2
0
I am a man who feels strongly about being a man. I would like to think I am a pretty resilient individual who, when push comes to shove, will find a way to handle anything that comes my way. I think it’s pretty safe to say that I am not alone. If you walk around in any circles where you will find masculine men, most of them, if not all, will have some degree of toughness about them. After all, we men… we like to think we have it all figured out. And this is where things can get dicey, and yes, I am talking about myself as well.
There is a fine line between cocky and confident. If we let our confidence fall into cockiness, then there is one thing that takes over… and when it does, it owns us, men. And that is pride. Let me say that again. Pride literally owns US, MEN! Once we allow our confidence to be overtaken by cockiness where pride rules the day in our hearts and minds, it’s game over. Men, we lose.
Here is where we lose: We fail to be the men that God created us to be. I will say this again as well because it is worth repeating. Men, where we lose is that we fail to be the MEN that God created us to be! Any man out there who thinks they are “tough” enough to handle what I am about to say, let’s find out. If you are a strong, prideful, masculine, dude you might want to get in this hot seat and buckle up your seat belt. This ride is going to be rough. I am going to challenge your pride and in doing so I will be challenging mine as well. Here we go.
Men, to be strong, we were made to have these attributes make up the essence of who we are: Perseverance, Trust, Faith, Endurance, Strength to Overcome, Submission, Humility, and Sacrifice. But to have these things fully, we need to have ONE common denominator. Men, I am pulling out my Bible. Uh oh! Masculine, prideful man, don’t you run! I told you this would be challenging. If you’ve read this far, didn’t you buckle in? If not, where are you going? Let’s see how tough you and I truly are. Sit back down, and buckle it up for real this time! Don’t check out…don’t be weak! If you are strong, I trust that you will read on.
When I think of powerful, strong men, I can’t think of better examples than those men preserved in human history in God’s Word. These men were incredibly tough, man. They went through some of the most incredible obstacles you could ever dream of and yet overcame them. And all of them had ONE thing in common. The most important thing. The ultimate trump card. They were men of God!
This is going to be an 8-part blog series where we are going to look at 10 incredibly strong men: Job, Daniel, David, Paul, Elijah, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Samson, and Jesus. Each of them I will point out how they displayed in unbelievable fashion one of the attributes I mentioned above. Now I could have probably shown how each of them had all the attributes I gave, but I am going to instead focus on one attribute for each man or example.
Here, in part 1 of this blog series, we are going to look at Perseverance and there is no one (except Jesus Christ) who can show us what this looks like better than Job.
So how did Job persevere? How about this…Job went through what most of us, if not all of us, could not endure. Let me lay this out for you. In the book of Job this is what happened to Job all at once:
All his livestock (which back then showed your wealth, influence, and livelihood) was either stolen or killed. (Job 1:13-17)
All his servants were killed. (Job 1:13-17)
His sons and daughters were killed. (Job 1:18-19)
Was that enough? Nope. Then he had this done to his personal health as well:
He had painful boils or sores from head to toe. (Job 2:7)
He had severe itching and irritation. (Job 2: 7-8)
He had great grief. (Job 2:13)
He lost his appetite. Job 3:24 and Job 6:6-7)
He had agonizing discomfort. (Job 3:24)
He couldn’t sleep (insomnia). (Job 7:4)
He had worm and dirt-infested skin. (Job 7:5)
His boils broke open. (Job 7:5)
He had nightmares. (Job 7:14)
He had decaying skin. (Job 13:28)
His bodied shriveled up. (Job 16:8, Job 17:7, and Job 19:20)
He had severe bad breath. (Job 19:17)
He was in relentless pain. (Job 30:17)
His skin turned black. (Job 30:30)
He suffered from a raging fever. (Job 30:30)
He lost all his weight. (Job 33:21)
This all happened to him as Satan was given permission by God to test Job because Job was a blameless man, held righteous in the sight of God. Yet Satan blamed this on God’s protection of Job and that if God took away his protection, then Job would curse God when bad things happened to him. So, God removed his protection from Job and allowed Satan to test him. Satan was able to do whatever he wanted with the exception of killing him. When this happened, even Job’s wife told him to curse God and give up his integrity, but he did not. In the end, when Job persevered, staying true to the man of God he was, God blessed him double.
I don’t know about you but if you read the book of Job, how manly of a man was Job? I think it’s safe to say you can put his perseverance up against anyone not named Jesus Christ. If we think we got it tough, take a walk in Job’s shoes, and it will become quite clear that no one had it tougher than Job. Think about this for a moment. God, yes God…the Creator of all things… actually removed all his protection of Job (except his life had to be spared) so that Satan, the one who is wicked beyond explanation, could have his way with him…And still, he persevered by clinging to God and staying the man of God he was committed to being. Do you want to be encouraged that you can persevere through anything? Look at Job’s example and be strengthened. More importantly, look at what perseverance gets you when you won’t give up the God you serve when in the middle of your struggle. Yes, he had everything taken away, but when he would not let go of his God, God restored him with more than he had before.
So, what do we do with what God did here? Do we look at God and question why He did this to Job and act as though we can judge God’s decision? Sure, that is an easy thing to do, but definitely misguided. Instead, what about giving this some more thought? Think about this: Satan wanted to torment Job to prove He didn’t truly love God. God allowed it to happen and through Job’s clinging to God he persevered to the end until God restored him double. And here is where it gets really deep in my opinion: Now, here I am in 2024 pondering the thought that what Satan meant for wickedness and destruction through Job’s suffering, God flipped the script on Satan. Instead, because Job would not give up his God in his heart and mind, God answered by not just restoring him, but doubling down on it. How can this not encourage me to strive to be a man of God and cling to him no matter my circumstances? I can persevere, not because I am strong, but because God is strong! I’m sure Satan walked away from this wondering how he got beat yet again. And every time Job is studied, a strong man can be encouraged that with God, he can persevere in this life!
So, how do we apply this to our daily lives in real life application? How about when life gets tough? And it will…When our job or career is not going as well as we’d like or maybe even falling apart. How about our marriages? Raising our kids? Our finances? Our health? Losing a loved one? Couldn’t the list go on and on? What if we were to say, no matter what struggle I am in, I will cling to my God and fight with all I can to be the man of God I was meant to be! Might, in the end, we end up with double? God is sovereign. We must submit to his sovereignty so only He knows how He will bless us, but what I do know is this: There is a real-life example in human history that shows us it is possible. That example is Job and God included it in his Word for you and me. If you have read this far and it has had a positive effect on you, Satan cringes. What he sought out for wickedness many many years ago has now backfired once again. And why? Because our God is that big!
Today, let’s commit to being men of God. If we do that, then we can persevere through anything life throws at us. This I promise you.
If you are a strong man, let’s see. Stick with me with each blog in this series. We are just scratching the surface here, but perseverance is a big one! Can we be men who put our pride down, look at the example of each of these men we are about to look into, put them in perspective, become stronger men when done, and apply what we’ve been shown when circumstances face us? The challenge here is hard. It will be an uphill climb. But who we are, what we become, the legacy we build, and how we make a difference in this life all hang in the balance. When, together, you and I can get to the top of the mountain of this 8-part blog I truly believe we will be better men for it. As I delve into these men over the upcoming weeks, I know God has something to teach me and I pray and trust there might be something here for you as well.
To wrap this up, you might ask, why is he writing like this is some tough task and acting like I have to be some tough dude to get through these stories? Well, because the toughness comes in when we are strong enough to say, know, and understand, that without God, we simply cannot accomplish this! And therefore, we are tough enough to say, “I need HIM!” After all, the fool says there is no God.
Think about that one, tough guy!
Have Character!
Next up…Daniel and Trust.
J. Noah Russell
