“…the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong…”

— Ecclesiastes 9:11

It is the victory of faith that enables us to go on in the final count. When you think of Abraham Lincoln, what qualities come to your mind? Would it be compassion? Concern for the little man? Justice? Humor? I think if we really knew Abraham Lincoln, we would know that the overriding quality of his character was nothing other than perseverance. He was simply a man who persevered to the end.

Abraham Lincoln was a failure. He was a miserable, wretched, repeated failure. As a young man, he ran for the state legislature and was overwhelmingly defeated. He then went into business, failed completely, and spent the next seventeen years paying off the debts of a no-good partner. Although he did win a Congressional seat once, he was not able to successfully return to Congress. After that, he tried to get an appointment to the U. S. Land Office and was turned down.

He then decided that what he ought to do was to run for the Senate of the United States and he was pounded into the ground. He was defeated here, and he was defeated there; he failed in this, and he failed at that; he was overwhelmed here, and he was overwhelmed there; he was a loser, until he ran for the presidency of the United States and became one of the greatest men this world has ever known.

The character of a loser is that he quits. Deep down, Abraham Lincoln was never a loser at all because he never quit.

Lord, give me strength for today to persist in doing what I believe You have laid on my heart to accomplish. Even if I have to plod along and deal with one setback after another, help me to persevere in the end. Spiritually, I thank You that You have promised to finish in me what You have started…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN OVERCOME
ONE SETBACK AFTER ANOTHER.