Perseverance

What’s the longest you had to persevere at any one thing? A week, several months? Perhaps even a few years? Noah holds what must be the record for perseverance. He spent 120 years building a very large boat on a mountain top in a time when it had never rained. Can you imagine the comments from neighbors and relatives? He and his family must have been a laughing stock for everyone in the area and even beyond. What he was doing seemed so fruitless and unnecessary, so worthless and wasteful. Why put all your time and resources into such a project? Sure, God told him to do it, but after building for a hundred years and not hearing anything more from God, you’d think he would get discouraged and quit. Wouldn’t you? But he persevered.

That’s what makes this such a remarkable story. He “ran with patience the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1-2). The key is to keep our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) and not on our circumstances. Are you getting weary? Is it hard for you to keep persevering? Don’t quit, for we’ll be rewarded for it if we persevere. The enemy will do anything to discourage us and get our eyes off Jesus. God wants to develop perseverance in us because it makes us so much like Jesus Himself who persevered and never quit until He accomplished all God had for Him. So next time we get weary remember Noah toiling away for 120 years. Remember to keep your eye on the goal, not on the circumstances around you. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).