Lisa Barry: Do you ever feel like God is picking on you? Does it seem like you get far more than your share of misfortune? Well, today on Gateway To Joy, Elisabeth Elliot wants us all to take a look at some notable people in the Bible. As we'll discover, they weren't people who were perfect and they weren't spared from all their troubles. Still, God chose them. You'll learn today how God can and will use you, problems or not. Find out how next on Gateway To Joy.

Elisabeth Elliot: "You are loved with an everlasting love." That's what the Bible says. "And underneath are the everlasting arms." This is your friend Elisabeth Elliot, continuing my talks today on endurance, a faithful endurance.

One of the reasons that God puts us through endurance tests is that a part of His high and holy purpose is that we might experience adversity in order to comfort and encourage others. I have been most deeply comforted and encouraged by people who have been through the mill themselves. They speak with a certain kind of authority, from a position or platform of authority, that they could not have had without the suffering.

Paul speaks of the same phenomenon in 2 Corinthians 1, where he talks about his own sufferings and he says that he is now able to comfort those who are experiencing suffering because he himself has been through a good deal. So you may be experiencing an endurance test of perhaps physical, mental or emotional kinds, or perhaps all three. Somebody there might be saying, "Well, I've got all three of them." And spiritual. I could add that. Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual tests of endurance. But it is that we might qualify to help others who are in the midst of great suffering, trials or pain or tribulation.

The Apostle Paul certainly knew what he was talking about. He had run the course. He had endured the shame, as did his Master, who, it is said, "despised the shame." That word does not mean "hated" there. It means "thought nothing of it; thought of it really as nothing to worry about, nothing but a triviality." That's what "despising the shame" means in the Book of Isaiah. So He thought very little of it, nothing of it. No big deal.

Paul gives us in several places in his epistles some clues about the kinds of suffering that he has endured. I think you'd find this a rather awesome catalog. He says in 2 Corinthians 11, "What anyone else dares to boast about (I am speaking as a fool), I also dare to boast about. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendents? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am out of my mind to talk like this," says Paul. "I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely and been exposed to death again and again.

Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea and in danger from false brothers.

I have labored and toiled and I have often gone without sleep. I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food. I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin and I do not inwardly burn?

If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands." Talk about an ignominious method of departure. Here's this great Apostle Paul, lowered in a basket from a window in the wall. Thereby he slipped through the governor's hands.

I wonder what training course you are enduring as I speak. Do you feel sorry for yourself? Are you, honestly now, a crybaby? Are you saying, "Why me?" Well, why not change it to "Why not me?" Who do we think we are that we should be exempt from difficulties and sufferings and things which cut across our human will and preference?

Take a long look at the great characters in the Bible. Was it smooth sailing for them? Moses. Jeremiah. Elijah. Elijah was fed by ravens and then he was fed by a widow and then he was pursued by that woman Jezebel. He was so sure, he was absolutely scared to death, sure that he was going to be the last one who hadn't bowed the knee. He felt very sorry for himself.

It sounds like us, doesn't it? What a merciful God. He doesn't discard us. Revelation 2:1-7: "The angel of the church in Ephesus is to write"-the author of the Book of the Revelation is given a command to write these words to the angel of the church in Ephesus. "These are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for My name and have not grown weary.

Yet I hold this against you: you have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practice of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."

I want to overcome. I want to overcome my difficulties. I want to be faithful in enduring the things that God asks me to endure which are not to my taste. It's faith that God is looking for. Feeble and intermittent as it may be, He looks for those who are willing to endure. Not forever. Sometimes it seems like it, doesn't it? But there is an end, a limit which only God knows-a limit to your endurance and mine. God is faithful. He will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to endure.

I had occasion yesterday to be writing a letter to a young woman who is certainly having to endure what seems to be beyond the limit of human endurance. She is suffering because of another person. But I tried to encourage her to remember that God knows the limit-the limit to your endurance and to mine-and He will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to endure.

"The hope you have in our Lord Jesus Christ means sheer dogged endurance, labor prompted by love, endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." That's from 1 Thessalonians. Sheer dogged endurance. But the key to this endurance is to fix your eyes on Jesus. Remember Peter. When he walked on the water, he was tempted to look around. As soon as he looked around at the wind and the waves instead of at Jesus, what happened? He sank.

I had a letter from a lady who was dreading having to endure something. Let me read it to you.

"Several months ago I wrote to your ministry expressing the hopelessness that I felt as a widow and caring for my elderly mother. After I mailed the letter, I had the feeling that you would think I was being selfish, disobedient and self-centered. I have prayed about this for several years and couldn't seem to get the victory. Then I would get into self-condemnation. Depression was deep and devastating.

Your correspondent, Mardelle Brown, sent me two of your teachings on caring for aged parents. She promised to pray for me. I still battle depression and fear because I have not been able to finish school and would have to pay a sitter more than I could make in wages. However, God has shown me ways to victory by claiming His Word. I read His Word every day before I begin studying for my classes. I mark everything that gives me a key to victory. He promises that the joy of the Lord is our strength; and in Proverbs, 'a merry heart does good like medicine.'

There are many other verses that have helped me. I asked the Lord to change my thinking and to let me see my mother as He sees her. I asked Him for a bond between us and that we would have favor with Him and with each other. I asked for a joyful heart and the joy of the Lord. The changes have been overwhelming. The joy and the peace in our house is felt by others when they visit. God has done so much in both of us that I would not wish for someone else to take my job of caring for her. I hope to be a source of help to others who are faced with caring for an elderly parent or sibling.

I have many friends who encouraged me to place my mother in a nursing home, but God has shown me that He has a perfect plan, and this is an opportunity for Him to draw us closer to Himself. I know things will not be rosy every day, but God changes things when we allow Him to. Mom will soon be 90 years old, is very alert, a beautiful Christian, goes to church with me every Sunday in her wheelchair and is an inspiration to others."

Here is someone who found the same joy that Jesus found in faithful endurance, which ultimately turns into joy.

Lisa Barry: I can testify to that myself. But having said that, it doesn't take away the fact that at times the journey can be lonely. Maybe you're a widow, like the woman who wrote to Elisabeth, or possibly you're getting old and are needing others to care for you. In any case, I think you'll enjoy a book Elisabeth has written called THE PATH OF LONELINESS. You'll find that God has a purpose for solitary times and how you can make the most of them.

The cost of the book is $13. You can send that, along with your request, to Gateway To Joy, Box 82500, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68501. Or call toll-free: 1-800-759-4JOY. That's 1-800-759-4569. Our Internet ministry address is gatewaytojoy.org. Gateway To Joy has been a production of Back to the Bible.

Be listening tomorrow when Elisabeth offers an antidote for the world's empty promises. That's next time on Gateway To Joy.