Daily Devotional For August 16, 2025
If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone leads into captivity, into captivity he will go, if anyone kills with the sword, with a sword he will be killed. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. Rev 13:9-10.
The word translated “patience” here is literally “remaining under.” It is the picture of someone stuck for a time under a heavy burden or difficulty. He or she is in a position to escape the load but chooses not to for some higher cause than just escaping difficulty. The word is often translated “patient endurance.” Patience is about hanging in there for the long term, even when it doesn’t feel great in the short term. In Rev 13:10 the saints are willing to endure captivity and death because their hearts and minds are in heavenly places (note verse 6).
Few things are more frustrating than to have to wait for something you have prayed for. Waiting taxes our patience. And it doesn’t seem to make sense in the Christian scheme of things. Why should it take months or years for God to find you a good job when He took only seven days to create the world? Why should people ever have to go hungry when Jesus fed the 5000 in an instant? Why should it take months to be healed of some sickness when Jesus raised Lazarus with a word? What is the point of patient endurance?
One reason why God asks us to wait is that waiting is a tremendous tool for personal growth. In Rom 5:3-4 Paul tells us that suffering produces patient endurance (same word as Rev 13:10) and patient endurance produces character. So patience is not an option for Christians. In those times of waiting, God’s plans and purposes are revealed to us in ways we would never discern in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. “Remaining under” develops strength of character in us.1
It seems, if you watch American television or Hollywood movies, that the American way is the way of instant gratification. If you need it, buy it, if you don’t have the money now, borrow it, if you want it but will never be able to afford it, steal it. But the easy and quick solutions don’t serve long-term goals and don’t produce long-term growth. In a sense, Americans live in an adolescent culture. The main difference between an adult and a child is the ability to delay gratification. Real adults have the ability to wait. They can sacrifice immediate pleasures for long-term benefit.
It will take great strength of character to endure the trials of the End-time. “Remaining under” is never fun, but it’s a lot easier when you keep your eye on things above!
Lord, I thank You for the visions of Revelation. They teach me how great You are, and how worthwhile it is to endure to the End. May my patience in the little things now bring the strength of character to endure the big things that lie ahead.
1 Ted Roberts, Pure Desire (Regal Books, 1999), 192-195.