They were men of their times. Men who rose to the challenges before them. Men who endured trial after trial, year after year. Men who weathered lifelong opposition with joy in Christ.Our time is marked by emotional fragility. We shatter easily when misfortune comes our way. In the face of sustained contention, we have little ability to withstand the onslaught, let alone surmount it with joy.
But these men were far from fragile, and can inspire a strength that defies resistance and refuses to yield to bitterness. Like Wilberforce, we too can capture a child-like joy in Christ. We too can learn to long for the ‘valley of humiliation’ as Simeon did, or to follow Newton’s example and revel in utter amazement that the Lord God Almighty would ‘save a wretch like me’.
John Piper’s The Roots of Endurance gives us a picture of three men who persisted when it appeared they could not. So if for years you have prayed the same prayer and it seems unanswered, if it seems like one catastrophe after another claims what little faith you have, if bitterness has set it and will not budge, read about the lives of Newton, Simeon and Wilberforce, and learn not only to finish the race but finish it stronger than when you first began.