CHALLENGES OF THE 21ST CENTURY
I have been writing about the need for character. When we look at the business, political, educational as well as art world we see this need for character becoming more and more manifest.
A congressman yelled out, “You lie!” when the President of the United States was speaking to both houses. Now, that is not the right thing to do (we need more civility in our conversations with one another and this congressman apologized later to the White House), but it has been proven that there were several lies in what was being said.
I wrote about determination and I would like to mention a few more things about this. Besides men like Hudson Taylor, CT. Studd and women like Amy Carmichael being examples of men/women of determination, we also have in Scripture many examples of men with the same characteristic, men like Elijah and the first martyr of the church, Stephen. What are some of things that we can see from these examples to help us in building determination in our lives?
1. They were men and women who were filled with the Word of God. When Stephen was giving a message to the people who eventually stoned him, he quoted over 100 Scriptures verses from the Old Testament. He quoted from Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Isaiah and Amos.
We also see with Elijah that the ‘word of God came to him.” They were examples of what Paul was talking about when he said, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly..” Colossians 3:16
Bakht Singh, a great man of India, was a Sikh convert. Brother Bakht Singh preached throughout India and saw fellowships established all over. In the face of much difficulty and opposition he was a determined man. What was his secret? No secret. He was a man just like us, but he had a great love for the Word of God. In every sermon he would quote 100 or more Scripture verses. At his funeral hundreds of thousands turned out to pay honor to the passing of this man of God, a great man of India.
It is interesting to see that after the command of Colossians 3:16 we have the same list of things after the command of Ephesians 5:18, to “be filled with the Spirit.” There is a direct parallel between being filled with the Word and being filled with the Spirit.
2. We see from the passage of Romans 5:3-5 that God uses adversity to build in us the character that He wants.
We see this also with Elijah and Stephen. Their lives were filled with adversity. Eventually Stephen lost his life by stoning and Jezebel was constantly trying to kill Elijah. However, we see that adversity instead of stopping them made them stronger.
This is what we must understand as well. Adversity can make us strong. After coming out from spying on the Promise Land Joshua told the people of God not to listen to the ten spies that said they could not take the land. Joshua’s comment was: “If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.” Numbers 14:8
“Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” Numbers 14:9
Joshua’s comment was: They are food for us. This is what gives us our spiritual vitality. This is what can make us men and women of character; men and women of God; men and women of determination.
3. We also see that the Lord will test us. He will allow the testing to come in order to teach us trust. He will not allow any more than what we can bear although at times it might seem unbearable.
We see this in the life of Elijah. He was told to hide himself at the brook Kerith. There he could drink from the brook and God commanded the ravens to bring him food to eat.
Night after night when he laid down he could hear the water running in the brook. It must have been a reassuring sound to hear the water. However, he noticed that each night he laid down the sound was becoming less.
Eventually we read the brook dried up. Where was Elijah? He was still at the brook waiting upon the Lord. The Lord had not told him to leave. If we were in Elijah’s shoes or sandals most of us would probably be digging our own wells. Not Elijah. He was waiting upon God.
After the brook dried up God told him to go to a widow woman in Zarephath. And Zarephath was where Jezebel came from. God was sending him to Jezebel’s back yard. Here was a woman that was looking all over the world for this man and God sends him to her back yard. What a test, but Elijah goes. He was a man of determination.
4. Men of determination are men who are single-minded. Determined men are like the Apostle Paul who said: “This one thing that I do..” They are men of one objective and that objective is the “glory of God.” (Philippians 3:13-16)
When Elijah was fighting Baal worship, God’s glory was at stake. The people were leaving the worship of the One and Only God for something that was far less.
With Stephen we see that he was up against a corrupt priesthood. The priests were making money off of the people’s worship. What was the result of these men of determination? Elijah calls a nation back to God. The prophets of Baal are killed and Elijah is taken to heaven in a fiery chariot.
Stephen was stoned, but out of that stoning came a new advance of the Gospel. The gospel started to move into Samaria and later on into the uttermost parts of the world.
During the stoning there was a young man by the name of Saul who saw it all and it made an impact in his life. Through this young man the Gospel started moving into all the world. We all have been blessed by the letters that he wrote that are now part of the New Testament of the Word of God.
In the book of Isaiah there is a prophecy about the Lord Jesus Christ: “Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.” (Isaiah 50:7) In the New Testament we read: “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” Luke 9:51
Jesus Christ was determined to finish the work that the Father had given Him to do. “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” (John 17:4) Later on the cross he cried out: “It is finished.” A way was made for sinful man to approach a Holy God.
Paul said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7
We too have a job to do, a course to run. Will we finish the race? Will we complete what the Lord has given us to do? If we are to finish, not just somehow, but triumphantly then we need to learn the quality of determination.