Why Try?
For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. Hebrews 10:36 NASB
Endurance – What does endurance mean? Does it mean gritting your teeth and pushing forward? Does it mean steeling yourself to circumstances? (Did you notice the two English idioms in those questions?) Does it mean resignation or tolerance or determination? How would you define endurance for yourself?
The author of this letter uses the Greek term hypomone, usually understood as steadfastness or patience or perseverance. But we might learn more about this word if we look at its construction. It is the combination of hypo and meno, literally “under/beneath” and “to stay in place.” Hypomone is really about remaining in the place of the servant, being a supporting element that does not fail or waver. You might think of biblical endurance as the substructure of faith, the solid foundation that holds up all the godly actions and attitudes of followers of the Messiah. You might think of the term like this, but living it out is quite a different story.
When we are faced with apparently intransigent situations, when it seems as if nothing we do makes any difference, when we are emotionally convinced that life will just go on and on in the same unsatisfying way, we often reach the “Why try?” conclusion. The “grind” pushes us in this direction, especially when the “grind” involves relationship rather than responsibilities. Usually we can deal with physical resistance. Mountains can be turned into molehills. But when it comes to other people, oh, my, how quickly we reach the point of resignation and despair. It seems that the closer the connection, the more difficult it is to deal with opposition. So many times we wear our emotions on our sleeves and so many times we are hurt by the unyielding inflexibility of another—even if all we want is the best for that other person (or so we think).
Hebrews attempts to put a very positive spin on situations like this. Why keep trying? Because when you have persevered you will receive what God promised. But wait! I thought we got God’s blessings as soon as we accepted His offer of redemption? Apparently not. According to the author of Hebrews, faithfulness is a long road. Much of what God wants to do depends on us—and on simply continuing, remaining under, staying in place, being the supporter. According to the author of Hebrews, faith is not a noun. It is a verb, and in this case, it is a verb about not failing under pressure. Then God will deliver His promise.
Of course, we might want to know what that promise is. That might give us the incentive to keep going. But for now one thing seems abundantly clear. In the end, we keep trying because there really isn’t any other way to experience life.
Topical Index: endurance, hypomeno, Hebrews 10:36
Maybe we should take note of what we must approach with ‘hypomone’; doing ‘the will of God’. Are we servants when we take a whole Sunday (well at least a couple of hours) to sit in a pew with the AC on? OR even mimicking an ancient tradition on a Friday evening for the same amount of time? Perhaps even exceeding to having prepared the Saturday meals within the daylight hours of that Friday?
“And it will be accounted as righteousness (conformity to God’s will in word, thought, and action) for us if we are watchful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us”. (Deut. 6:25 …I like the succinctness of the Amplified version)
It seems much clearer when we let the author define the terms.
“Isaiah helps too. This verse includes a wordplay. “If not ta-aminoo (you will believe), surely not te-amenoo (you be established).” The root ‘mn is used in both words – to believe and to establish. In other words, there is a direct connection between believing and securing. The opposite of believing is not doubting. It is tearing down. If I believe (verb), I secure God’s truth as the foundation of my actions. If I do not believe, I tear down God’s truth and am left without a firm foundation.”
(Dictionary Definitions – Skip Moen – 8/20/09)
Wow. This puts some clarity to a whole bunch of stuff in my life.
I THOUGHT I was supposed to react to life with that steely determination, and that love was about ‘making things right’ no matter what, but that just made me a stooge and a door mat and a punching bag and all the other components that make up a good codependent for the problem. I was RESISTING reality. That was all wrong.
“Patient endurance” is about something else entirely. It is about acceptance of what is; whether it be my frailty (boy, did I fight and lie about and deny that one!) or the learning curve of others (yep, stepped in front of others’ express trains all the time and got wiped all the time for it, too!) or just hard circumstances (I succumbed to self pity, raged against the machine, blamed my parents, hated, checked out denial – big time – , and set myself against the world). Nope. No “patient endurance” in sight.
Acceptance of what is allows myself and others the luxury of experiencing the results of our own choices (well, if God can do it, so should we). Patience gives things time to play out so that we can see the truth. Endurance means that I am not fighting (“kicking against the pricks”), but instead LEARNING FROM, reality. Patient endurance keeps me connected to reality and to all around me, as well as to God and myself, in healthy, interactive ways, which, if you thing about it, is the exact substrate needed for positive change to occur. It keeps me firmly grounded in the solution instead of the problem. Still learning! Thank you, Skip!
I like the adition of patience it denotes a requirement to stay in a process. A process I might add we might not understand until we have patiently endured it until it’s conclusion. But few willingly endure what they do not understand. To do so requires trust and the fear of God and that as I recall is the begging of wisdom…
Addition, beginning. Spell checking disfunctions plague me yet agin..
this is awesome. I gained alot from reading this response.
Patient endurance, prayer and waiting is my lot in life today. I did not choose this path but I have not turned away. My wife has been in the hospital 60 days today with much of that in ICU. I have been with her night and day doing the little things nurses don’t have time to do. Will she ultimately be healed? I don’t know and I have discovered that I can’t make her get well no matter how much care I give. I’ve been up 3 times trying to write this. We have many people praying for her recovery which is certainly not assured. So yes faithfulness can be a difficult path to follow. Remaining in place and being a supporter can be mind numbing in this situation. I certainly don’t know why this has happened to us. Possibly it is a witness to those who know us well and those who only know us marginally. Please continue to pray for her recovery.
John…it’s hard for me to imagine how weary you must be. It’s also hard to understand why the answers to, “why you are on this journey” are so elusive. Yet, I’m thankful that, someday, it will all be clear…thankful that through it all, you have the King of the Universe overseeing this ordeal and somehow, weaving it into His Plans. Praying for His supernatural strength to hold you up, encourage you and strengthen you as you continue persevering…also, that He will move forward with healing your wife completely.
Dear John, this has to be hard. Thank you SO MUCH for going to the effort to keep us in your life. I am praying for all concerned and am going to continue. May you both find that place of perfect peace in this perfect storm, for all life is anchored in peace in all dimensions. May you be granted the wisdom and the willingness to do what is required and may you be given the wherewithal to carry it out, too. May you also both be given patience while the Great Sculptor works in conjunction with Himself as that Great Healer. This life is hard. Paul had a hard time in it; he said so. My heart goes out to both of you together.
Love as always,
Laurita
“Having done all stand”..it’s an act of trust, it an act of faith, its very hard but good. It’s life in Christ. May the life of Messiah so saturate your waking, walking and standing your getting up and your sitting down and your waiting and your trusting, such that you begin to loose yourself in himself and find his peace…
One week before my mother’s death as a passenger in a single car accident she visited me during my first semester of college. Saying “I don’t know what’s next for me I feel like my work here is done…” One week before her visit I wrote in my jurnal ” My life is a war, My mind the battlefield, my thoughts the weapons my decisions the out come; life or death”. My life before and since has never been “a grind, unsatisfying, or even routine ” It has rather been a fight to stand, resist the enamy of life, it has required endurance…
Yesterday, Oswald Chambers’ daily reading said:
“The most wonderful secret of living a holy life does not lie in imitating Jesus,
but in letting the perfect qualities of Jesus exhibit themselves in my human flesh”.
My struggle with perseverance has been learning how to get myself out of the
center of the lane and trusting His presence to accomplish His will through
my active faith of staying in the lane.
Shalom to everybody at Gods Tabel..I am Devorah from Holland I havent been reacting for some time but I read all lessons..Today I would like to be an encouragement for those who struggle with faithfulness like me. I have a small emotional burnout because YHVH gave me in the last 12 years so many people to help get healed from traumas and now I have 3 daughters which are not my own with different kinds of problems that only can heal when there is somebody who is willing to live and walk with them for a long time by teaching them Torah principles and to love them till the end. I was living in Finland for 10 years to take care of one daughter who was abandoned at birth. God gave me in Finland another daughter and because I needed shoes for my diabetic right foot we went all with the car to Holland to stay for some time. When we arrived in the evening after dinner the dutch daughter suddenly started to feel bad and while crying she told that she had a horrible secret that she wanted to tell me for some time but did not dare. I found out that the one I called my brother had abused her for 4 years sexually and told her that God wanted that and she agreed because she trusted him as being a man of God. He abused her need for love and affection in the name of God. It was so big blow for all my daughters but she got so much love from them until today. Now I decided to stay all together to be with her and live like a family in Holland. Now after 7 months here living I realised that this was really hurting me so deep that I didnt know anymore what to do with my emotions and the problems started to rise more and more. I was afraid that I was failing God and my daughters to persevere and staying faithful to the little lambs He trusted me so yesterday night I poured out in crying to the LIVING God Who is FAITFUL and asked Him for a sign that He was still there with us even if I felt like quitting and I realised that I am not able to be faithful without Him. I fell asleep and in the early morning when I went outside to walk the dog there was this FULL colored rainbow before my eyes! I new fore sure that YHVH was telling me that I dont need to worry because He is FAITFUL and that I felt that my house was like a little ark where my daughters and I were save from all storms because He will never abandon us. I started to cry loud and was for some time alone talking with God about the things that I was going through. ALL my worries fell away and started to feel this deep trust in Him.
God will NEVER leave you also not in your darkest moments when you feel you cant go on anymore..HE IS FAITHFUL!!!
I wish His blessings over all my brothers and sisters who are going through difficult times!
Devorah
Amen sister! I had to learn that even if I ‘failed’ at everything He will never fail at anything we give to Him. AND that there is a difference! Halleluah!
God is SO GOOD! How He helps us trust and follow Him!