What does perseverance look like? What are things that help us develop this trait? Here are some examples:
dealing with depression
standing for the right when all your friends do not
attending assembly even when your young children keep you from being able to concentrate on the lesson
working with a good attitude in a bad work situation
doing what you can even when you are dealing with health issues
being godly when your spouse is not
keeping study and prayer a priority
fighting addictions
keeping your tone and attitude right with difficult children
smiling when you are tired and/or hungry
dealing with people in difficult ongoing situations
being godly with annoying family members
Now we don't normally look at these things as blessings, but we have seen that trials are what help us develop this important characteristic. It's all in how you look at it. And looking at it the godly way will also help you deal with the trials.
Today's assignment:
1. Choose a Bible character who had to endure a trial. Read about him/her looking for ways he/she dealt with the situation and overcame. Share your results.
2 comments:
I read about Abigail in I Samuel 25.
She had a wicked husband but she was intelligent. When her husband insulted and failed to show hospitality to David and his men, Abigail had to intervene to save lives.
I imagine it was very difficult for someone like Abigail to live with a husband who was so wicked that he put his entire household in danger. He was so worthless that he wouldn't even listen to good counsel.
Abigail had to use her wits and whatever was under her own power to turn the situation around. But, of course, she had no idea if her actions would work.
Abigail overcame in that she lived and saved her whole household. Also, God struck her wicked husband so that he died.
I think about Lot in Genesis 19, enduring the sins of the city he lived in. 2 Pet. 2:7 tells us that he was a righteous man, whose soul was tormented daily over the wickedness of his city, but he stayed until the angels literally took him by the hand and pulled him away. I have thought about what it would take to stay in that kind of toxic environment for years, and not give in to it. He did his best to save the two angels (whether he knew they were from God, it doesn't reveal), and he followed their orders about not looking back, although I bet that was hard to do...his wife succumbed to that temptation.
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