The Discipline of Durability
''For he endured, as seeing him who is invisible'' (Heb. 11:27).
Tensile strength is the real test of endurance. To be torn unmercifully by external forces, and still to preserve one's poise and position, and especially one's inward integrity, is to know the discipline that endures. It is one thing to run when the opposition rises, to hide when the danger terrifies, to reply when the word is unkind or untrue; it is quite another thing to stand still in order to see the Lord's salvation or to hold one's tongue by committal of everything to Him who judges righteously.
Moses learned this discipline in the disillusionment of the desert. Egypt had proved to be a mirage to him. Pharaoh's household had been no spiritual help. ''Sonship'' with Pharaoh's daughter had been no satisfaction to his innermost soul. Court etiquette had not created endurance of character. He had renounced his position to identify himself with his despised fellow countrymen; but they had spurned him. The dreary distances of the desert supplied the solitude he needed for the suffering of his soul.
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One day, however, the discipline of the desert was at an end; and the service for God and man was thrust upon Moses. From out of the burning bush there came the command: ''I have surely seen the affliction of my people. . . . Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt'' (Exod. 3:7, 10). To Pharaoh, from whom he had fled; to Israel, who had despised him? Surely not; that he could never do. He had failed once; inevitably he would do so again. With reason he could protest, ''Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt'' (vs. 11).
To that plea there was but one reply on the part of the Most High: ''Certainly I will be with thee'' (vs. 12). Whatever would be the perplexities and problems, indignities and impossibilities in the undertaking at hand, Moses could count upon the presence of God; and because of that Presence he could ''endure as seeing him who is invisible.''
Moses endured despite the cold, cutting contempt of Pharaoh. The mightiest monarch of that day could say to the meekest of men, who came with the message of God, ''Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?'' (Exod. 5:2). Royalty had no regard for the Redeemer of Israel or for His servant, Moses; the sovereign had no sense of the divine imperative upon the shepherd from Midian. The crown had only contempt for the command of God and for the complaints of God's people, saying, ''I
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know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go'' (5:2).
Contempt can cut deeply into our spirit and cause us to waver from the course of action we believe to be of God, if we allow the contempt to lodge within our breast. Contrariwise, it cannot confuse us if we keep our eyes upon the Lord, and continue steadfast in our persuasion of His precept and promise. We can endure contempt from worldlings, great and small, if we keep our eyes on the Crucified. ''If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you'' (I Pet. 4:14). Count on Christ when others hold you in contempt!
Moses endured, despite the causeless complaint of the multitude (Num. 11). By the strong hand and stretched-out arm of God the children of Israel were brought out of the fiery furnace of Egypt. By that same hand they had been led through the Red Sea, and had received water from the flinty rock, had been provided daily manna for their physical needs, had been given the Law from the fiery summit of Sinai, and had with them the constant reminder of the Divine Presence in the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night. What needed they more?
Nothing; and yet they complained. They had food, ample, wholesome and palatable; but they complained, ''Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and
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the onions, and the garlic . . . '' (Num. 11:4, 5). They could remember Egypt's leeks, but not its hard labor, the cucumbers, but not its cruel bondage; its garlic, but not its garrisons of sadistic soldiery; its fish, but not its Pharaoh. Long memory they had for precarious food supply in Egypt, and a very short memory for the provision God had made for them every day of their pilgrimage.
How deeply can unreasoned and unreasonable complaint of the people penetrate the spirit of their leader. Their cry is constant although causeless, their weeping is woeful, their distress is disturbing to others, until all the camp is a bedlam of abuse against the leader. Then to him came the decision: to endure or to despair, to stand firm or to sink beneath the accumulation of complaint, to follow God at all cost, or to fall before the ''gripers.'' Moses was exceedingly moved by the misery created by the complaint, even to the extent of crying unto God in secret, ''I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me'' (11:14). In His grace and graciousness God told him to gather seventy elders of Israel, to the end that ''they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone'' (vs. 17). As to the complaint of the people for flesh, God added, ''Is the Lord's hand waxed short?'' (vs. 23). Moses could endure the causeless and constant complaint of an unbelieving people, because beyond them he could see that Invisible Being Who had promised, ''My presence shall go with thee, and
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I will give thee rest'' (Exod. 33:14). Long centuries before the day of David, the sweet singer of Israel, and before that of Simon Peter, who quoted David's psalm. Moses knew the assurance of such words as these: ''The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers . . . and who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?'' (I Pet. 3:12, 13; Ps. 34:15). Count on Christ when others complain!
Moses endured, despite the criticism of some who were closest to him (Num. 12). A man can ignore to a large extent the contempt of the worldling and the complaint of the weakling, but he cannot belittle the blows and bruises that come from his own flesh and blood. ''Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses'' (12:1). This time it was sister and brother against the saint of God, not the insincere and bewildered mob. The latter had complained about food, with lust for leeks and garlic; Miriam and Aaron made criticism of Moses' family. Such criticism can cut a man to the quick, even one like Moses who was ''meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth'' (12:3). No hurt can be so deep as that caused by one's household; no barb so bitter as that of one's brother.
The Lord Jesus knew the suffering entailed in the treachery of trusted ones when He spoke of ''a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother. And the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's foes shall be they of his own household'' (Matt. 10:35, 36). He
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knew what it was to have His friends seek to take Him away from the needy multitude, because they believed, ''He is beside himself'' (Mk. 3:21). Later they came with His mother to take Him, and called Him from afar (Mk. 3:31). Has anyone ever suggested, even remotely, that you are a bit unbalanced mentally, because of your zeal for God's service? Then you have some idea of the inner suffering that can come from the thought that your closest friends think you are growing insane. Our Lord's brothers said to Him in scorn, ''Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest''; because ''neither did his brethren believe in him'' (John 7:3, 5). We are not above our Master, and if He suffered the unkind and caustic criticism of His own, as did Moses, so also shall we. Count on the Compassionate Crucified to help you when cherished ones criticise!
Moses endured, despite the confusion and condemnation created by the fearful leaders who had spied out the land of Canaan (Num. 13:26-33). The latter had seen the land of promise, which truly flowed with milk and honey (13:27). Every prospect of the land was pleasing, but the people thereof appeared too strong for any contemplated invasion; with the result that the ten spies ''brought up an evil report of the land'' (13:32). Despite the protestations of Caleb and Joshua, the children of Israel ''wept that night . . . and . . . murmured against Moses and against Aaron . . . And they said one to
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another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt'' (14:1, 2, 4).
It is at that hour of confusion and condemnation on the part of others that the discipline of durability comes strongly to any leader of men. With much insight into human nature did Rudyard Kipling write his undying challenge to every man:
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch;
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If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run—
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And—what is more—you'll be a Man, my son!
To keep one's head when all are losing theirs, and casting all the blame onto you—that is the hour to endure, in the strength of Him Who ''endured such contradiction of sinners against himself'' (Heb. 12:3) Count on the Cross-bearing Christ, the Author and Finisher of our faith, when others condemn you!
The contempt of the world, the complaint of the crowd, the criticism of loved ones, and the condemnation of the fearful; are not these enough to discipline the soul in endurance? Moses knew more than these; and so shall we. There came the cold, cunning conspiracy of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who caused two hundred fifty princes to follow them against Moses (Num. 16:1-3). These princes were not a rabble; they were regarded as ''famous in the congregation, men of renown'' (16:2). Their complaint is characteristic of the criticism of lesser men all down the ages; their leader assumed too much authority (16:3). They may have seemed to be big men to their contemporaries; actually they were contemptibly small men. Only big men know how to obey implicitly their leader and to perform cheerfully
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their tasks. Small men demand authority because they do not deserve it.
It is an accurate index of a man's inward endurance to face without fear or fury the conscience-less and contemptible conspiracy of trusted men, and to believe that God will vindicate the right. The crisis may be critical, so that we like Moses are bowed to the ground (16:4); and the judgment upon the unfaithful may be with finality, as it was for the cabal of Korah (16:30-33); but God will not fail His own when conspirators seem to prosper. ''Evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. . . . I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found'' (Ps. 37:9, 35, 36). Count upon Christ when they conspire to cast you out of your appointed place.
This is the discipline of durability: to endure ''as seeing him who is invisible'' when all manner of cruelty is concocted against you: contempt, complaint, criticism, condemnation, or conspiracy. The Invisible Christ will not fail you. Walk as in His presence; and find His power, provision and protection from all evil. Having done all, stand!
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Not in Vain
Not in vain the tedious toil
On an unresponsive soil,
Travail, tears in secret shed
Over hopes that lay as dead.
All in vain, thy faint heart cries,
Not in vain, thy Lord replies;
Nothing is too good to be;
Then believe, believe to see.
Did thy labour turn to dust?
Suffering—did it eat like rust,
Till the blade that once was keen
As a blunted tool is seen?
Dust and rust thy life's reward?
Slay the thought: believe thy Lord,
When thy soul is in distress
Think upon His faithfulness.
—Amy Carmichael.*
*From TOWARD JERUSALEM by Amy Carmichael. Used by permission of the publishers, Society for Promotion of Christian Knowledge, London.
Chapter Thirty-one || Table of Contents