Sweet Words from Maine

Summer Fun

James Russel Lowell, lawyer, politician, writer, poet and New Englander, rightfully and wonderfully reminds us of the hope and joy of spring’s renewal with the opening words of his famous poem: “And what is so rare as a day in June?” However, in Maine, (Lowell lived in Southern New England), there is no day rarer than a beautiful , summer day in July or early August. Although fleeting, those days are much anticipated. It is when summer begins (and nearly ends). It is a time of summer fun- vacations, family time, camping, hiking, swimming, picnicking, beaching, backyard grilling and bocce ball, festivals, reunions and sailing!

We enjoy life but are also challenged by it. King Solomon should be our “go to” mentor about life. He had it all to enjoy– unrestricted in wealth, possessions, available work and hobbies, pleasures (wine, women, entertainment), knowledge, privilege and power. But none of that made him a happy man. He determined that his accumulations, aspirations, and achievements meant nothing in the eternal scheme of things… None of it would last. From that perspective, he garnered some principles of living that help guide us into satisfying lives.

First, “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” (Ecclesiastes 1:2)

Second: “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, “for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment.” (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25)

The King realized that pleasure and satisfaction comes “from the hand of God”. Sometimes we“toil” too hard for “happiness! A degree from an expensive, prestigious college may mean years of student loan debt. Work stresses and financial demands associated with large homes, multiple cars, boats, and other adult toys mean sacrificing time and investments in important relationships. Life is not meant to be so intense that it becomes burdensome, worrisome, and exhausting, Although there is nothing wrong with improving or bettering oneself or situation, there is the danger of losing focus, of not placing life in the context of God’s purposes. Pleasure seeking becomes folly and futile when achievements, power, privilege, professions, and wealth are our idols. So much of our striving is ultimately “meaningless”. The Psalmist also reminds us to consider this, “Remember how short my life is, how empty and futile this human existence!” (Psalm 89:47) We rob ourselves and don’t realize it!

Third: Solomon concluded:”The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)

So, our relationship with God is central to happiness! Respect, reverence, recognition of God’s authority and maintaining God’s principles by which to live are not only the “whole duty” of man but are the best, most pleasing way of living. Having good but misguided goals is way too easy. Neglecting God is way too easy! Carving out idols is way too easy! Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, understood this about his people who had given themselves to idolatry. He grieved for them and agonized, “My grief is beyond healing; my heart is broken ” because they had recognized their folly too late and lamented, “The harvest is finished, and the summer is gone, yet we are not saved!”(Jeremiah 8:18-22)

July and August in Maine can’t be beat, but the summer passes quickly and suddenly harvest is upon us! Metaphorically this raises a serious question? When our summers have gone and our harvest is finished, what will we have produced? Anything of eternal value? Have we just entertained the idea of God or have we included Him in our lives? Have we discovered that God cares enough about us to redeem us and that He is the ultimate source of all that is good and, therefore, our happiness? Do we realize that “for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?”

Creation Speaks

Another awe filled Downeast sunrise brings thoughts of Creator God and how beautifully He reveals Himself to us..

“For what can be known about God is plain (to people) because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So, they (people) are without excuse.”( Romans 1:19-20)

That statement affirms the Psalmist’s ageless poetry declaring that God is everywhere revealed to all people through creation:

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.” (Psalm 19:1-6)

The song continues to builds into thoughts of how one can know God and His purposes for us.

“The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward…” (Psalm 19:7-14)

That God’s revealed Word revives the soul, brings wisdom to one’s life, rejoices the heart, and enlightens the mind are bold and powerful assertions that run throughout both Old and New Testaments.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

Furthermore, and even more breathtaking than discerning human faults and bringing wisdom to life, Scripture offers a redemptive solution for our sinful souls. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:9-10)

Such claims are quite unprecedented and unique , have persisted for thousands of years, have changed the lives of millions, and do warrant thoughtful consideration and evaluation by each of us during all the sunrises that we will ever have!

Fiddleheads and Grace

Eating “Fiddleheads” is a Maine culinary experience which dates back to early Native American days. A “Fiddlehead” is a curled fern frond which can be found for a brief time in the Spring before it unfurls to become a mature fern leaf. Time changes “Fiddleheads” to ferns.

Oddly enough, this picture takes me back to Freshman College English!! (And that was not yesterday!!) We discussed “Fern Hill”, a poem by Dylan Thomas, in which he personifies Time, speaks of the innocence of youth (“lamb white days”), and laments the eventual changes that Time brings to him and to his childhood farm, “Fern Hill”.

He longed for those carefree days of childhood: ” Time let me hail and climb Golden in the heydays of his eyes,”/… “In the sun that is young once only, Time let me play and be Golden in the mercy of his means,”/…“Under the new made clouds and happy as the heart was long, In the sun born over and over,I ran my heedless ways …”

His early years were like the Garden of Eden to Thomas: “Shining, it was Adam and maiden…” Not all of us can personally relate to such a burden free childhood filled with natural beauty, fun, family, friends, and playful frolic. Although we may not lay claim to an idyllic youth, we still sense loss as we take on the heaviness of adulthood. We “… wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land.”

Like a Pied Piper, Time briefly plays the songs of youth and then leads us out of the garden of innocence. “Before the children green and golden Follow him out of grace…” Thomas likens our progress through adolescence to mankind’s fall from grace in Eden. When man chose the knowledge of evil over a state of goodness, spiritual danger and suffering entered Eden. Mankind became troubled and challenged with moral issues and with decisions about ways to conduct one’s life—with either integrity or duplicity, selfishness or generosity, aimlessness or purpose, with God in the mix or not. At some point our thinking and behavior require accountability, and willful moral errors bring consequences.

Youth doesn’t last forever. Time unmercifully forces us forward into culpability. The good news is that, although we outlive Time’s grace, we cannot outlive God’s incomparable grace, His free and unmerited favor, His mercy, forgiveness, and presence. Restoration to God through Christ’s redemptive work is available at any point we are willing to accept the offer, and our moral slate is wiped clean forever. We can confidently live with the knowledge and promise that ^“There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1).

Time demands change. It may not be gracious to either”Fiddleheads” or to us. But God loves, pursues, and benefits all who follow Him. He is a gracious God who moves us from loss to eternal hope.

Changing Landmarks

Stonington Chimneys and Mark Island Light

^“Remove not the ancient landmark” (Proverbs 23:10)

Until recently, the alignment of these chimneys and their mossy roof with the chimney shaped lighthouse in the bay beyond had always been a landmark that caught my imagination. The old chimney is gone! Torn down. Now it has become a reminder of how time may shift our “markers”.

Landmarks, signs, and “milestones” help us identify places, people, and events; but if not tended or cherished or if misused, they change, deteriorate, crumble , and disappear like this chimney. Similarly, unless they are carefully protected, cultural ideals and sensitivities (the way or what we think and the way we behave) change over time.

Sometimes change is beneficial. Sometimes change is controversial and even divisive. Historic monuments or buildings are removed or renamed because they raise painful memories or affront groups of people. Our constitution is constantly under scrutiny by specific factions who encourage changes they believe would benefit them more than it currently does. Traditional cultural values shift focus to special or individual interests rather than what benefits society as a whole. Judicial rulings smack more of political bias than of concern for the moral or common good. Intolerance for hero status emphasizes the character flaws of respected national forefathers rather than the good they have done for our country and humanity. Such modifications alter our cultural landscape.

Whatever our response to”change”, whether we agree or disagree, whether it brings pleasure and joy or chaos and deterioration, there is an enduring beacon of Truth which may or may not be evident. It consistently shines in the background and is unchanged by what we tear down, rewrite, restate, redefine, or reinterpret. God is immutable. He is the “rock of our refuge.” (Psalm 94:22) He speaks Truth which makes sense of life and leads us to redemption. He is the One “who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall each man have his praise from God.” (1 Corinthians 4:5)

He has set the boundaries and has placed the landmarks for our cultural, intellectual and spiritual landscape so that we can have the best possible journey through this life of shifting ethics and circumstances. He lights the path with the Truth of His Word so we will recognize and be guided by those ancient, trustworthy landmarks.

“The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; ” (Psalm 19:7-8)

Commending God

A new beginning in Prospect Harbor , Maine

Another beautiful day begins on the Maine Coast, where there is always something old to be taught and something new to learn …

Down east accents murmur and drift across the water as this old salt and his unseasoned stern man (maybe father and son) plan the day and begin their work adventure together. During the course of the next few hours, their conversations will shift from idle banter and gentle ribbing to long and comfortable pauses. They will vacillate from solving crucial, national and world political and social issues to a more practical, informal, but essential mentoring on how to lobster fish. At day’s end, the young stern-man may not have realized it but will have become more knowledgeable about the “where and how ” of lobstering. He will have received solid, time-proven information and skills that one day will help him be successful on his own.

Mentoring has been the “best practices” method of generational teaching since antiquity. Thousands of years ago, Moses stressed that the key to raising a successful nation was teaching children in their homes about the greatness of God, about His awesome efforts to save and restore people, and about His godly principles for living: “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied……”. (Deuteronomy 11:18-21)

The Psalmist concurs: “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.” (Psalm 145:3-6)

“… tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done….that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; (Psalms 78:2-8)

Those commands are eternally important reminders that this sacred responsibility to teach and to model God to children and family primarily belongs to parents, not to Churches or Synagogues, Church Schools, Sunday School teachers, or sermons and catechisms. Those have important supportive roles to play but are not meant to be the primary ones.

God has given each of us unique stories of His goodness to share. As we live out and tell the accounts of our lives, hopefully we will consider and relate how God weaves His great redemptive love story through out all of history including our own personal histories. He pursues us to do good for us, to save us, and restore us to Himself. That narrative stretches throughout all generations, centers on the crucified and risen Christ, and will continue until time ceases. That message brings meaning and confidence to life. It is crucial that God’s unchanging story be shared so others may live in light of His love, purposes, and eternal hope.

“I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalm 89:1)

We can do that even on a lobster boat!

Whose Hills These are, I think I know…

Camden Hills across Penobscot Bay from Caterpillar Hill, Maine

One wonders who the Psalmist was and what was running through his mind when he wrote down the words to this beautiful song:

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:1-2)

Was he an old man trudging along a country road taking him back to the place where he belonged? Was he catching his first glimpse of the hills of home after seventy years of exile in Babylon? Had he worshiped and felt God’s presence on Mount Zion as a young person and was overwhelmed with anticipation and appreciation of returning to that sacred place?

Or was he a young man on the same journey to Jerusalem, to the home he had only heard about, to the hills he had never seen but longed to because he knew God’s blessing was again on that place.

Possibly he was just a pilgrim on his way to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices at the Temple. Along the treacherous journey, he anxiously surveyed the dangerous hills filled with thieves and robbers, and he confidently thought about the Lord and the safety found in Him?

Maybe he was a hiker enjoying Israel’s countryside. As he gazed upon the glorious hills, his contemplation was interrupted by the awareness of all the “high places”, the altars to other gods and other religions. He was horrified at the extent of paganism in the Holy Land, and his mind turned to grateful thoughts of the one, true, living God, who was the personal Keeper of His people.

Whatever the context, the message is clear! The Lord God, the Creator of heaven and earth, the King of Heaven, is a faithful, powerful, loving and compassionate Guardian of His people! He is sovereign over “the hills”. “He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night…” (Psalm 121:3-6)

No matter what physical or spiritual challenges the Psalmist would meet on his journey ahead, he had total confidence that the Lord would preserve his life from evil. With God’s strength, he could conquer whatever came into his life. Temptations are many, varied, and insidious and are found in our own hills of desires and cultures. We create idols of heritage, wealth, intellect, personal abilities, relationships, positions, philosophies, and world views. Although these may be good things, they become as evil when they supplant God as the source of our security and happiness and purpose. Our earnest prayer must be, “Lead us not into temptation but deliver from evil.”

We understand the Psalmist’s confidence. If “…God is for us, who can stand against us?” When we faithfully look beyond the hills where our unhealthy desires and spiritual enemies lurk, our Creator and Heavenly Father gives strength and protection and meaning so that our foot will not slip. “…the LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.” (Psalm 121:7)

And ultimately the journey ends in God’s eternal presence. “The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.“(Psalm 121:8)

Full Sails

July is a great month for sailing in Maine. Watching sails appear and disappear on the horizon makes one yearn for swift winds and stiff breezes, to hoist sails, and to be propelled into open ocean with its invisible boundaries, clear horizons, distant skies, and the mysterious deep.

The forces that compel us in life are complicated and multi-factorial because we are willful, emotional, broken creatures. We are driven by certain desires, the love of power, the compulsion to possess, competitiveness and pride. But the Westminster catechism very succinctly simplifies what ancient Jewish and Christian Scriptures agree upon. “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” Those should be the true winds driving human behaviors and attitudes.

Some would say God is egotistical because He created us in order to bring glory to Himself. But that is twisted thinking. God bestowed on mankind the greatest possible honor by creating us with a nature capable of godly behaviors and attitudes and by granting us the best possible life within His goodness and protection. But in our self-willed pride, we lost our righteousness, tarnished the intended God-likeness, broke our relationship with God, and have lived in turmoil ever since.

We know both intuitively and by experience what the Psalmist knew. He recognized his need for restoration and renewal because he had neither the moral ability nor moral compass to be totally upright without God’s assistance. ^“For your name’s sake, O LORD, preserve my life! In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!” (Psalm 143:11) ^“For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me. (Psalm 31:3) He couldn’t live “rightly” without God’s power and righteousness . That is the “why” and “how” of redemption. We need restoration, and God is the only One who has the power to renew us with righteousness.

Neither our creation nor our salvation are egotistical endeavors by God. Redemption is a work of incomprehensible, loving grace and painful generosity to restore us to whom we were made to be. Because we are flawed and he is not, Jesus Christ has provided the perfect atonement for us. He can be our redeemer and our righteousness because “He is the image of the invisible God.” (Colossians 1:13-15). He held the glory of God intact throughout his earthly life. And redemption is “for our glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7).

Furthermore, “Faith does not rest on the wisdom of man but on the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:5) Faith is not simply knowledge but arises from a transformed heart that lives the Gospel with God’s help. It is manifested through learning to live reconciliation and forgiveness, graciousness and mercy, justice, generosity and honesty. The Apostle Peter understood believers to be the expression of God to the world around them and said they are “called out of darkness into his marvelous light” “to show forth the excellencies of him who called you.” (1 Peter 2:9)

Hopefully, the sustaining wind of faith fills our sails. If it does, we will head toward that mysterious deep of achieving man’s chief end by living “to the praise of his glorious grace” (Ephesians 1:6).

Morning Prayer

A new day with its fresh possibilities is best begun with thoughtful consideration of our Great God, whose purposes for us are grand and wonderful and whose thoughts toward us are “precious” and “vast” and more numerous that “the grains of the sea”. (Psalm 139)

Praying Psalm 143 is a wonderful way to start each morning and especially those unclear mornings when the day ahead is clouded in uncertainty, when there are difficult decisions to make, or when there is physical, emotional, or spiritual pain. Remembering and meditating upon God’s great power and grace to us through Christ enables us to pray as the Psalmist did with an unwavering trust in the sovereignty and love of God, with a renewed desire for His presence, with an open, honest search for His will, and with an expectation that He will show up when we are believing, grateful , thoughtful, humble people who thirst for Him.

“I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands. I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land…

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love for I have put trust in you. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.” (Psalm 143:5-8)

Peace Like a River

Perhaps you can hear the song rising from the heat soaked cotton fields?

I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river in my soul
I’ve got love like an ocean, I’ve got love like an ocean, I’ve got love like an ocean in my soul
I’ve got joy like a fountain, I’ve got joy like a fountain, I’ve got joy like a fountain in my soul

How could a destitute, abused, humiliated, oppressed, enslaved and homesick people who were forced to endure sun baking, back breaking work sing “I have peace like a river in my soul”?

Enslaved through no fault of their own, those African Americans epitomize the fact that peace doesn’t have to be an external reality to be an internal reality. Conversely, the absence of conflict, dissension, or violent opposition will not guarantee an internal sense that all is well with one’s soul.

There will always be those who want to dominate and subjugate others, whether kings and their armies, politicians and their ideologies, religious extremists and their fanaticism, powerful adults and their spousal, child and elder abuses, or children bullying others on the playground. There have always been murders, pogroms, wars, racial discrimination, prejudice, inequalities, and slavery whether against the Irish, Jews, Palestinians, Bosnian Muslims, or Native Americans. Countries around the globe from Africa to Asia and Russia, from Europe to Greece, from the Balkans to India and Vietnam, and many more have practiced ethnic cleansing.

Why does malicious stealing of another’s peace by manipulating, overpowering, diminishing, killing, or abuse bring some kind of evil satisfaction? We were created with a capacity to love God and others and were provided best principles and boundaries for living good lives, which included respecting and helping each other. But there was a wicked turn in Eden, where man lost peace with God and fellow men and became troubled–the results of diverging from God’s purposes.

Israel’s journey gives us perspective. Their national protection and personal peace were intertwined with God. Their experiences of oppression and slavery help us understand a bit about the dynamics of peace. The prophet Isaiah gave them this word from God when they were exiled in Babylon: ^“Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;…

Disobedience, unfaithfulness, and cultural compromise defined their relationship with God and resulted in “unrighteousness”, the absense of peace, and their destruction. However, despite that folly, they were not left hopeless. God’s message continued with the hope for redemption and restoration but also with a warning:

Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it out to the end of the earth; say, “The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob”…“There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.” (Isaiah 48:17-22)

Like the beleaguered Israelites, all men will live unsettled and possibly disastrous lives when they exclude God and fail to heed Isaiah’s prayer and exhortation: You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock. (Isaiah 26:3-4)

Since we have proven ourselves frustratingly incapable of fulfilling the Law, self-effort and rule-making as an attempt to only lead to despair, self loathing, divisiveness, and self-righteous, legalistic, punitive attitudes and behaviors rather than leading to joy and peace. But relief is near! Whether we seek personal or world peace, the answer lies in a relationship with God that is more than an attempt to keep the Moral Code.

Centuries prior to the Christ’s birth, Isaiah called the coming Messiah the “Prince of Peace” because Jesus came to restore our broken relationship with God, to bring us the peace that passes understanding (Philippians 4:7), and to repair our human relationships separated by animosity and prejudice. His birth was announced by angels singing “Peace on Earth, Good will toward men.” The Apostle Paul told the Jews and Gentile Christians in Ephesus that Christ had torn down the wall between them and that “He is our peace.” (Ephesians 2:4) Jesus is Heaven’s answer to our peace-problem

The power of love, and therefore peace, lies within hearts touched by the grace and mercy of God. Our leaders and we, the people, need a transforming faith that begins to comprehend and live out that great mercy, grace, and hope given through Christ’s payment of our sins. Gratitude for spiritual renewal and for reconciliation with God should be reflected by respecting, valuing, loving and forgiving others. Such a faith begins to fulfill the Law. It desires to love God with all ones being and one’s neighbors as oneself.

It would be a great day if we believed the truth of redemption and saw peace like a river flood this land!

Becoming Gold

“… let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).

This Great Blue Heron stood staring into the river for what seemed like hours. He never lost hope as he patiently watched for his meal, and his perseverance eventually produced satisfaction. He is a reminder that patience, stamina, and the confidence of good endings are characteristics of a life of faith.

Christian belief is more than an intellectual conviction that there is a God or an assent to a system of doctrines. Authentic Christian faith encompasses the whole person and involves one’s will and emotions as well as the mind. It entails trusting and submitting to what God has revealed and has done through the sacrifice of Christ, and it is evidenced in desires and efforts to live out the love and mercy and forgiveness granted through the Good News of Christ. Fidelity and confidence sustain it. The Apostle Peter encourages us to “… make every effort to supplement your faith ……with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love…..” (2 Peter 1:5-8)

One’s faith journey isn’t always easy. Our fallen world, our personal brokenness, and our culture constantly conspire to chip away at our devotion.”Bumps in the road”, hardships, and other sufferings are adversaries that lead to doubtful minds. Educational experiences slant us toward humanism; peer pressure encourages cultural norms that conflict with faith standards; inadequate spiritual mentoring and teaching leave us spiritually wanting. These things and others oppose our faith but don’t necessarily deliver the knockout punch! In fact, the converse can be true; the worst and harshest of troubles, oppression, and antagonists potentially produce and purify faith. “..suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, (Romans 5:3-4)

Suffering is a refiner! Job would verify that. He lost family, wealth and health but knew that God was present in his sorrow. And although God’s purposes were unknown to Job, they somehow were of great value to God and would be to Job. Job’s conclusion was: ^“But (God) knows the way that I take; When he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10) Centuries later, James concurred and continues to speak truth to believers of all centuries: ^“…for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:3-4)

So, endurance through adversity and opposition is crucial for a successful faith-run which is worked out in the context and encouragement of Christ himself: ” I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:20)