;7]. The word patience there is a good word for us today. We need to learn this. It means "to be long in spirit, not to lose heart, and to persevere bravely even in enduring misfortunes and troubles."

Even the mundane tasks become difficult when we are heavy laden and trying to endure trials patiently. I think of those farmers year after year preparing the fields under the stress of drought. One man told me experts predict the drought could last anywhere from five years to fifteen more years. Yet those stalwart sod busters plow the fields and plant trusting God for rain and to bring the harvest. They keep laboring though their hearts are heavy with mounting debts and decreasing yields from the field. Though their hearts are anguished they still do their daily tasks.

They inspire me. They inspire me to persevere. They inspire me to keep praying, to keep hoping, and to keep laboring for the Lord. They are an example of steadfastness as are the prophets.

Perhaps none inspires me to persevere through hard times more than Job. He suffered but he kept singing God's praises. He got knocked down but he didn't stay down. He lost most everything he held dear but still clung to an unfailing God.

I don't know what you are up against today. I know what my farmer friends face. I know that God can strengthen our hearts with two things. His word. [Ps 119:165] [Rom 12:2] God gives us peace and transforms our minds with reading and meditation of His word. The second thing is the inspiration of others. Weekly I meet brave men, women, and students who persevere through adversity. I read in history books about those who have suffered but they kept the faith and ran the race God set before them with endurance.

O weary and worn pastor let me encourage you. William Carey labored for seven years in Burma before he saw the first convert to Christ and Adoniram Judson likewise waited seven years before seeing anyone saved. Charles Simeon endured twelve years of ill treatment before his church accepted him as their pastor and he remained in that place for over fifty years. Persevere. Endure. Remain constant and steadfast.

We all have a need for those character traits. We need it in marriage, raising children, at work, doing the mundane tasks of every day life, and in our pursuit of intimacy with Christ. God help us to persevere and to endure to the end.