WAIT UPON THE LORD: Be Persistent
Anchor Scripture:
Isaiah 40:31
"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
Focus Scripture: "And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him." Isaiah 8:17
Reference Scriptures: 2 Kings 13: 13 - 19; Job 23: 8 - 17; Psalm 123: 1 - 4; Romans 1: 17; Hebrews 13: 5
Admonition
Greetings from the Throne of Grace!
There is this pathetic story in 2 Kings 13: 13 - 19, of Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel, who failed to get total victory over his Syrian enemies, just because he failed to be persistent, even though he waited upon the Lord by believing and looking for the man of God, Elisha.
True children always know who their father is in terms of attitude and behaviours. However, not many Christians know and understand God, Whom they always call their Father. This lack of understanding of how God works has made many to abandon the faith altogether, and many remain in the faith superficially, helping themselves or working their own miracles but making them look like God's because they are still within the church.
One thing we should know about how God works is that He takes His time whenever He was going to build something magnificent. The Israelites went into slavery for four hundred years and went through wilderness for forty years before entering the promised land. The father Abraham whose blessings many of us claim today waited for twenty-five years before he got the promised child from God. After he was anointed, David waited another seventeen years before becoming king over Israel. Hannah who gave birth to the greatest Prophet ever in Israel, Samuel, waited until her younger wife, Penninah, had had seven children before she got one. We could go on and on mentioning people who waited upon God without wavering until they got what they wanted from God.
Today's admonition is drawing a line between being patient and being persistent, but both are elements of waiting upon the Lord. At times somebody could be seen to be patient, but their faith may have waned. Such people may have rescinded to fate and be saying "maybe that's the way God wanted it." Mention must be made that rescinding to fate is not the same as waiting upon the Lord because anyone who works by fate cannot be said to be in faith.
Being persistent is the ability to hold on to your faith in the face of a stubborn and unending crisis or a situation we believe requires urgent attention. In our focus Scripture this morning, God had hid his face from the house of Jacob, but Prophet Isaiah was a man given to persistence. Hence, he said he would wait for God and continue, without wavering, to look for the Almighty. Likewise Job, in Job 23: 8 - 17 had the experience of God hiding Himself from him, but he never gave up. Rather, he held on tenaciously to God. They and many others like them ended up FINISHING STRONG in and with God.
So, as we close this morning, let us know that FINISHING STRONG in and with God requires our willingness to hold on to Him even when there was no longer the slimmest hope, where there was no longer any iota of reason to hold on because He has promised never to leave nor abandon you.
Till tomorrow when we shall meet again on this beautiful journey of FINISHING STRONG together, please, keep keeping on in Him!
Isaiah 40:31
"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
Focus Scripture: "And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him." Isaiah 8:17
Reference Scriptures: 2 Kings 13: 13 - 19; Job 23: 8 - 17; Psalm 123: 1 - 4; Romans 1: 17; Hebrews 13: 5
Admonition
Greetings from the Throne of Grace!
There is this pathetic story in 2 Kings 13: 13 - 19, of Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel, who failed to get total victory over his Syrian enemies, just because he failed to be persistent, even though he waited upon the Lord by believing and looking for the man of God, Elisha.
True children always know who their father is in terms of attitude and behaviours. However, not many Christians know and understand God, Whom they always call their Father. This lack of understanding of how God works has made many to abandon the faith altogether, and many remain in the faith superficially, helping themselves or working their own miracles but making them look like God's because they are still within the church.
One thing we should know about how God works is that He takes His time whenever He was going to build something magnificent. The Israelites went into slavery for four hundred years and went through wilderness for forty years before entering the promised land. The father Abraham whose blessings many of us claim today waited for twenty-five years before he got the promised child from God. After he was anointed, David waited another seventeen years before becoming king over Israel. Hannah who gave birth to the greatest Prophet ever in Israel, Samuel, waited until her younger wife, Penninah, had had seven children before she got one. We could go on and on mentioning people who waited upon God without wavering until they got what they wanted from God.
Today's admonition is drawing a line between being patient and being persistent, but both are elements of waiting upon the Lord. At times somebody could be seen to be patient, but their faith may have waned. Such people may have rescinded to fate and be saying "maybe that's the way God wanted it." Mention must be made that rescinding to fate is not the same as waiting upon the Lord because anyone who works by fate cannot be said to be in faith.
Being persistent is the ability to hold on to your faith in the face of a stubborn and unending crisis or a situation we believe requires urgent attention. In our focus Scripture this morning, God had hid his face from the house of Jacob, but Prophet Isaiah was a man given to persistence. Hence, he said he would wait for God and continue, without wavering, to look for the Almighty. Likewise Job, in Job 23: 8 - 17 had the experience of God hiding Himself from him, but he never gave up. Rather, he held on tenaciously to God. They and many others like them ended up FINISHING STRONG in and with God.
So, as we close this morning, let us know that FINISHING STRONG in and with God requires our willingness to hold on to Him even when there was no longer the slimmest hope, where there was no longer any iota of reason to hold on because He has promised never to leave nor abandon you.
Till tomorrow when we shall meet again on this beautiful journey of FINISHING STRONG together, please, keep keeping on in Him!
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