2 Samuel 24:1-25; Jeremiah 8:1-22; Ephesians 2:11-22
Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience [endurance]. James 1:3
Listen to James, “Count it all joy…for you know…”. Mark the verb. He doesn’t say, “you hope”; he says “you know”. This is the secret to facing such trials with joy. We can face it knowing, on God’s authority, that the proving of our faith produces endurance and in time God’s perfect work. Perseverance is not the same as patience. Some of the Lord’s good saints are very impatient. Yet they endure in the face of trials because they know it produces the likeness of Christ in our lives. Therefore, let us press on in the testing of our faith. —David A. Dunlap
Praise God for the hammer, the file, and the furnace.
The hammer molds us, the file sharpens us, and the fire tempers us. —Samuel Rutherford