One of our greatest challenges of Christianity is the discipline of waiting on God. It’s been said that God’s timing is perfect, it’s just three days late for us. Now that may bring a wry smile of agreement to your face, but think about its truth. We do not like to wait, even if it is God upon whom we are waiting. And yet the Bible clearly instructs us to wait on our gracious Father:
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“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!†(Psalm 46:10)
So what is it that causes me to think the Perfect God in heaven could ever be late in answering my prayers? It is the garbage in life we pile on our spiritual plates thinking we’re partaking in some blessed bounty. What we’re actually doing is clogging up our spiritual arteries with the battles and busyness of life. Time to go on a diet!
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“Better a handful with quietness than both hands full, together with toil and grasping for the wind.†(Ecclesiastes 4:6)
Even if we have not brought upon ourselves calamity and chaos, we can still be faced with moments of anxiety and apprehension. So what do we do in times like this? We trust in the Lord:
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“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.†(2 Corinthians 4:7-10)
Sometimes we think Satan is attacking us when it’s actually God trying to purify us to become more like Jesus. If you are seeking the Lord’s righteousness, know that God will not leave your prayers unanswered. Oswald Chambers explains:
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If our hopes are being disappointed just now, it means that they are being purified. There is nothing noble the human mind has ever hoped for or dreamed of that will not be fulfilled. One of the greatest strains in life is the strain of waiting for God.
It is a strain to wait on God. I’m a part of a group who are trying to begin what we know is a work of God and we are all realizing that even though in our minds it seems to be taking a long time to begin, we know God’s timing is perfect.
It’s just tough being purified.
So where do I turn when I know my hope Is being purified and I’m losing sight of the goal? I know of nowhere else that always has the answers for which I seek…my Bible.
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“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.†(Romans 15:4)
Well Brother Dave, I’m not one for waiting. I hear you; I too am a person of action. So, here’s something we can do while we are waiting on the Lord, this is big…don’t miss it!
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“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.†(1 John 3:1-3)
There it is! I can work on purifying myself like Jesus Christ because my hope rests in Him.
And who knows, while you’re being purified some of those dreams you had may just burn up like useless chaff and the ones God has put on your heart will come out clearer and stronger than ever before.
That is called purified hope…
In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4
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Copyright © 2013 David Jeffers
Tags
Bible, Christianity, Culture, Faith, Grace, Hope, Prayer, Sin, Truth, Wisdom
