Hold On Until the End

Do you ever have those moments where you're reading something - a passage of Scripture, a devotional book, a quote book, etc. - and God brings your attention to a particular verse or sentence that tells you exactly what you needed to hear at that particular moment?

That happened to me just a few minutes ago.

I was reading in one of my all-time favorite devotional books, Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman. I always enjoy reading each day's short devotional - they are chock-full of Biblical truth and spiritually refreshing.

Today's devotional was entitled, "Hold On Until the End." I have been a bit frazzled -- alright, more than a bit frazzled about some situations where I have felt like throwing my hands up, throwing in the towel, giving up . . . you get the idea. This devotional was exactly what I needed to hear, right at the moment when I read it (yet another reason I don't believe in coincidences).

If you'll permit me, I would like to share part of this short devotional with you in the hope that it will minister to your heart as well. (No copyright infringement is intended.)

Hold On Until the End

"It is the last step that wins; and there is no place in the pilgrim's progress where so many dangers lurk as the region that lies hard by the portals of the Celestial City. It was there that Doubting Castle stood. It was there that the enchanted ground lured the tired traveler to fatal slumber. It is when Heaven's heights are full in view that hell's gate is most persistent and full of deadly peril. 'Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.' 'So run, that ye may obtain.' "

In the bitter waves of woe

Beaten and tossed about

By the sullen winds that blow

From the desolate shores of doubt,

Where the anchors that faith has cast

Are dragging in the gale,

I am quietly holding fast

To the things that cannot fail.

And fierce though the fiends may fight,

And long though the angels hide,

I know that truth and right

Have the universe on their side;

And that somewhere beyond the stars

Is a love that is better than fate.

When the night unlocks her bars

I shall see Him--and I will wait.

Washington Gladden

It's so tempting to give up when you're so close to the end of a trial, a spiritual struggle, or other difficulty that must be fought through. I constantly struggle with wanting to give up - and, all too often, actually giving up - when I can "see the light at the end of the tunnel," so to speak. I feel like I've already fought so long and so hard to rid myself of that besetting sin, to free myself from a bad habit, etc., that I just can't do it anymore, even though I'm right at the finish line. That would be like an Olympic athlete stopping and pulling himself or herself out of the race a few paces from the finish line, mere steps away from victory. I don't know about you, but that mental image is heartbreaking to me. That's exactly what happens when I focus on the stormy situation, the pain the situation is causing, etc., and I pull myself out of the spiritual race God has called me to run.

During the World War II Allied Invasion of Normandy ("D-Day"), a detachment of British forces were ordered to seize and hold a particular bridge until reinforcements arrived. They knew before they landed that they would be vastly outnumbered by the occupying German forces. When the officer of the detachment asked how long they were expected to hold the bridge, the answer was, "hold until relieved. Hold until relieved." And that's exactly what he did - his detachment took the bridge and held it until the reinforcements arrived to relieve them.

Hold on until the end. Don't quit. "It is the last step that wins."

Keep your hand on the plow! Hold on!

Langston Hughes

For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;

Hebrews 3:14