Sermon Illustrations

PERSEVERANCE: SCOTT, HANDEL AND SPURGEON

In 1826 the London firm of Hurst and Robinson went bankrupt, involving Sir WALTER SCOTT in a personal liability of 118,000 pounds. With noble determination Scott responded: "My right hand and I against the debt." From that time on he wrote novel after novel to wipe out his debt.

George Frederick Handel, the great musician, lost his health, his right side was paralyzed, his money was gone, and his creditors seized and threatened to imprison him. Handel was so disheartened by his tragic experience that he almost despaired for a brief time. But his faith prevailed, and he composed his greatest work. "The Hallelujah Chorus." The Apostle John wrote, "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (1 John 5:4).

Perseverance is not the attitude which lies down and waits for the floods to pass; it is the attitude which meets hardships head on and overcomes them.

Charles Spurgeon said, "The Lord gets His best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction." He allows us to go through the test of suffering and trial so that we may be fashioned into instruments of strength.

(Our Daily Bread. From a sermon by Dennis Davidson, The Sources of Our Hope, 8/8/2011)

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