“Now then, stand still and see this great thing the LORD is about to do before your eyes!” (1 Samuel 12:16)
Have you been waiting for something? Waiting for the LORD to fulfill a promise He’s made to you? Is there something you’ve been longing for that just can’t seem to break through whatever wall it’s stuck behind? I know how you feel, I have been there. But ya know what, we’re in good company. I know of a few other people who waited for the LORD, and it worked out pretty well for them.
At the opening of Genesis chapter 12 we read “The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.’” Now, that was a very heavy promise that God just laid down at Abram’s feet. If Abram obeys God and leaves everything behind to follow Him, then he will be made into a great nation, will be blessed, his name will be great and he will not only be blessed himself, but will be a blessing to others as well. So of course, Abram left everything to follow wherever God would lead him, with a promise like that who wouldn’t? But there wasn’t an immediate fulfillment of God’s promise, there were a lot of baby steps that got Abram to that place where his descendants were as “numerous as the stars”. But it DID happen.
Later in Genesis 37 we meet a young shepherd boy named Joseph. He too was blessed by God with a promise in two consecutive dreams of reigning over his brothers and his parents even. We find as we read, that it is through Joseph’s retelling of his dreams to his brothers that infuriates them to the point of near murder and ends up getting him sold as a slave. Just about as far away from reigning as he can possibly be. But, one morning years and years later, he woke up in a jail cell and that very same night he was sleeping in the lap of luxury as the second in command of all Egypt! All because God used him to interpret a dream, it just so happens, that it was Pharaoh’s dream. I think it’s a little funny that the one thing that got him into trouble with his brothers is the one and very same thing that got him out of trouble and into Pharaoh’s graces, a dream and his gift for interpreting them.
Then we meet Moses and read about his calling from God to lead His people out of the bondage of slavery that they have been in for generations. For years I imagine Moses struggled with who he was. He was born a Hebrew, nursed by a Hebrew, but then later on raised in the palace with the Pharaoh’s daughter as her son. He knew where he came from and he knew where he was and he knew that he just didn’t belong in either place. So when circumstances led him to leave Egypt and bring him smack dab in the middle of an appointment with destiny in the form of a burning bush and the voice of God. All his life he just knew that there was something different about him, now he was finding out what exactly it was. He was called to do a big job, one that only he could do, with his intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the palace and how things operated around there.
God’s call on each of these men’s lives was so tremendous! And each of them took years of patiently waiting, learning who they were and what they were good at to find their destiny, their calling, the fulfillment of a promise putting an end to their waiting. But then, there came that day. The day the waiting was ended. The day… when everything changed. For Abraham it was the day that his son Isaac was brought into the world in his very old age. A miracle from beginning to end! The child of the promise was born. For Joseph things were a bit more sudden, he was in jail of all places! Jail! And yet, God is faithful, no matter what our circumstances are, He fulfills His promises in His perfect timing. With Moses things again were sudden and on top of that, supernatural! In an instant, everything changed for all of them, their lives never to be the same from that moment on.
I believe the same is true for us today. God’s Word tells us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8). The God that was working in Abraham, Joseph and Moses’ lives is the exact same God that is working in our lives today. And that same God tells us “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly til the end the confidence we had at first.” (Hebrews 3:13-14) We’ve got to encourage each other daily and remind each other to “hold firmly til the end”, to cling to the promises of God for dear life! God is not… letting… go, He has not forgotten, He is not slow to answer nor His arm too short to save (Numbers 11:23). God is moving and working in your life TODAY, right NOW. Don’t live in the past, don’t live in the future, live in TODAY! Did you know that it’s only ever today. It’s never yesterday and it’s never tomorrow, we are only allowed to live today, in the here and now. Living in the past, or future, tells God that your present isn’t good enough for you. I’ve been living with my hope in the future, instead of expecting it for TODAY, and things just weren’t working out for me. When I asked God why, He told me, “Because, you were not believing Me for them today.” I was putting all my hope into tomorrow, instead of realizing that “tomorrow” never really comes! It’s always only “today”! All we ever have is right now, and if our hope isn’t in right now, then where is it? Our hope is supposed to be in Christ, and the fact that He is working in our lives TODAY to work out all the infinite details necessary to fulfill every single promise that He ever has, or ever will, utter. EVERY DAY God is moving in YOUR life. TODAY God is about to do some great thing right before your eyes so stand still and watch Him work! Hold your hands out to receive it. Let Him rain it down on you with thunder and a force that ONLY He can provide! Do not be afraid of the storm, do not turn away from the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. Praise Him, for He is good, and His love endures forever… just like His promises.
Tamar Knochel 