“Don’t Give Up”
I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.
Psalm 27:13-14
Congratulations! You have made it one fourth of the way through this challenge. How are you doing in fasting? Are you making the time to devote yourself to prayer as you never have before? If you are just reading the material you are missing out on the most important part of this journey. This material has been written to be a road map to point you in the direction of powerful encounters with God. Those will happen in the secret place as you seek Him and listen to Him. Do not take the path of least resistance and miss out on all the important things He wants do in you and how He longs to work powerfully in conjunction with prayer.
We spent some time yesterday considering the challenge not to lose heart. This is easier said than done. One day we are charging full steam ahead in faith and assurance that God is at work and then suddenly one day we begin to entertain doubt and focus on our negative circumstances. One thing leads to another, and the next thing you know we have abandoned all hope and our faith begins to sink faster than the Titanic.
David found himself in such a position - in Psalm 27 he says that he was close to despair. That word means that he was near giving up and quitting. Quitting looks like a great outlet sometimes. People quit on their marriages, their children, their jobs, friendships, on churches, and on service to God. To be completely honest there are some who have given up on God all together. They quit. So what kept David going in those tough times?
It was the hope that God would step in and show His goodness in his lifetime. The word “goodness” means beauty, the best, welfare. That is very significant because most Christians believe that they will see the goodness of God in eternity, but what about the here and now? We need to see God at work in everyday circumstances. I just returned from eating lunch at one our favorite Mexican food places. Our waitress happened to be the mother of one of our boys’ classmates. Just before we left she asked us to pray because her husband has just lost his job along with many others in his industry. I know of several people who have lost their jobs all around where I sit writing this material.
There is much to be discouraged about if you listen to the doom and gloom on the news, but in the middle of dark times can you find the smallest glimmer of faith and hope that God will not abandon you and will come to your rescue. David believed this and encouraged his heart with this truth. Next, David counsels us to wait on the Lord. You could define “wait” as expect, patiently tarry, bind together.
I have waited on the Lord more days than I can count. Days can turn into weeks and weeks into months. Months can fade into years and before you know it years can become decades. Decades can come and go in rapidity, constituting an entire lifetime. The trick is not the waiting itself – most of have had to learn how to wait reluctantly. We wait in the lines at the drive-thru, we wait at the turn signals, we wait on our income tax returns, we wait for our meetings, on airplanes, in lines at amusement parks. We may not like it, but waiting is built into the fabric of life. Anybody can wait.
What God desires is that we learn to wait in hope and with expectation. God wants our faith to mature to such a level that we are able to wake up each day with expectation, thinking this might be day that we see our miracle. God yearns for us to maintain this hope all day long and then if the answer is delayed and we are forced to wait again, that we are able to rise from our slumber with expectation and hope again the next day and the next, and so forth. That takes courage, and ironically that is just what David calls us to do - we must take courage. The word “courage” here means to fortify, be obstinate, to conquer.
We must fortify our hearts with truth in the times of discouragement. We fortify our hearts with Bible promises and truth about the nature of God. We must also become obstinate. If there is a land God has called you to possess, you have to become obstinate in faith, refusing to entertain doubt or failure. When our hearts are fortified and obstinate, sooner or later we are going to conquer our circumstances and gain the victory.
Steps to Trust and Obey:
What is the greatest challenge you are facing which discourages you?
How can God use your times of waiting for something good? Are you waiting actively in faith and with expectation or are you waiting passively in doubt and discouragement?
What Bible promises do you need to be reminded of to fortify your heart and give you obstinate faith? Search for a few of them, making them part of your prayers today.
What is God speaking to you and what steps of obedience is He leading you to take?
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