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Luke 21:19

When it comes to loving the Lord, endurance is key. When we are enduring something we are sticking it out though the good times and the bad times. Following the Lord isn't a promised easy life, but it is promised to be worth it. 
The Lord actually promises that hard times and temptation will come our way, it’s not a big secret. If we look a little bit further back in this chapter of Luke we actually see that Jesus is telling them that a famine will come their way, earthquakes will take place, and great diseases will come. Then in verse 21:19 the Lord promises that it will be worth is to stand by Him, and because the Lord is outside of time He knows what will come. He knows the things that are going to take place, that is why He is able to tell them and warn them. He isn't telling them this because God Himself is going to bring these horrible things upon them but because He knows the enemy will.
This verse really makes me think of the story of Job. (I would suggest that if you don't know the story that you read it.)The Lord told Satan to try to have Job curse the Lord because Satan was convinced that all men would crack if great temptation or great hardships came their way. The only thing that the Lord told the enemy that he could not so was that couldn't take Job’s life. Satan being so sure that He could have Job curse God, Satan took all of Job’s riches, killed his family, and diseased Job to the point that He was inches from death. Not once did Job curse the Lord. Of course Job had questions and wondered why God would allow such things to take place but never did Job curse the Lord. Something even more incredible is the fact that in this life Job never received an answer to why all of that hardship came his way.

If I were to regret anything, it would be the times that I grew angry towards God because of things that weren't even of Him. God calls me to endure the hard times and to persevere through the difficult and trying times. I used to live among the wisdom of the word. Not understanding why hard times were coming my way when all I wanted was comfort from my Savior. The Lord is calling us to endure for His glory and in these past three weeks that I have been in Guatemala I can honestly say that I now understand why it is so worth it.

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