Over these past five years of my life, the words Faith, Trust, Obedience, and Contentment, have taken on a new meaning and definition, and has brought a new reality to my day to day life. What I mean by this is that in the past five years, I realized that I have not yet fully grasped the revelation of what it means to truly have Faith in God, to Trust in God, to Obey God, and to be Content. In the midst of trials, tribulations, and hardships, if you turn to complaining, grumbling, depression, discouragement, back-up plans, jealousy, doubt, fear, despair, and then realize that all the above are contrary to the nature of a Christ follower, then you are certainly in the same boat as I am. When you put what “you know” to action, CONSISTENTLY, not every other time or season, you can then say that by the Grace of God, I now have a greater revelation of what it means to have Faith, Trust, Obedience, and Contentment in Christ.
I believe that we the children of God have not yet come to the point of understanding what faith, trust, obedience, and contentment looks like. It does not matter how small or great our doubt may be, what matters is whether or not we chose to have faith or chose to fear and doubt. That’s the dividing line. If faithlessness, distrust, disobedience, and discontentment are part of the waiting cycles of your life, ask the Lord to reveal to you the reality of what it means to have Faith, Trust, Obedience, and Contentment, as you wait on Him. God does not want you to wallow in fear, self-pity, anger, pain, discouragement, despair, jealousy and doubt. He wants you to rely on his perfect strength and grace, to overcome these traps of defeat, when they confront you in your waiting seasons.
What’s your attitude while you’re waiting: It’s one thing to keep the commandments of God when you are getting what you want, its’ another thing to keep His commandments when nothing you want seems to be coming your way. The Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and to prove you, to know…whether you would keep His commandments or not. Deuteronomy 8:2 I
Let’s take a glimpse into the WAITING SEASONS of the lives of those who have gone before us, maybe learning from their experiences can propel us forward as we WAIT for the fulfillment of God’s promises.
Ø Abraham & Sarah, due to impatience and discouragement decided to use a back-up plan to bring about a promise that only God could bring forth in perfection, in His own timing. This back-up plan lead to regrets, shame, jealousy and ultimately delayed the fulfillment of the promised child, Isaac. Geneses 15 -17
Ø Joseph, was sold into slavery by his brothers. While in slavery, Joseph was physically and mentally abused, mistreated, betrayed, falsely accused and placed at the point of death. I believe that as Joseph waited for freedom and justice, he had an inner confidence in God, which fueled his attitude of patience, trust, peace, contentment, endurance and forgiveness. Genesis 37-42
Ø Hannah waited on God to turn her barrenness into fruitfulness. Despite being taunted continuously by a relative, Peninnah who had children, Hannah continued to trust God and seek God in prayer, as she waited. 1 Samuel 1
Ø Job, what he always feared came upon him. From sickness, physical & emotional anguish, to the loss of everything he owned. As he waited for the redemption of God, Job realized that he can never fully understand God’s ways, but can trust in His ways. Job’s life’s ending, was greater than his beginning.Job1-3
Ø The Israelites, as they waited, due to complaining, discontent, and an unwillingness to trust in God, it took them 40 years to make an 11 day journey. Exodus 13-16
God desires to take us through our wilderness in life, to bring us to a place of abundance. He has promised us that when we go through deep waters and great trouble, He will be with us. When we go through rivers of difficulty, we will not drown. When we walk through the fire of oppression, we will not be burned up. Be of good courage, the Lord is on your side. He will never fail those that hope and trust in Him! Remember that the Lord is constantly fighting for your affections!
Yes, Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD! Ps. 27:14
