by – Ps. Joshua
2 Pet 3:8,9
8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward [c]us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Many times, we seem to wait for eternity & nothing happens. But God is not slow. He is a covenant keeping God.
Hab 2:3
For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry.
God is always on time. He is never early nor is He too late.
Many times, the time of waiting seems to be very difficult. The promise seems to be given but nothing seems to happen.
We, humans, have our plans & timetable. But God’s timetable is different from ours.
Isa 55:9
For as the heavens are higher than earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways,
and My thoughts than your thoughts.
God ways are different, and His thoughts are different from our thoughts. Jesus’ ministry was about 3.5 years – meaning Jesus spent 90% of his life preparing for the 10% of ministry.
Moses spent 66% of his life doing mundane while God was working in him. Joseph spent 14 years in prison.
Period of waiting is like trial by fire.
James 1:4
4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be [a]perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
God uses fire to mature us, refining us, purifying us. It is through this period of waiting & trials that God is building us.
In our world today, everything comes instantly. But God asks us to wait.
Heb 11:1
11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Seeing sometimes we do not believe. Sometimes when we have evidence, it seems easy to believe.
Each one of us are unique. God’s own masterpiece. Similarly, God uses different times to touch each one of us.
God is the potter and we are the clay.
Heb 11:3
3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
Our faith consists of thing we do not see. It consists of hope. We don’t see the evidence or the result.
What was visible was not created by things that we are visible.
VBS song lyrics goes like this –
Faith to see beyond what I can’t see
Faith to know that You will do great things
I will trust You Lord, I’ll always believe
As I hold on to my faith
Jesus you are holding on to me
Faith is knowing that God will do what He promised.
Many examples of faith that the scripture lists –
Heb 11:4,5
4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.”[a] For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.
Heb 11:6
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
It looks like the only condition to come to God is to have faith. God sees and God remembers.
Taking the life of Mordecai, he was not rewarded when he saved the Kings life. But the reward came in due time.
In the life of the Israelites, when they were in Egypt, they were crying out to Him from slavery – God answered in due time.
Jer 1:12
12 The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching[b] to see that my word is fulfilled.”
God strictly watches over His word to bring it to fulfilment.
Heb 6:15-18
15 And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.
16 People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument.
17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.
18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.
19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil,
God set his promise on 2 unchangeable things – Himself & His word.
Psalms 105:8
8 He remembers His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,
God is not finished with any of us. We need to have faith in His promises.
God calls us & loves us uniquely, not equally.
Eph 1:4
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
Jer 1:5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified[a] you;
I [b]ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
Before we were born, God has called us.
We can rest assured that called us into His promises. God is only looking for our response.
Rom 11:29
29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Heb 12:1.2
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 looking unto Jesus, the [a]author and [b]finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.