This Calls for Patient Endurance

This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus. –Revelation 14:12 NIV

Life is not always full of rainbows and puppies and days at the beach. We know this. Still, it’s not easy to accept at times. We want life to be easy. We’d like everything to go well. When it doesn’t, we do our best to change our circumstances or fix our problems so we can get back to being happy again. But what happens when life becomes one long, dreary slog through an endless mud puddle? What then?

I found myself in a hard place late last spring when I suddenly lost my hearing. It was a strange sensation to be unexpectedly thrust into a mostly silent world. I already had limited hearing in one ear that had been declared too damaged for a hearing aid years ago. Now this. In my “good” ear. I attended prayer meetings and heard not a word, just an underlying hum, making me aware that someone must be talking. I did my best to read lips and discern conversations based on hearing a few words and guessing at the context. I managed to laugh at myself when I misinterpreted someone, accepting that I’d failed yet again to hear correctly. I received ear injections during that time, and they hurt, and I took more prednisone than I really wanted to. I was not having fun.

During that “mud-puddle season,” sitting outside on the deck helped. I’d look at the trees, fresh with spring green leaves unfurling, and smile at the clouds above. I’d force myself to count my many, many blessings. I prayed. One day, as I was praying, I heard in my mind the phrase, “This calls for patient endurance.” I knew I’d heard those words before, and I was quite sure it was in the Bible somewhere—and I was also quite sure that this was a word from God’s Word for me.

I would have liked something a bit cheerier. But as I meditated on what was being asked of me, I settled into my reality and stopped pouting about it. God evidently had lessons to teach me through this loss, and what He asked of me was not a fake happiness or a powerful demand that I be healed. He asked me to be patient and endure. To walk through this hard thing with Him. It would be a long slog, evidently, but not impossible. I had a mission. I was to patiently endure and trust that it would not last forever—and, of course, it wouldn’t. Heaven lasts forever. Not the pain and troubles we face here on Earth!

When I found the verse with this phrase, I shook my head at my dramatic self. I had been feeling all martyr-like because of hearing loss when the original context of the verse is the ending of the world and the tribulations falling on humans because of God’s final judgment. I really had nothing to complain about. My little dose of patient endurance truly paled in light of what those on planet Earth during the last days were going to face, according to John’s Revelation from Jesus!

Sometimes, our God simply wants us to hold His big hand and walk with Him straight through that endless mud puddle, trusting Him and waiting for Him to lead us out again. I believe it pleases Him when we stay close, even when the problem does not go away and the duration has no sign of letting up. When we choose to walk with Him through the dark times, we honor Him with our faith and trust. And, oh, the joy that comes from knowing He walks with us!

Slowly, my hearing has come back, and, with the help of a hearing aid in the ear affected by the sudden hearing loss, I feel almost normal again. I am grateful. But I am also deeply grateful for my season of “patient endurance.” I love that He walked me through it. His warmth and comfort made it not only bearable but often enjoyable. Right in the middle of that puddle!

We have a God who allows hard things to enter our lives, but He takes every hard thing and works out a good purpose in the midst of it. We have a God who never leaves us, no matter how hard or long the slog. We have a God who has prepared a beautiful forever home for us where the sun won’t even be needed because His glory will shine so bright! It will be far better than rainbows and puppies and days at the beach. All the troubles we have faced on Earth that honed and shaped us to serve and love Him more will fade in the light of His glory and grace! Patient endurance is the least we can do in light of all He has done, is doing, and will do in the future for us.

Father, thank You for Your clear guidance to us in the midst of hard times. Thank You that You don’t leave us and that You walk with us even through the valley of the shadow of death. You give us all we need, Lord. I am so grateful for my hard times and my happy times because, in all the times, I get to be with You, my Abba-Father. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

You are loved,
Sharon

Sweet Selah Ministries

Vision
To inspire a movement away from the belief that “busy is better”
and toward the truth of God’s Word that stillness and knowing
Him matter most—and will be reflected in more effective work and service

 Mission
To offer biblical resources and retreats that help women pause (Selah)
and love God more deeply as they know Him more intimately (Sweet)

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