Did you know that the minute hand on London’s Big Ben travels 190 km per year? The small, incremental steps it makes as it creeps round minute by minute add up to a considerable distance. When you look at the clock it might seem that the hand isn’t going very far but in the faithful perseverance of measured timekeeping it soon enough clocks up quite the journey.
We can learn a thing or two about going the distance from Big Ben. How often do we give up or abandon hope because things don’t seem to change? We feel like the effort to be kind is wasted, the energy it takes to forgive is futile, the prayer is falling on deaf ears…
“Perseverance does not mean “perfection.” It means that we keep going. We do not quit when we find that we are not yet mature and there is a long journey still before us.”[1]
The widow in Luke 18, the friend in Luke 11: both were persistent. Both had audacious faith and didn’t give up. They kept knocking, kept asking, and Jesus held up their perseverance as examples for us all.
“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” (Galatians 6:9 NLT)
I don’t know what it is that is draining you right now. I don’t know the situation that makes you want to give up: not knowing what ‘normal’ is as you go in and out of lockdowns; the fraught and fractious relationship, the disappointment and pain of bad news… But I do know this: God doesn’t change. He is unfaltering in bringing new mercies each morning. Just as we rely on time to keep a steady pace through life, we can rely on His steadfastness to be with us and equip us with all we need to keep going.
So make the small step today, whisper the desperate prayer, practice patience with the toddler, call the forgotten friend, “be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.” (2 Chronicles 15:7 NIV) You will go the distance if you are obedient in the seemingly insignificant knowing that nothing you do for God “is a waste of time or effort.” (1 Corinthians 15:58c MSG).
[1] p.131, Eugene H. Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society
Promiseseeker 