Perseverance OT
Genesis 5: 32 After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth
Genesis 7:6, 7 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood
Genesis 15;4,5 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars–if indeed you can count them.” Then He said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Genesis 17:2-6, 15-17,21 “. . .Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.” Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you. . . . God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her. Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?”. . . “But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.”
Genesis 21:5 Abraham was a 100 years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
Genesis 39:1, 19-21 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. . . . When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners, were confined But while Joseph was in the prison, the Lord was with him; He showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
Genesis 41: 1, 15,16 When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream . . . Pharaoh said to Joseph, :I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” “I cannot do it, ” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.”
Exodus 12:40-41 Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt.
Job
1 Samuel 16:13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David.
Noah was 500 years old when God commanded he build a huge boat as He, God, was going to destroy the world through a huge and long term flood, and rid it of all the filth and decency that mankind was committing. By destroying the people, He could almost start new. So Noah and his sons worked at building this huge boat because Noah believed God’s words, and he followed what he was told to do. It took a hundred years for the boat (ark) to be fully finished (no power tools except brute strength!) and he and his sons worked at making the boat precisely to God’s specifications. While others laughed and jeered, teasing and ridiculing him, Noah continued building, being persistent and believing in what God had promised. Noah continued to urge all the laughing folks to reconsider, but it was only he and his family who were saved. All, including animals except those he brought aboard as a matched set, and the few which were to be sacrificed at the end of the voyage were left alive. Noah persevered and believed.
Perseverance is shown in the Scriptures by many of the men we read about. Abraham was mostly waiting once he was told to leave his family and go to a new land. His crops, animals and people grew–so much that he and Lot had to separate to be able to support the animals. Abraham knew God and loved Him, and God found Abraham obedient and with a good heart. Finally, God told him he and Sarai, his wife would become parents. Since both were old, 90 and 100, they both laughed at this idea. But God delivered, the first of God’s chosen family, Isaac, and the Israelites were born to Abraham. Abraham waited, he followed God’s commands, and was rewarded becoming the father of many nations–his name is known throughout many of the world’s religions. He persevered and believed.
Isaac was the son born to Abraham and Sarah. He had fraternal twin sons, Jacob and Esau, and one swindled the other out of the eldest birthright. He then married two women, and also had children with each of their maids, totaling twelve sons, and at least one daughter. In his older years, Jacob favored his second to youngest son, Joseph, above the others, causing dissension within the family. Some of the brothers sold Joseph into slavery and he was carried to Egypt. He was enslaved for thirteen years, and for about two years or more was imprisoned for something he did not do. When released, his interpretation from God regarding Pharaoh’s dream, elevated him to a position of prominence. Joseph was able to make provisions to supply food when a famine would be happening. God had shown him in a vision and He had shown him how to be able to supply food for many. He persevered and believed
Moses was placed in the palace and raised as someone close to Pharaoh. As a child, his “nurse” being his biological mother, educated him regarding the Hebrews. He had observed the Egyptians enslaving and mistreating the Jews often, and believed it was wrong. When as a young man, he witnessed physical abuse being dealt to a Hebrew by an Egyptians, he killed the Egyptian and buried the evidence. However, the next day, he witnessed a fight between two Hebrew men, yet when he interfered, trying to let them know he was a supporter, one accused him of carrying out murder the previous day, so he fled. God placed him in the desert where he learned about the desert, became a shepherd and herder, married and had children. God finally came and commanded him to return to Egypt and rescue the Hebrews. Once he was on board, he and his brother, Aaron did return to Egypt, persevering in their quest to take the people to go out to have a time of celebration and praise to their God. When they were finally ordered to leave by Pharaoh, they then had to spend many years in the desert until they finally came to the Promised Land. It was forty years of putting up with whining, finding fault, and disobedience and disbelief of God that Moses persevered wandering in the desert. But he persevered and believed.
When David was a young shepherd, he had already encountered dangers while caring for his father’s herds, and had faced down and defeated the danger. While his brothers and King Saul were facing the scary, “big and mighty” Philistines, David came on the scene, and he became angry at the disrespect the enemy had for the Lord God. He killed Goliath, the mighty and huge Philistine with a stone to the temple. Within a short time, God had Samuel anoint David to be the king when Saul was removed from the thrown. David lived in the wilderness, caves and such for about 14 years until King Saul was killed in a battle. But he persevered and believed.
Lord, when I am doubting, remind me to persevere. You have me in the palm of your Hand. Thank You for all You do for me and ‘mybellaviews.’
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