You know that moment when you’re facing something that feels impossible, and you wonder if you have what it takes to keep going?
Day six of Professor Horner’s reading system showed me that this question misses the point entirely. The issue isn’t whether we have what it takes. The issue is whether God has what it takes. And today’s ten chapters thundered with a resounding “Yes!”
When God Finds One
Genesis 6 opens with one of Scripture’s most sobering statements: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” The corruption is total. The judgment is coming. But then comes this stunning verse: “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”
One man. One family. But that was enough for God to preserve humanity and restart His purposes.
Noah didn’t find favor because he was perfect, but because God is faithful to His covenant promises. The text says Noah was “righteous in his time,” but even righteous Noah gets drunk after the flood. His righteousness was relative, not absolute.
John Calvin observed: “Noah’s righteousness was not the cause of his salvation, but the evidence of it. God’s grace preceded and produced Noah’s faith.” This is crucial. Noah endured the mockery, the years of building, the flood itself, not because of his own spiritual fortitude, but because God’s election held him fast.
The same God who preserved Noah through impossible circumstances still preserves His people today.
The Stones That Speak
Joshua 6 showed me Jericho’s walls falling down, but what struck me most was what happened after the victory. Joshua cursed anyone who would rebuild Jericho: “Cursed before the Lord is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho; with the loss of his firstborn he shall lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he shall set up its gates.”
Why such a strong curse?
Because Jericho represented more than just a military victory. It represented God’s judgment on sin and His faithfulness to His promises. To rebuild Jericho would be to say that God’s judgment doesn’t matter, that His promises aren’t final.
The fallen walls were to remain a testimony forever. Sometimes endurance means letting God’s victories stay victories instead of trying to “improve” on what He’s already accomplished.
Job’s Darkest Hour
Job 6 brought me into the depths of Job’s anguish: “Oh that my grief were actually weighed and laid in the balances together with my calamity! For then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas; therefore my words have been rash.”
Job is saying his grief is literally immeasurable. Heavier than all the sand of all the seas. This isn’t poetic exaggeration. This is a man at the absolute limit of human endurance.
But notice what Job doesn’t do. He doesn’t curse God. He doesn’t abandon his faith. He doesn’t say God doesn’t exist. He says his words have been rash, but his trust remains. Even in the deepest darkness, something holds him to God.
Charles Spurgeon understood this: “Job’s faith was tested not to destroy it, but to display it. God allowed the trial not to see if Job would fail, but to show the watching world that genuine faith endures even when it cannot understand.”
The Shepherd’s Heart
Psalm 6 shows us David in deep distress: “I am weary with my sighing; every night I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with my tears.” But watch how the psalm ends: “The Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication, the Lord receives my prayer.”
David’s endurance isn’t stoic acceptance. It’s emotional honesty combined with stubborn trust. He pours out his grief to God, but he doesn’t pour out his faith. The tears are real, but so is the confidence that God hears.
Wisdom’s Long View
Proverbs 6 warns against several things that destroy endurance: laziness, deception, and adultery.
But notice the pattern: all these sins offer immediate pleasure at the cost of long-term destruction. The ant works through summer to prepare for winter. The faithful spouse enjoys trust and intimacy. The honest person builds a reputation that endures.
Endurance often means choosing long-term blessing over short-term pleasure. It means working when you could rest, telling the truth when a lie would be easier, staying faithful when temptation calls.
Isaiah’s Burning Coal
Isaiah 6 gives us the prophet’s call, but what strikes me is how it begins.
Isaiah sees the Lord “sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted,” and his first response is terror: “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
The seraph takes a burning coal and touches Isaiah’s lips, saying, “Your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.” Only then can Isaiah endure God’s presence and accept His commission.
This is the pattern: we can endure whatever God calls us to because He first deals with our fundamental problem. The coal that purifies also empowers. The forgiveness that cleanses also strengthens.
Walking on Impossible Waters
Matthew 14 gives us Jesus walking on the water, and suddenly I saw this story with fresh eyes. The disciples are straining at the oars against a contrary wind. They’re making no progress. They’re exhausted. And then they see Jesus walking toward them on the very thing that’s been their obstacle.
“Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid,” Jesus calls out. Peter asks to walk on water too, and Jesus says, “Come.” Peter actually does it! He walks on water! But then he sees the wind and begins to sink.
Here’s what I noticed: Peter doesn’t fail because the storm got worse. He fails because he took his eyes off Jesus and focused on his circumstances. The water that supported him when he looked at Christ became his enemy when he looked at the wind.
But Jesus doesn’t leave him to drown. “Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him.” Even Peter’s failure becomes an opportunity to experience Christ’s rescuing grace.
Richard Sibbes wrote: “Christ’s hand is always longer than our fall. When we sink, He stoops. When we fail, He catches. Our weakness becomes the stage for His strength.”
The Healing Touch
Acts 6 brings us the appointment of the first deacons to serve tables while the apostles devoted themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. But notice Stephen’s description: “full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” and “full of grace and power.”
Table service and mighty miracles aren’t opposites. Practical ministry and spiritual power go hand in hand. Stephen endures criticism about food distribution, but his endurance in small things prepares him for great things. Soon he’ll become the first martyr, enduring even death for the gospel.
John Owen wrote: “God trains His servants in small faithfulness before He calls them to great trials. Every act of endurance in daily duty is preparation for endurance in extraordinary calling.”
No Condemnation, Ultimate Endurance
Romans 6 declares: “Our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.” This is the ultimate foundation for endurance: we’re not trying to become something we’re not, we’re living out what we already are in Christ.
“Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Endurance isn’t gritting our teeth and trying harder. It’s remembering who we are and whose we are.
Worthy of the Kingdom
Second Thessalonians 1 brought this truth into sharp focus through Paul’s words to a persecuted church: “We ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure.”
Notice that phrase: “which you endure.”
Paul doesn’t say “which you heroically overcome” or “which you brilliantly strategize your way through.” He says “endure.” Sometimes faithfulness looks like simply refusing to quit when everything around you says you should.
But here’s what captivated me: Paul explains why they can endure. “This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering.”
Their suffering isn’t meaningless. It’s not even primarily about their character development. It’s about God’s righteous judgment being revealed. When God’s people endure persecution, it demonstrates that His kingdom is worth more than earthly comfort. Their endurance becomes evidence in the cosmic courtroom.
Thomas Watson summarized this: “The sufferings of the saints are God’s way of showing the world what His kingdom is truly worth. Every believer who endures testifies that Christ is better than life itself.”
The Pattern Emerges
Looking across all these chapters, the endurance pattern becomes clear. Noah endured because God chose him. The Thessalonians endured because their suffering had eternal purpose. Peter walked on water because he looked at Jesus. David endured grief because he knew God heard his prayers. Isaiah endured his calling because God purified his lips first.
In every case, endurance flows from God’s character and God’s work, not from human willpower or spiritual technique. We endure not because we’re strong, but because He’s faithful. We persevere not because we understand everything, but because we trust the One who does.
This changes everything about how we approach trials, persecution, grief, and calling.
The question isn’t “Do I have what it takes?” The question is “Does God have what it takes?” And the answer, thundering from every chapter today, is an eternal “Yes!”
Tomorrow’s Strength
After seeing God’s faithfulness displayed across such varied circumstances today, I’m reminded that tomorrow’s trials, whatever they may be, will meet the same faithful God.
The One who preserved Noah through the flood and the Thessalonians through persecution, the One who enabled Jesus to walk on water and Isaiah to accept his calling, that same God will provide everything needed for tomorrow’s obedience.
The faith that endures isn’t something we manufacture. It’s something we receive, day by day, from the God who never fails His people.
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