How Long, Oh Lord
1 Peter 1
10. Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently,
who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which
was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings
of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us
they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them
that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down
from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
The Promise
The saints of old waited! They had heard the promise of God and they
waited! They knew a Savior would come and they waited! - and waited!
- and waited!
And they finally realized that the promise was for another time in
order that we might get in, also.
Ps 6:3 My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O LORD, how long?
Ps 13:1 How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt
thou hide thy face from me?
Ps 35:17 Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their
destructions, my darling from the lions.
Ps 89:46 How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy
wrath burn like fire?
Isa 6:11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the
cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and
the land be utterly desolate,
Hab 1:2 O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even
cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!
Did you ever get caught in a traffic jam?
You know the feeling -
you get hemmed in with a solid line of cars in both lanes, a huge semi
just ahead of you, and one tailing you? Sandwiched between two of these
monsters, all you can do is stare at the back doors of the one in front
of you and read the nonsense of codes on the back along with the grafitti
someone etched in the dirt.
Your patience running low and adrenaline running high, and you begin
to think of it as a small drama of the Christian life. Sometimes in
our walk with the Lord we get hemmed in by uncontrollable circumstances.
We grind to a halt, move only occasionally, and then not very far. We
wish we could see what's up ahead. Impatience and even anger compound
the situation.
We must choose not to fight life's traffic jams, but to view them
as opportunities to learn to wait silently for God and keep our
expectation focused on Him.
What if Jesus doesn�t come in your lifetime?
Will you continue to wait for Him faithfully?
Luke 18
8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when
the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
Remember that God waited till just the right time to send Jesus.
Galatians 4
4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son,
made of a woman, made under the law,
The Process
There is a process involved in our walk with the Lord.
Larry Christenson writes: "We have embraced the promises of God with
our faith and with our understanding, but we have failed to grasp the
process by which He brings these promises to fulfillment.
"When I was four or five years old, I used to climb up on my dad's
lap and ask him to read me th funny papers. if he didn't have time,
I'd badger my older brother into doing it.
"`I'll be glad when you get into school,' my brother would sigh.
`Then you can read the funnies yourself.'
"That became the goal of my five-year-old life: When I got into
school, I'd be able to read the funnies by myself! When my first day
of school finally arrived, I was all dressed and ready-- sitting out
on the front steps at 5:30 in the morning. At last the hour came, and
I trooped off to school. Our class went through the routine of the
first day, having seats assigned and getting acquainted. At the sound
of the bell, I rushed home, came tearing into the house, threw open
the evening paper, and flopped down to look at the funnies. And then
I burst out crying. I couldn't read!
"My hopes were so fixed on the promise that I had failed to grasp
the process by which that promise would come into fulfillment. It was
perfectly true as my brother had said that when I went to school, I
could read the funnies, but there was a process, a time gap, during
which I would move into the fulfillment of that promise."
[The Renewed Mind by Larry Christenson. Bethany, 1974. Pages 76-77.]
James 1
3 Knowing [this], that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 But let patience have [her] perfect work, that ye may be perfect
and entire, wanting nothing.
It is important that we learn to appreciate the process as well as the
fulfillment or the promise.
Life is what you do while you are waiting to go to heaven. I believe
that "living well" is as important as "getting to heaven."
We�ve all mnet those dear saints who can�t wait to get to heaven.
They hate this life on earth, and they never fail to let you know it.
What kind of life is that?
The same is true with prayer. We often say our prayers and then
impatiently tap our toes trying to rush God on the answer.
God has perfect timing! He never gets rushed. He doesn�t feel your
pressure. We�d best learn to wait on 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.
They that don�t wait upon the Lord get ahead of God and get out of
synch with life. They are not happy.
God has a perfect plan and perfect timing for everything.
Sometimes God is silent for a time. Sometimes for a long time.
His silence can mean many things.
At times, God will refuse to answer our requests immediately in order
to test our persistence and confidence.
Silence can be Judgment: In the Old Testament the irreverence of Eli's
sons resulted in this kind of silence on God's part (1 Sam. 3:1). When
God finally raised up the prophet Samuel, the people were ready to listen.
Jesus was silent with the accusers of the adulterous woman In the
quietness of that moment, the Pharisees were one by one fell under
conviction.
Silence can mean Mercy: God may be giving us time to repent
Silence may be Testing: In many ways the hardest part of Job's troubles
was that for a long time God would not answer him. There are times
when God wants to see how much confidence we have in Him--if we will
persist in knocking on the door until it opens.
Silence can be a time of Waiting: Often God is waiting for us to get
quiet so that He can work. Do we keep on asking out of faith that He
will answer or are we panicking because we're afraid God has deserted
us?
Silence can be His quiet way of Loving us: There are some occasions
when words distract from a message. Sometimes God may have no
particular instructions or message for us. Just knowing He's there
allows us to rest in His love.
"O God, do not be silent" by Paul Thigpen. Charisma & Christian
Life, Apr 1992. Pages 48- 50+.
Life is meant to be lived, not tolerated!
You won�t win many converts by hating life.
You won�t win many friends either.
You won�t comfort many hurting souls or encourage many struggling
believers.
Life is a gift from God! It is meant to be enjoyed. Of course, you
do not enjoy it by living in sin. We find real joy in obedience to
God.
When you learn to enjoy your relationship with God, circumstances no
longer matter.
� Moses learned to be content in the wilderness. He longed for the
Promised Land, but he spent the journey in fellowship with God.
� Joseph was content in prison till God delivered Him.
� Daniel was content in the lion�s den.
� Paul was content in God�s will, even though it often meant hardship.
Philippians 4
11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in
whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every
where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be
hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
Promotion
We sill arrive soon enough at our heavenly destination. One day, life
will come to an end, and we will go home.
I sure will be glad to get to heaven, but I sure don�t want to have to
say at the end of my journey, "I sure wish I had enjoyed life more."
The hard fact is, everybody says the Lord is coming back soon, but
1900 years ago James wrote, "�the coming of the Lord draweth nigh."
By the end of the first Century, the church fathers thought all of the
prophecies were being fulfilled. They wait, we wait, and we may keep on
waiting till we die. But how we wait is vitally important.
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