One of the strongest words I have ever heard from the Lord is: “If you’ll wait I’ll use you.”
If I recall, that was in 1978, and yes, I am still confidently waiting. Even this morning seemed to be one of those powerful life-affirming moments, that has so faithfully encouraged that wait. As I read and prayed over His Word, and as well reviewed the devotionals which I open almost every morning, Oswald Chambers, Ravi Zacharias and now Joseph Prince, hope echoed in the chambers of my soul…the place where that Word is so firmly lodged in my being.
This crescendo of faith may have begun yesterday, as I sat in a small boat on Belews Creek with my dear brother; there we looked up to see what had once been a diminishing species, a Bald Eagle. This beautiful bird, representative of the country we once were, is coming back strong, a longstanding symbol of hope for many. I still pray that for our country as well!
Isaiah 40:31comes to my mind:
“but those who hope (who wait) in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.” NIV
As I “waited” in prayer this morning and as I have waited in life, I was encouraged to believe that I will still see a sovereign move of God in this city, this greater urban Forsyth County. I like Simeon (not trying to be spiritual here but rather transparent), have awaited a manifestation of what God sovereignly placed in my heart as a young man. In fact it is so real to me, that I would risk any positional authority gained by my life to express to those whom I serve and love, my expectations of God.
This morning, as I read in Acts the words of Peter, the author reiterates both Moses and David, heralding the promise of the One, who would come and when He did, would be rejected; His very life hung like Moses’ serpent on a tree, yet prophesied long before the Romans’ devised crucifixion, though that very act of crucifixion was graphically previewed in the 22nd Psalm. This is not happenstance but sovereignty.
God, the I Am would come; the one for whom the saints, as described by the writer of the Hebrews 11, awaited by faith, some even “sawn asunder,” stoned, slain as they waited. “Of whom the world was not worthy.” They too, held this same sense of “waiting” in their hearts, as they “wandered in the deserts…obtained a good report (lived accountable lives) through faith, (yet) received not the promise.” They may have lost in this life somewhat, but because they “desired a better country, that is an heavenly… God is (presently) not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.” (KJV)
This morning, I know, that I Am has now come and because of Him, I am! Just as Jesus was wrapped in garments of flesh, because of Christ I am now wrapped in garments of righteousness; and the same blessing as that righteousness brought to Jesus, His garment now on me attracts the blessings of God to my life, as I wait!
As Joseph Prince so amply prayed: “Father, I thank You that Jesus is my burnt offering. He covers me from head to toe with His righteousness. What He is to You, I am. As He is now, so am I. I am in Him.”