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Hebrews 11:35

³⁵Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.

What a contrast this verse presents to us! What greater relief could a mother experience in this life than to have her son raised from death? But God does not always answer prayer in the way that we would hope. The Christian life is not always a happy, easy road. Our eternal condition is much more important than our temporal one here and now. God is preparing us for eternity through the experiences He allows to come our way.

Christian history is filled with accounts of those who died refusing to renounce Christ. The enemy of our soul hates our allegiance to Jesus and will try anything to break us. God uses those tests to strengthen us and others who hear about our stand. Our endurance also gives our just God a reason to reward us to a greater extent when we stand before Him in eternity.

Jesus faced far worse than most of us ever will. He could easily have stopped the torture inflicted on Him (Matthew 26:53), but He chose to endure it for our salvation. Surely He will give us the grace to face whatever He allows the enemy to inflict on us. When we are faced with hardship, we must lean on the One who has faced it before and endured to the greatest victory ever attained. He can give us the strength to endure.

Remember: Our eternal state is far more important than our temporal happiness. Sometimes God does not answer our prayers because He has something better in mind for us.