For you need endurance in order to do God’s will and so receive what is promised. (Hebrews 10:36)
Fir, alder, and maple forest surround my father’s house in Washington State. Among the woodland critters are cliff swallows that, year after year, attempt to build mud nests above Dad’s door. For a while, he allowed the birds to summer there, but it was a bad location for all the parties. The chicks were subjected to human traffic, and the humans were dive-bombed with objectionable matter.
Every spring, Dad goes on swallow alert. A comical war is waged as he washes down any mud beginnings. Eventually, the birds relocate to the nearby trees and sea cliffs. It would appear Dad is more persistent, but the swallows are driven by deep instinct, and they’ll be back another year.
You and I have a deep instinct to unite with our Creator. That hope drives us. No matter how many times our nest of faith is knocked down, we rebuild. We can’t give up on Christ, for as Peter said, where would we go? No one else has the words of eternal life.
True endurance is more than maintaining the status quo. To stop running toward Christ on the treadmill of faith is to be swept back into unbelief. Even to stay in the one place of trusting Jesus requires an expenditure of calories. The longer we live with our heartaches, the harder it is to trust, because no answer appears to be forthcoming. Every day that I wake up and say, “In spite of all that is wrong, I’ll trust the Lord,” I’m enduring more than the day before.
I want to stubbornly rebuild my faith after every wash down, and be found doing so when Jesus returns.
Prayer: Mighty Savior, grant me joyous endurance, again today.