William Barclay said, “Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.”
Ps 129 reminds us that though oppression and suffering come into our lives, God is able to make all grace abound to us at all times: ‘And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.’ (2 Cor 9:8) The psalmist’s cry is that despite oppression, ‘the Lord is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.’ (Ps 129:4) History abounds with testimonies of how God delivers from oppression and sustains with joy even during oppression.
Richard Wurmbrand was a Romanian pastor who lived under Communist persecution in the 1940s and 1950s and who suffered greatly for his faith, being placed in solitary confinement in prison for three years and being imprisoned in total for over 10 years. When he was in solitary confinement, he was in a cell twelve feet underground, with no lights or windows. There was no sound because even the guards wore felt on the soles of their shoes. He later recounted that he maintained his sanity by sleeping during the day, staying awake at night, and exercising his mind and soul by composing and then delivering a sermon each night. Due to his extraordinary memory, he was able to recall more than 350 of those, a selection of which he included in his book “With God in Solitary Confinement,” which was first published in 1969. During part of this time, he communicated with other inmates by tapping out Morse code on the wall. In this way he continued to “be sunlight” to fellow inmates rather than dwell on the lack of physical light.[1] He wrote about how the joy of the Lord sustained Him during this time, to the extent that at times he would dance with delight in the cell. This is the kind of testimony that so many of God’s people have recounted, how the Lord frees them from the cords of the wicked, how the oppressors ultimately do not have the final word. (Think also of French atheist philosopher Voltaire who declared that the Bible would be obsolete within a hundred years and whose house was used by the French Bible Society after his death to sell Bibles!)
Far from being something sour-faced or stoical, perseverance which is fuelled by the hope we have in Christ enables God’s people to say ‘they have not gained the victory over me.’ (Ps 129:2) The first martyr, Stephen, died with joy, looking up and seeing Jesus in heaven, waiting to receive him. (Acts 7:56) Perseverance to the end is not grim endurance, but this ability indeed not only to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory, for God is a God who arms us with strength (Ps 18:23) and give songs in the night. (Job 35:10)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wurmbrand