Luke 21.19

//By your endurance you will gain your lives.//

Luke 21:19

Perseverance is for the faint-hearted. You won’t find that tattooed on an arm or printed on a coffee mug, but I believe it to be true. If we persevere in our own strength we will eventually crash and burn, but to the faint who wait on the Lord, He shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles: they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. He gives power to the faint, and to Him who has no might He increases strength. You may have never thought about perseverance that way, but the longer I walk with God, the more I see His call to faint-heartedness. Apart from Him I can do nothing, and when we are faint and weak in and of ourselves, His perfect strength is made strong. A persevered life isn’t one who never grows faint or weary, but one who continually finds their strength and might in the power of Jesus.

Throughout the whole Bible I see God doing radical things through faint hearted people who find their strength in Him. In the book of Esther we see a young Jewish woman living among the exiles in Persia. This young woman becomes queen of the empire and God used her boldness in approaching the king to save the lives of the Jewish people. The beautiful words of Esther ring true for any child of God “If I perish I perish”. The verse before our IBS verse states “But not a hair of your head will perish.” That doesn’t mean that we will not face death in this world, because every man will die. But for the Body of Christ, death brings life. We are truly invincible in His will. By persevering in Jesus, we gain everything. Life is found in Him alone. Reading the book of Esther I imagine Esther didn’t walk around flaunting her plan with confidence and boldness in her abilities. I believe that she was faint hearted in strength, but trusted fully in God for His. Those who persevere are not those who muster up strength, but they are the faint who continually bind on His. He is so near to the faint and weary and He tenderly increases might and restores our soul.

“For thus says the One who is High & Lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.” Isaiah 57:15

Application: I am memorizing Isaiah 57:15 and will recite it to my roommates.