Which END will we choose?

Which END will we choose?

Jam. 5:11

Behold, [consider]

WE COUNT THEM HAPPY WHICH ENDURE. [have experienced strenuous effort, pain, or hardship without giving up]

YOU HAVE HEARD OF THE PATIENCE [endurance] OF JOB, [stripped of all his worldly possessions, deprived from a touch by all his children, tortured in body with painful disease, provoked by the destructive powers of the devil, harassed by his wife, and accused falsely and slandered by his friends - yet held fast his integrity, resigned himself to the Divine administration of God, and charged Him not unwisely, thoughtlessly or irrationally]

AND YOU HAVE SEEN THE LORD’S END [the purpose to which God brought all his afflictions and trials]

THAT THE LORD IS FULL OF PITY  [much sympathy], AND TENDER MERCY. [giving him children, increasing his property, lengthening out his life, and multiplying to him every kind of spiritual and secular good]

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Pray the Word:

Lord, questions can rise in our hearts – almost like a cry of rebellion – ‘Lord, is this all that life is .  . the accumulation of miseries? Or does this very ache in our heart – this reflex of rebellion against suffering signify that we are made for something more? Something future? Something that requires the strength and perseverance of experiencing strenuous effort, pain, or hardship without giving up? We want to have the endurance to chose THE LORD’S END of mercy and purpose  - and not THE DEVIL’S END whose goal is to drive us to despair and to cause us to turn from our Maker – assuredly leaving us without any hope.