Faint, Yet Pursuing

“And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them. And he said unto the men of Succoth, Give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto the people that follow me; for they be faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian. And the princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thine army?”–Judges 8:4–6

After the amazing victory God gave Gideon over the Midianites, most of the enemy army was destroyed, but those who remained alive fled. Rather than settling for a partial victory, Gideon and his band of three hundred courageous warriors chased after them. Despite the fact that they were tired, hungry, and greatly outnumbered, they were committed to tracking down and destroying those who threatened their land. Even when they were refused help by those who could and should have aided them, they simply refused to stop.

Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. said, “The test of a man’s character is what it takes to stop him.” Every worthwhile task is going to encounter obstacles and difficulties. There will always be excuses that could be made for quitting. There will always be reasons why we have done enough and someone else should pick up the cause and run with it. There will always be fatigue from labor and a desire to stop and rest. There will always be those who could help, but choose to criticize instead. But if the cause is burning in our hearts, we will not stop.

Sometimes we give up too easily in pursuing opportunities which God has placed in our paths because we become weary in overcoming the obstacles. We should remember Gideon and his men who, even when they were faint, continued pursuing. 

The thing that stops people is not an obstacle, but a lack of commitment to their cause.– Dr. Paul Chappell
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

RUNNING WITH PATIENCE
“Let us run with patience” (Hebrews 12:1).

To run with patience is a very difficult thing. Running is apt to suggest the absence of patience, the eagerness to reach the goal. We commonly associate patience with lying down. We think of it as the angel that guards the couch of the invalid. Yet, I do not think the invalid’s patience the hardest to achieve.

There is a patience which I believe to be harder–the patience that can run. To lie down in the time of grief, to be quiet under the stroke of adverse fortune, implies a great strength; but I know of something that implies a strength greater still: It is the power to work under a stroke; to have a great weight at your heart and still to run; to have a deep anguish in your spirit and still perform the daily task. It is a Christlike thing!

Many of us would nurse our grief without crying if we were allowed to nurse it. The hard thing is that most of us are called to exercise our patience, not in bed, but in the street. We are called to bury our sorrows, not in lethargic quiescence, but in active service–in the exchange, in the workshop, in the hour of social intercourse, in the contribution to another’s joy. There is no burial of sorrow so difficult as that; it is the “running with patience.”

This was Thy patience, O Son of man! It was at once a waiting and a running–a waiting for the goal, and a doing of the lesser work meantime. I see Thee at Cana turning the water into wine lest the marriage feast should be clouded. I see Thee in the desert feeding a multitude with bread just to relieve a temporary want. All, all the time, Thou wert bearing a mighty grief, unshared, unspoken. Men ask for a rainbow in the cloud; but I would ask more from Thee. I would be, in my cloud, myself a rainbow — a minister to others’ joy. My patience will be perfect when it can work in the vineyard.–George Matheson

When all our hopes are gone,
‘Tis well our hands must keep toiling on
For others’ sake:
For strength to bear is found in duty done;
And he is best indeed who learns to make
The joy of others cure his own heartache.

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

LIFE WORTH LIVING

“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”— John 17:15

It would be a great deal safer, in one sense, for believers to be taken at once to heaven as soon as they begin to follow Christ. They would then have no temptations, no enemies to fight, no conflicts and struggles to pass through. But who would then do Christ’s work in the world? There would be none to tell sinners about the Saviour, none to show to men the beauty of Christ in a holy life, none to witness for God and to fight His battles.

There is another reason why Christians are left here. They are not the most majestic trees that grow in the sheltered valleys, where no storms break, but those rather which are found upon the hill-tops and on the mountains, where they must encounter the fierce gales. It is so with men: the noblest are grown amid difficulties and hardships, not in pampered ease. Even Jesus Himself was trained in the school of conflict and struggle. It may be the easiest thing to have no battles in life, to grow in some sheltered plain where the storms never blow, to meet no hardships, to have no burdens to carry; but what sort of life comes in the end from such a career? If we would reach the heights of blessedness we must be content to pass through the fields of struggle.

When armies return from victorious war, the loudest cheers are not for those who have fought the fewest battles, nor for the flags which are cleanest, but for the regiments which are cut down to a few men, and for the colours that are shot to pieces. So it will be in heaven when the redeemed are welcomed home: those who have fought the most battles, and bear the most “marks of the Lord Jesus,” will receive the highest honours. It is better, then, even for Christians themselves to stay in this world, and to grow to strength through duty and conflict.–J R Miller
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346