Persisting To the End

From The Christian Reader:

Persisting to the End


There are times when a saint is called to trust in a withdrawing God. “[Let him] that walketh in darkness and hath no light… trust in the name of the Lord” (Isaiah 50:10). This requires a bold step of faith– to venture into God’s presence with the same temerity as Esther into Ahasuerus’s. Even when no smile lights His face, when no golden scepter is extended to summon us to come near, we must press forward with this noble resolution: “If I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16).







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Which leads our faith one step further: We must trust also in a “killing God.” We must declare with Job, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15). It takes a submissive faith for a soul to march steadily forward while God seems to fire upon that soul and shoot His frowns like poisoned arrows into it. This is hard work, and will test the Christian’s mettle. Yet such a spirit we find in the poor woman of Canaan, who caught the bullets Christ shot at her, and with a humble boldness set them back again in her prayer (Matthew 15:22-28).



Your work and your life must go off the stage together. Persisting to the end will be the burr under your saddle– the thorn in your flesh– when the road ahead seems endless and your soul begs an early discharge. It weighs down every other difficulty of your calling. We have known many who have joined the army of Christ and liked being a soldier for a battle or two, but have soon had enough and ended up deserting. They impulsively enlist for Christian duties, are easily persuaded to take up a profession of religion, and are just as easily persuaded to lay it down. Like the new moon, they shine a little in the first part of the evening, but go down before the night is over.



Taking up the cross daily, praying always, watching night and day and never laying aside our armor to indulge ourselves, sends many sorrowful away from Christ.



by William Gurnall, from The Christian in Complete Armor