SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 05-30-03
My
Worship Time Focus: Faith Waiting
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Hebrews 11:8-10
Message
of the verse: “8 By faith Abraham
obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance.
And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as
in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with
him of the same promise; 10 for he waited for the city which has foundations,
whose builder and maker is God.”
(NKJV) This section, Dr. Wiersbe calls “waiting faith,” and when you
read about it you can certainly tell that is a good title for this section that
goes until verse twenty-two. Abraham was
an idol worshiper in what is now modern day Iraq, and God called him to go out
of that land into a land where God would show him. I do not know how it was that God called him,
but the Bible says that He did. God did
promise him an inheritance, as He does all He calls, and God promised that
Abraham would be the father of many nations, which he is. Abraham was a man, who believed God, and
because of this faith in God, God blessed him very much, but God did not
fulfill the promises that he has made to him in his lifetime. Abraham and his family lived in tents, and
not in any permanent house, as they were pilgrims in this land that God
promised to them. Each generation
faithfully passed on the promise to the next of how God spoke to Abraham and
promised his family the “promised land.”
It was not until over 400 years later that Israel took possession of
this land, and in a sense they have never until this day possessed all of the
land that God said that He would give to them, so they are still faithfully
waiting. It will be given to them in the
thousand-year kingdom headed up by Jesus Christ their Messiah. Abraham had faith that this would be the
truth as evidenced in the tenth verse, for he was looking for a city whose
designer and builder was none other than God Himself, Abraham was looking
towards heaven.
Spiritual meaning for
my life today: It took
twenty-five years for Abraham and Sarah to have the child that God promised
them to have, and I am sure that there were some doubts in there mind, and even
their failures were, in a sense, believing God.
I am speaking of them trying to “help” God give them a child through
Hagar. As Warren Wiersbe says of himself
that waiting is one of the things that he likes to do least, that is true in my
life and always has been. However God
has shown me in these years that I have belonged to Him that waiting does build
character into my life and it certainly does increase my faith in Him. Yes all of us that are in the boat in the
midst of this storm that God has seen fit to send us out into are having a hard
time waiting on the Lord, but God makes no mistakes and the answer to this
problem will be given by God in God’s time, and in the meantime we all must be
patience and believe in the promises of His Word, for He will never leave us
nor will He ever forsake us.
The Word of God was a challenge to my heart today as I read
it and as I thought about it this morning.
It also brought refreshment and courage to me too.
My
Steps of Faith Today: I want to continue
to rest upon the promises of God while I and others are in this storm that He
has sent us into. As the lady who was at
the meeting said we have a great and wonderful God who sees fit to answer our
prayers. I trust the Lord.
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