This week has been full of activities:
different people calling about different challenges. Some even get disappointed
because the responses they get are not what they had hoped for which is also
what they believe will resolve their issues. Not one of them remembered to ask if
I was okay and not because they are wicked or selfish, but their difficulties
are so overwhelming they forgot to ask. As I think of all these difficulties and
the fact that they all end up with God along with several other challenges coming
from several others, I appreciate God even more and I am just pleased to know
that He is not man. I don’t even want to think of Him as man. No one can take
on even a tiny piece of the issues He takes on in a minute and survive. My
gratitude greatly increases when I remember Jesus Christ, our access to
God who willingly made Himself an access and a free one at that. He made it
possible for us to reach God and God reach us so that we can take our issues to
Him and have resolutions from heaven.
1 John 5: 14 – 15 “And we are confident that he hears us whenever we
ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know that he hears us when we
make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.”
It is interesting that John suggests
that God will give us all we ask for as long as they are aligned with His will because
there are many things we have asked for which God has confirmed are ours which we
still don’t have and have waited long for. This was the situation Sarah found
herself in when she could not help but laugh “within her” when once again, they
were reminded that the promise would yet come to pass. Her response had nothing
to do with her perception of God. She trusted Him and His ability to do all
things; but she had waited so long it seemed her own particular difficulty
could not be fixed anymore. At that point, following the course of nature, she
was right; but we have to realize that our God made nature so that He can cause
nature to work good for us and not just because of us but because that good was
necessary to ensure that His own big picture which includes us, does not fall
apart. He is just waiting for the right time.
Romans 8: 28 “And we know that God causes everything to work together
for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for
them.”
Genesis 18: 11 – 12NKJ “Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced
in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore, Sarah laughed
within herself, saying ‘after I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord
being old also?”
Waiting on God is not the easiest
thing especially when God Himself will not let you forget His promise.
Sometimes, when one has been waiting for long it seems easier to just forget
the promise. We get tired of hoping and would rather stop hoping; but when God
keeps reminding you, it becomes tougher. Interestingly, as He reminds you,
there will be people around you who just ask and are immediately gifted by God with
the same thing you are waiting on Him for. Sometimes, these are even people
known to all as worse than you are yet they get results and you get another
word. The fact that God keeps returning with a word suggests that you are important
to Him. Your challenge must be part of His big picture and He is watching over
everything to ensure it all happens at the right time. Sarah was to her mind,
an ordinary woman who had no idea that her story would feature in the bible so
that generations after would be encouraged by it. The thing is everyone’s role is
often the worst to them but, both you and your challenges are valuable to God.
Your challenges are important to encourage others and display God’s many sided
wisdom. God has not forgotten you and He is able to fix that challenge?
Isaiah 46: 9 - 10 “For I alone I am God! I am God, and there is none
like me. Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan
will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish.”
Like I once said, much as I admire
some bible personalities, I would rather not be them. Sarah got married early
and “married well” as we say in my Country. The man’s pedigree was right and he
was doing well; but she had to wait too long to have a baby and adoption did
not work well for her. As for Mary the mother of our Savior, won’t it have been
easier if she got pregnant the very night of her wedding? She could have done
without the shame that followed from being pregnant before her wedding. Neither
would I like to be Hannah the mother of Samuel but every one of these women is
a blessing to us today. Please don’t look elsewhere for help; God is not
unmindful of your pain. He is working to bring all things together because His
counsel will stand. He will have the last laugh.
