Earlier today, I was texting my Papa and giving him my life’s weekly update. Once I had explained to him the hard time I was going through, he gave me a long, thoughtful, Christian answer that was exactly what I needed to hear. But then he sent me another text message, and this message only had one word: Severance.
At first, I winced my eyes and scratched my head. “Severance? What does that have to do with what I’m going through? Doesn’t ‘severance’ have to do with salary or leave pay or something?” Yep. Webster defines severance as “an amount paid to an employee upon dismissal or discharge from employment.”
Now, why in the world did my Papa text me ‘Severance’ after a nice, thoughtful response message to my hardships? Well, I think the most obvious answer is that he meant to text me ‘Perseverance’ instead. Autocorrect got him.
But at the same time, it made me realize that ‘perseverance’ and ‘severance’ are extremely related terms, and viewing ‘perseverance’ through the lens of ‘severance’ can be somewhat clarifying and helpful.
Perseverance means “steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.” When we think of persevering, we might think of running a marathon, writing a long paper, or enduring a difficult work situation. Pressing through. Pressing on. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel… and finally getting there. The marathon will end eventually. The paper will end somehow. The work situation will end at 5:00pm. The marathon, the assignment, and the work is transitory—it will have its end–just like any other hardship we are experiencing. Whether we find ourselves in hard season of life or are currently transitioning into a harder season of life, we must persevere.
And that’s exactly where ‘severance’ comes into play: it’s a resource given to us so that we might be able to better persevere through the transitions.
Whenever you leave one work situation, for example, your employer will likely give you a severance pay, which will give you sufficient financial resources you will need during the transition of unemployment. The severance is provided so that you might be able to move forward with security, confidence, and hope as you look for the next job.
And I think, in a similar way, God gives us a type of ‘severance’ as well when we go through life’s transitions. He will not let us leave one phase of life without giving us the sufficient resources we will need in order to get to the next.
The transitions of life can be hard. It might be a relationship ending. It might be a job falling through. It might be a health complication. It might be the recent realization a wayward child. Transitions can shake us up. They are difficult.
But we can make the transitions harder than they’re supposed to be, too. Often times, the transitions can be more difficult precisely because we are frantically depending on the rations of our own limited resources instead of leaning confidently upon the unlimited severance of his love, his word, and his church.
I think the secret to demonstrating better perseverance in the Lord is to first realize that we have a greater severance from the Lord than we can imagine.
It’s one that provides us with…
- New mercies for every morning (Lam. 3:22-23)
- Leadership for every day (Ps. 139:10)
- A seasonal perspective (Ec. 3)
- The promise of a caring Father (Matt. 7)
- The only promising security to stand upon (Ps. 31:3)
- The grace that knows every need (Ph. 4:19)
- The hope that nothing can thwart his will (Job 42:2)
- The salve of healing and development (Ps. 147:3)
The degree of your perseverance in the Lord can likely be related to the degree you lean upon your severance from the Lord. Without this severance, we will be depending on our own wisdom (which is limited), our own power (which is limited), and our own love (which is limited). But with that severance, we will be tapping into a reservoir of God’s wisdom, power, and love that far exceeds our own.
So in order to persevere well, we need to depend on the God of this severance more than ever, trusting his timetables and purposes. They are not vindictive for our sin; they are indicative of His grace.
In these times of hardship, trial, and pain, let us lean on that great severance that will lead to our better perseverance.
For the Lord will not cast off forever,
but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
for he does not afflict from his heart
or grieve the children of men.
(Lamentations 3:31-33)
