Hang in there!

A woman rushed up to famed violinist Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) after a concert and cried: “I’d give my life to play as beautifully as you do.” Kreisler replied, “I did.”

If you plant a Chinese bamboo seed, it will sit in the ground for five years and appear to not be making any changes. Then, over a six-week period, it will grow 90 feet.

There is a giant Himalayan lily which spends most of its life looking like nothing at all but then after 5-7 years it grows to 9-10 feet tall and produces the most amazing delicately shaped flowers.

The national tree of Sri Lanka is the talipot, it is a palm tree that grows to a height of 82 feet. It only flowers once but it happens some time when it is between 30 – 80 years old.

Hang in there! It’s worth it. That’s the message.

In view of the many trials the community of believers were facing, seeing others fall away and return to Judaism and on top of that facing an uncertain future the Pastor exhorts them:-

“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. ³⁷ For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.” ³⁸ And, “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.” (Hebrews 10 v 36-38)

Using Isaiah and Habakkuk there is a hint that one of the difficulties the believers were having was that it wasn’t looking like Jesus was indeed returning. The setting of Habakkuk was not dissimilar to what they were going through. He lived at a time of unrighteousness and on crying out to God for help the response was to be patient.

Hang in there!

Whatever you are facing today. You may wonder if you will get through.

“May the God who gives endurance …” (Romans 15 v 5)

Mark 13: 13 “Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” The Message “Stay with it—that’s what is required. Stay with it to the end. You won’t be sorry; you’ll be saved.”

Where God is everything changes. He takes the bitter and makes them sweet; He takes the broken and heals their hearts; He picks up the fallen; He energises the tired; He cleanses the stained; He revives faith; He refreshes anointing; He renews His relationships; He encourages what is not there to be there.

You can hang in there! He believes in you far more than you do. He is always speaking well of you before you have even done anything of merit. Your actions don’t bring His praise, you do, without doing anything.

So get up if you have been knocked down. Get ready and have another go. Serve Him where you are right now, to serve Him is to serve others. Lay your own agenda of what your life should be or what others expect and to live it out for Him alone.

For in doing so you will receive what He has promised.