“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
JUDGES 20-21
JOURNAL
Judges is hard to read because it is chaotic, disturbing, and deeply unsettling. The violence and the decisions people make all point back to one simple truth that everyone did as they saw fit. When there is no anchor, no authority, no higher alignment, things unravel quickly. That is not just Israel’s story, it is mine too when I lose my center.
In Luke, Jesus says ask and it will be given, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened. It is a beautiful promise, but one that has often been misunderstood. When I tie that promise too tightly to specific outcomes, to answers happening on my timeline or looking the way I expect, I begin to distort it. I start measuring God’s faithfulness by whether things go my way, and that is where everything begins to break down.
When the outcome becomes everything, persistence starts to fade. If results do not come fast enough or do not look the way I hoped, discouragement creeps in. Faith begins to crack. I start questioning, doubting, and even resenting. Eventually I am tempted to quit and trade long term purpose for immediate relief. I cash in on something easier, something quicker, something that numbs the disappointment rather than walking through it.
But the promise was never about controlling the outcome. The real gift is the Holy Spirit, God’s presence within me, sustaining me regardless of the result. That changes everything because now persistence is not fueled by outcomes, it is fueled by presence. Faith is no longer dependent on circumstances but rooted in relationship. The goal is not simply to get through difficulty but to walk through it with endurance, trust, and a steady confidence that God is still at work even when nothing looks like it is changing.
Joseph’s story reminds me of this truth. He was betrayed, falsely accused, and thrown into prison, and every external outcome pointed to failure. Yet the Lord was with him. That was the constant. Not success as the world defines it, but presence. Over time that presence produced something deeper than immediate results ever could, including character, resilience, and ultimately redemption.
I see in my own life how easy it is to become outcome driven. It is easy to feel discouraged when things do not go as planned and to interpret delay as denial. But when I step back and really consider my life, I see how much I have been given and how often God’s grace has shown up in ways I did not recognize at the time. If I let outcomes dictate my faith, I will always be unstable and I will quit too early. But if I anchor myself in His presence and trust that what He is doing in me matters more than what is happening around me, then I can persist. I can keep showing up and pressing on, not because I know how things will turn out, but because I know who walks with me through it, and that is something no outcome can take away.
Judges is hard to read because it is chaotic, disturbing, and deeply unsettling. The violence and the decisions people make all point back to one simple truth that everyone did as they saw fit. When there is no anchor, no authority, no higher alignment, things unravel quickly. That is not just Israel’s story, it is mine too when I lose my center.
In Luke, Jesus says ask and it will be given, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened. It is a beautiful promise, but one that has often been misunderstood. When I tie that promise too tightly to specific outcomes, to answers happening on my timeline or looking the way I expect, I begin to distort it. I start measuring God’s faithfulness by whether things go my way, and that is where everything begins to break down.
When the outcome becomes everything, persistence starts to fade. If results do not come fast enough or do not look the way I hoped, discouragement creeps in. Faith begins to crack. I start questioning, doubting, and even resenting. Eventually I am tempted to quit and trade long term purpose for immediate relief. I cash in on something easier, something quicker, something that numbs the disappointment rather than walking through it.
But the promise was never about controlling the outcome. The real gift is the Holy Spirit, God’s presence within me, sustaining me regardless of the result. That changes everything because now persistence is not fueled by outcomes, it is fueled by presence. Faith is no longer dependent on circumstances but rooted in relationship. The goal is not simply to get through difficulty but to walk through it with endurance, trust, and a steady confidence that God is still at work even when nothing looks like it is changing.
Joseph’s story reminds me of this truth. He was betrayed, falsely accused, and thrown into prison, and every external outcome pointed to failure. Yet the Lord was with him. That was the constant. Not success as the world defines it, but presence. Over time that presence produced something deeper than immediate results ever could, including character, resilience, and ultimately redemption.
I see in my own life how easy it is to become outcome driven. It is easy to feel discouraged when things do not go as planned and to interpret delay as denial. But when I step back and really consider my life, I see how much I have been given and how often God’s grace has shown up in ways I did not recognize at the time. If I let outcomes dictate my faith, I will always be unstable and I will quit too early. But if I anchor myself in His presence and trust that what He is doing in me matters more than what is happening around me, then I can persist. I can keep showing up and pressing on, not because I know how things will turn out, but because I know who walks with me through it, and that is something no outcome can take away.
GENESIS 39:19-23
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