Waiting
in His Word- 5-6-13
Do
you remember what God has promised you? Do you make a point to remind
yourself when you get fearful that it will not come to pass? Those
are the times we really need to dig in the Word to remember His
promises.
I
praise God for what he has promised; yes, I praise the Lord
for
what he has promised.
I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me? I will fulfill my vows to you, O God,and will offer a sacrifice of thanks for your help. Psalm 56:10-12
I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me? I will fulfill my vows to you, O God,and will offer a sacrifice of thanks for your help. Psalm 56:10-12
Through
out the Word of God there is promise after promise to His people, bot
individual as well as in groups of nations; God made known good and
clear the promises would be fulfilled. Of course there were times, as
with the Israelites in Egypt, that the people began to wonder if He
would ever bring them to pass in their life times; but God always
came through with His promises, in His time.
Sometimes
God seemed slow, but the Word tells us that God is not lax in this
but that His timing is perfect. He knows how long it will take for us
to reach the point that we will appreciate Him for the fulfillment of
what He promised us. He knows how much more we can get done with what
He promised us at a certain point in time as appose to when we think
we should receive it.
If
we know that we know that we know that God has given us a promise
what can we do to be productive while we are waiting? How can we keep
the faith and trust that He will not fail to deliver?
So
each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting
his
glorious miracles and obeying his commands.
Psalm 78:7
- The Egyptian army- drowned.
- The Pharaoh- left destitute to the point that even today the nation struggles.
- The '-ites in the Bible, everyone who fought against the army of God failed and were either left destitute or utterly destroyed, except when the people of God chose to stand on their own feet.Judah, and Israel both took times of disobedience to His plans. They did what they thought was right in their own eyes; and found they did not have a clue as to what right really was.
- King Saul- lost his kingdom and his life because he thought he knew more than God about the people God gave him to lead!
- Saul/Paul had to loose is vision temporarily because he tried to see things the way he thought God wanted... God chose to remove his physical vision so that He could get the man to see spiritually just who He was.Let's think about Paul and his life; he gave up riches and Roman life style to be a prisoner for Christ!He followed after Jesus where many of us would fear to go, and yet He did so because He believed in the resurrection of Christ and that no matter what he had to go through God had promised him eternal life with Him. He counted it all joy when he was brought up against trials and temptations: then he used them to bring others into the kingdom as God saw fit to have him do.How many of us could have gone through what Paul or Peter, or even Stephen did and still keep the faith that God would fulfill His promises?
We are so weak that we bellyache at the smallest things. We have to take a bus to work, or we may have to do our own housework, or maybe its the fact that we have to work out to get through pain and suffering from an injury, such petty things but they cause us to complain. God has promised us healing, peace, and joy. He will bring it to pass.He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us. He will bring it to pass, even when we think He has forgotten what He said.If God shows you a scripture that gives you a promise, for instance the one in Jeremiah 29 11-14This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you, “says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the Lord “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”
We
can begin by reminding ourselves to be patient, in His Word! We can
remind ourselves that God has done so much already in our lives and
that He will not leave us comfortless even if we think that He has.
Imagine how much worse things could be if we did not have Him on our
side?
Maybe you are sitting there thinking to yourself, “I really do not think things can get worse than this!” I want you to know that it can! If you did not have the Lord on your side things could get really a lot worse. Look at the history of people who chose to run against God, so many evil people in the history of the world tried to stand against Him and His people.
Maybe you are sitting there thinking to yourself, “I really do not think things can get worse than this!” I want you to know that it can! If you did not have the Lord on your side things could get really a lot worse. Look at the history of people who chose to run against God, so many evil people in the history of the world tried to stand against Him and His people.
And
he did! We can read about this in the book of Ezra, of how God moved
a pagan king to bring them out of captivity and restore Jerusalem and
the House of God! God will move mountains to fulfill His Word. We
just need to get into the Word enough to learn this and we will find
the strength and the hope and the encouragement to wait on Him.
Wait
on the Lord, be of good courage and He will strengthen your heart;
Wait I say on the Lord!
Psalm
27:14
But
those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall
mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:30-31
I
will wait on the Lord, for in His presence is fullness of joy! My
strength will be restored when I wait on the Lord. This is from a
song we used to sing in church, but it holds true when we wait on the
Lord, He will strengthen our heart, our resolve and encourage us not
to let go, but to trust Him to complete the work He started.
Dear
Heavenly Father, help us wait. Give us the strength to carry on our
daily tasks knowing that You are with us in all that we do, good and
bad. Keep our years open and guide our steps that we may know, and
that we may go to where you would have us go. In Jesus name, amen.
Suggested
reading Isaiah 40:1-31, Psalm 37:40, Psalm 27:1-14 and 2 Peter 3:1-17