Perseverance

“At the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” (Philippians 2:10). In August 1857, Cyrus Field and his company, Atlantic Telegraph, attempted to lay a telegraph cable from England to North America, but the cable broke at twelve thousand feet under the ocean surface and could not be recovered. During the next nine years, Field and his men made three more unsuccessful attempts. Finally, in July 1866, they succeeded in laying hundreds of miles of cable across the Atlantic.

Israel spent almost twenty-one years rebuilding the temple. The work began in 537 B.C. and was finally completed in 516 B.C. Israel’s enemies continually stopped the work; one period lasted as long as seventeen years. People of less perseverance might have given up, but Israel had a deep desire to worship God.

Paul wrote about Christ’s patience, or more exactly, His perseverance. We may not understand why the Lord demonstrated patient determination in His humanity, but we are to follow His pattern. “May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ” (2 Thessalonians 3:5).