Key scripture – “Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:4).

Are you stubborn? If so, is your stubbornness a good quality or a bad one?

When stubbornness means dogged determination to do the will of God, it’s good. Perhaps a better term would be perseverance — a quality the Bible upholds as the core of character. “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Romans 5:3-4). But when stubbornness is another word for self-will, it’s a destructive force. The Bible says, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry” (1 Samuel 15:23).

There’s a fine line between stubborn self-will and godly perseverance; and often the Lord uses crises in our lives to move us from one to the other. The list of those whom God saved out of carnality and rebellion into a life of spiritual maturity is long. But that’s the whole point isn’t it? God’s goal is to transform us into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29) — and He’ll use all means necessary to do it. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28).

Take the patriarch Jacob for example. His story in the book of Genesis is filled with selfish and stubborn choices, which caused pain to himself and others. But by the end of the story, God had used a series of crises in his life to turn his stubbornness into sanctified perseverance. Who would have thought that, in his younger days, a scheming man like Jacob would become the father of twelve sons from whom would arise the multitudes in the nation of Israel, but that is what God did through a painful encounter with Jacob.

“That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” (Genesis 32:22-30).

In fact, Jacob lived with a limp after that encounter, and his descendants refused to eat the meat in an animal’s hip socket in memory of Jacob’s encounter and transformation (Genesis 32:31-32).

In short, God will do whatever it takes to conform us to the image of His Son — even allow us to experience pain and live with reminders of our “educational encounter” with Him, and like Jacob, we will have limp, it may not be on the outside, but it is there.

We can’t avoid pressure in life, but we should always remember that whatever crisis we face is God’s way of reshaping our stubborn hearts into models of perseverance and character. Satan tests us at our weakness, so that he might destroy us; but God tests us at our strengths, so that He might employ us.

Let God have His way in your life today. The sooner we say “Yes, Lord” to Him and let His will be done in our life, the sooner we become like Him.

We need to remember that the Christian life is not applied like make-up to the outside of our personalities, but is an outgrowth from an inner transformation. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” (Romans 12:1).

Pray this -Our Precious Heavenly Father, I thank You from the bottom of my heart for the trials that I have experienced in my life that have created a limp in me because those are what brought me closer to You and showed me the strength and power of Your promises. Without those trials, I would not know You, trust You, and love You like I do. Yes Lord, I am all Yours. Yes Lord, I am all in. Yes Lord, Your Will be done in my life. Yes Lord, I die to myself and live for Christ. Yes Lord, Lead me in paths of Righteousness. Yes Lord, Your plans are my plans. Yes Lord, Jesus is my Lord and Savior. Yes Lord, I belong to you. Yes Lord, I will follow and serve you. Yes Lord, I will obey your word. Yes Lord, You are the potter and I am the clay. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

 Laura Ingle