Life frequently feels like we are on hold on the other line with the annoying “we will be with you shortly” playing over and over again. We are waiting on healing, salvation of lost loved ones, a new job, a promotion, to be published, or the child God has promised. We know the promises, we believe them, and we even speak them. “What is taking so long?”, “Why am I on hold?”, and “Help me Jesus” are all things I have personally said while waiting. Along the path the enemy will try and come in and plant seeds of doubt about who you are, who God is, and what he has spoken.
God tenderly reminded me of these important truth’s this morning and wants me to share them with you!
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” -Revelation 22:13 NLT
God is the beginning and the end, and we are apart of his creation somewhere in between. So much of what we go through does not make sense with an earthly, humanistic perspective. If we saw things from the grand view of things, God’s perspective, we would understand that he is a God of order and has an appointed time for everything. That appointed time is perfect for his grand plan for us and everyone around us.
Have you ever been on hold on the phone and almost hung up because you had things to do and could not wait (not knowing you were the next caller)? When you finally reach someone to help they cannot help you? After holding for so long on the other line you wonder if you’ll ever get this problem solved? Or when you were waiting the long winded message goes silent? I believe the Holy Spirit gave me these examples because we act like we were forgotten. In reality, the truth is God could never forget us and has heard our every prayer. There are times when we mistakenly “hang up the phone” or abort the promises of God because we believe they will never come to pass rather than understanding that God loves us so much he cannot possibly give us something early that would not be good. When we pray sometimes, we act like God can’t help us. This problem is too big, we aren’t praying right, or he doesn’t want to help us with out problems. In the middle it even feels like he is silent.
The truth of the matter is that all things were created through him and for him. All things begin and end with him. We must trust him in the middle. We must have patient endurance in the process. It is not that God does not care. There is no love that is greater or purer than his. Love is who God is. It is not that God does not desire for you to see those things come to pass. If he gave us Jesus, his only Son, what won’t he do for us? Amidst waiting, having the perspective that God is after developing our hearts rather than maintaining our comfort is essential. We need to put into practice not focusing on what we can see and believe what he has said.
How do we put this into practice?
The utmost important thing for you and I to do is to sit at his feet. God desires for you to cast your cares upon him because he cares (1 Peter 5:7). He wants to exchange your worries for his peace (Philippians 4:6-7). The God who loves us pulls up a chair, lays on the floor, and even meets you in the bathroom where no one can hear you. In the middle is the perfect time to grow closer and develop more intimacy with God. All things begin and end with him. In the middle right where we are, we are to trust that he is working everything out for our good. It is necessary to seek his face, the truth of his word, and what he wants to speak to us every single day. When satan tries to come in and plant seeds of doubt so eventually we will speak doubt, we are prepared and ready for battle. We can pull out our sword (the word of God) and speak the truth that will never fade away. In the middle God wants us to know him. When we know the truth about him, the middle does not seem so bad. We begin to understand that we are apart of something so much larger than us. We begin to realize that receiving what he has promised early could effect generations after us and all he does is out of his love and what is best for us. The middle at times may not feel good, in fact, at times it feels like suffering. In Ecclesiastes 7:8 the Message version puts our circumstance into these words, “Endings are better than beginnings. Sticking to it is better than standing out.” The confidence in God that we desperately need is found through seeking his face. That confidence is what we need to stand in faith. The time we have right now with him is to be embraced rather than endured.
There are two reminders I want to leave you with:
What God has promised to do he will finish.
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Phillippians 1:6 ESV
You are no longer a slave to fear or unmet expectations. He who promised is faithful. You will receive what he has promised in full!
So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. Romans 8:15-18 NLT
So don’t lose your bold, courageous faith, for you are destined for a great reward! You need the strength of endurance to reveal the poetry of God’s will and then you receive the promise in full. For soon and very soon, “The One who is appearing will come without delay!” And he also says, “My righteous ones will live from my faith. But if fear holds them back, my soul is not content with them!” But we are certainly not those who are held back by fear and perish; we are among those who have faith and experience true life! -Hebrews 10:35-39 TPT
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