“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you
that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that
whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.” (John 15:16,
NASB95)
It has been 524 days since leaving Calvary Crossroads Church
as an employee. As I left I did so with anticipation that God would soon
fulfill the leading that Robin and I had firm confidence was from Him as we responded to staff reductions and changes. There are some days that I look at the length
of the wait, and I look at the pressures and even impending deadlines along the
way, and I wonder just how long. While I know God hasn’t forgotten us, I sure
do wish He would bring about a new position more quickly. Recently a pastor
friend, after a disappointment, wrote to me saying, “God
is good and faithful, and SLOW, or so it seems to us, or to Abraham & Sarah
waiting for the promised child, or to Job waiting for relief, or to John the
Baptist sitting in prison. Let your pain
push you deeper into Him. You are chosen
by Him both now and forever. John 15:16”
My friend reminded me that Abraham and Sarah waited on God
to see His promise fulfilled. At 75 years of age Abram (Abraham) and Sarai (Sarah)
left with their extended family to go to a land which God would show them in
order for God to fulfill a covenant He had made with Abram. In Genesis 15 Abram
cries out to God about not having the heir that he had expected from God, and
God answered him. “Then behold, the word of the Lord
came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come
forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” And He took him outside and
said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to
count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” Then he
believed in the Lord; and He
reckoned it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:4–6, NASB95) And then Abram continued
to wait. As Genesis 16 records, it had been ten years since leaving for this
new land, and Sarai and Abram tried to take God’s answer into their own hands
resulting in the birth of Ishmael by Sarai’s servant, Hagar. They soon
discovered that this had not been a good idea, and that things in the home
worsened with the tensions between Sarai and Hagar growing. From this point
time continued to march on for a few more years, probably from Abraham’s 86th
year of age to his 99th, when in Genesis 17 God reaffirms His
covenant with Abram and changes his name to Abraham, saying “No longer shall
your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I will make you
the father of a multitude of nations. I have made you exceedingly fruitful, and
I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you.” (Genesis
17:5–6, NASB95) And God did not leave Sarah out of His promise, saying, “Then
God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name
Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. “I will bless her, and indeed I will give
you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations;
kings of peoples will come from her.”” (Genesis 17:15–16, NASB95)
In relation to our own waiting and our own doubts, by this
point Abraham had been waiting nearly 25 years, and His response to God was not
one we would expect but one we probably can relate with. “Then Abraham fell on
his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one
hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?””
(Genesis 17:17, NASB95) God responded to Abraham by reaffirming His promise,
but this time He gave Abraham a time frame. “But My covenant I will establish
with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.” (Genesis
17:21, NASB95) In the next chapter of Genesis the Lord appears to Abraham again
and speaks to him, this time in earshot of Sarah to which Sarah laughed.
Scripture records an incredible response of God’s faithfulness. “And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah
laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?’ Is anything too
difficult for the Lord? At the
appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have
a son.”” Scripture goes on to record, “Sarah denied it however, saying, “I did
not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”” (Genesis
18:13–15, NASB95)
It can be so easy for all of us to laugh in one sense or another
in response to our waiting on God. But the words of the Lord to Abraham and
Sarah ring true for us, just as they did for them, “Is anything too difficult
for the Lord?” And of course, the answer is “NO!”
God kept His promise to Abraham and Sarah and a year later
Isaac was born, the first star of countless stars. While Sarah did not live to
see Isaac get married and bear her first grandchild, Sarah did know God’s
faithfulness in giving her the promised son. Hebrews 11 records of Abraham and Sarah, “By faith Abraham, when he was
called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance;
and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien
in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and
Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which
has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith even Sarah
herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life,
since she considered Him faithful who had promised. Therefore there was born
even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants as the stars of heaven in number, and innumerable as the sand which is by the
seashore. All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but
having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed
that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” (Hebrews 11:8–13, NASB95)
By various time estimates it was approximately 2000 years
from the time of Abraham to the time of Christ’s birth, and by our own calendar
we know it to have been a similar 2000 years since our Lord took on the form of
man to pay the penalty for our sins through His death on the cross and then
took His life back up again through resurrection and is now sitting at the
right hand of the Father awaiting that time when all who trust will enter His
presence forever.
There are so many examples of people waiting in Scripture.
As my friend pointed out Job was one of them as he experienced the most
horrible of things in the process. Another is King David, who while being set
apart as the second king, endured a long season of being chased for his life in
the waiting. Scripture is full of accounts of waiting, and the key in all of
the waiting is trusting in our God who holds all time in His hands. That which
we consider urgent is seen only from our side. God knows the whole story and He
knows the outcomes. It is for us to trust Him, and in learning more of His
people and His faithfulness recorded in Scripture we are also encouraged in our
own trust.
We’ve been waiting for a year and a half. Abraham waited 25
years for the birth of his son. The Old Testament believers waited from the
garden for God’s redemption, and the people of Israel waited for hundreds and
hundreds of years. All believers have waited from the cross for our Lord’s return.
And all of us are looking forward to a timeless eternity in God’s presence.
Putting these things in perspective makes any wait we might have seem very small.
But our God is big even for our small.
Peter wrote, “But do not let this one fact escape your
notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a
thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some
count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but
for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief,
in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be
destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.” (2
Peter 3:8–10, NASB95)
Today my intention and my hope is to think and hope in my
faithful God, not letting any pressing matter cause me to laugh at Him or even despair
in response. The believers referred to in Hebrews 11 believed not yet having
received the promise. The Promise has since come and in Him I will place my
trust and in Him I wait on both our provision and direction for now and our
joining with Him for all eternity.
“He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming
quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” (Revelation 22:20, NASB95) MARANATHA!
Today in “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young (12/4)
My thoughts are not your thoughts; neither are your ways My
ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways and thoughts
higher than yours. Remember who I AM when you spend time with Me. Marvel at the
wonder of being able to commune with the King of the universe – any time, any
place. Never take this amazing privilege for granted!
Though I am vastly higher and greater than you, I am
training you to think My thoughts. As you spend time in My Presence, My
thoughts gradually form in your mind. My Spirit is the Director of this
process. Sometimes He brings Bible verse to mind. Sometimes He enables you to
hear Me “speak” directly to you. These communications strengthen you and
prepare you for whatever is before you on your life-path. Take time to listen
to My voice. Through your sacrifice of precious time, I bless you far more than
you dare to ask.
Isaiah 55:8-9. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways
My ways,” declares the Lord. “For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways
and My thoughts than your thoughts.
Colossians 4:2. Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful
and thankful.
Psalm 116:17. I will sacrifice a thank offering
to you and call on the name of the Lord.
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