Journey into Lightl

When I was in the Air Force in the 70’s, one of my duties was monitoring long-range missile tests. This involved translating coded radio messages of how the missile was performing as it traveled  thousands of miles across the Pacific.

The audience for my translations was several colonels who were in charge of various aspects of the design of the missiles.

One night, a particularly important launch was taking place. A key part of the test was whether or not secondary missiles would properly work. These were called deployments. There were 18 of them.

Several colonels were present as I began my translation of the coded radio messages. Things went well at first. I said, “Deployment 7, successful, Deployment 8, successful, Deployment 9, successful..”

However, somewhere around Deployment 11, I could not keep up with the coded messages and I lost track of what was happening.

I panicked! So, I started to make up what was happening. Forgetting there were only 18 deployments I said, “Deployment 17, successful, Deployment 18, successful, Deployment 19, successful…”

At this point, I was jolted by a loud noise coming from the colonel in charge slamming his notebook on the table. He looked angrily at my boss and said, “Turn that bumble machine off!”

Then, my boss glared at me. If looks could kill I would have been a dead man. He was so mad at me that he publicly chewed me out four times the next day.

However, I persevered. I knew that there was nothing I could do you to undo my boneheaded decision to fake it. I just kept on keeping on doing the other parts of my job as best I could.

And God honored it. I survived! Not only did I survive, but also I received an award for outstanding service a year later.

I could have chosen to give up. I could have quit trying to be successful. But God’s way is to persevere. “In hope against hope Abraham believed” (Romans 4:18). He believed and received the promise in spite of failure after failure to believe.

We need to persevere in our struggle to live the truth. It never comes easy in our struggle against sin. God does not want us to give up. He wants us to persevere (Hebrews 12:1-6).

Listen to Winston Churchill as he sought to inspire his country to persevere in World War II against overwhelming odds. He said,

”Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

His people did not give in and played a key role in beating Hitler. They persevered.

We cannot live a godly life without perseverance. “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).

A friend of mine, who is a champion long distance runner, said that another runner approached him recently and said he was going to quit. He said he was going to quit because it hurt to run.

My friend said to him, “Hurt! I always hurt when I run. I have learned to run anyway!” He had learned to persevere.

God likens the Christian life to a long distance race. He says, “Lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin that so easily entangles you and run with endurance the race that is set before you” (Hebrews 12:1). God wants us to persevere in our struggle to live the truth.

The good news is that God will give us perseverance as we persevere (Romans 15:5). As we cooperate by persevering, he performs the miracle of changing us into a more persevering person.

• Ask God to show you a truth that he wants you to persevere in living.

• Ask him what he wants you to do to cooperate with him as he enables you to live this truth.