Greetings again my Brethren. Where did 2017 go? I was told once you get to sixty time disappears over night. No one gets out of this life alive so it is best we die now so when our physical death comes knocking we will be dead to our self. But in all we thank God for an outstanding 2017 (in spite of the snags we go through) and look forward to 2018 and what the LORD has for us.
Now let us continue looking at the purposes of why God wants us to wait. I do not know about you, but waiting is one of the hardest things in my life to do when I know God holds the answer. Why not just tell me so I can get on with it. Well that is the reason for the waiting I am not ready to get on with it. God must do a work in my heart and mind so that I can get on with what He wants in this situation. The disciples (all 82) were good at this. Jesus asked them, “Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.” (Matthew 20:22) We too are like the disciples LORD let me know what to do and I will do it. Sadly the disciples (and us) did not count the cost and the price they must pay to be able to drink of the cup Jesus drank of. Last month we looked at silencing the natural restlessness and agitation in us and to teach us a reverence for a holy God so let us build on these. This month we will look at how to intensify man’s hungers and desires and to condition our faculties for the reception of that which is to be followed which will bring man into (hopefully into complete) submission. In Psalms David writes, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. 2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” (Psalms 42:1-2)
As we learn to wait on God He can use this waiting period to intensify our desires for God so He can have a greater opportunity for even a greater response. Here David is comparing his hunger and desires for God like a hart (a deer) “panteth” to long for or cry for water. Now David must have seen a deer in such a state. Maybe standing by the water’s edge and wanting a long cool drink, but it does not drink. This verse does not say the hart (the deer) had a long cool drink, oh no it said the hart longed for, cried for or in plain words just waited to drink. This is the condition David found himself in. Like this deer he apparently saw David made the comparison how he hungers and desires God, but does not have him because he is still waiting. Why? I do not know maybe his motives are all wrong or it just was not in God’s good time. You would ask how do I know all of this, well verse 2 says, “when shall I come and appear before God?” “When” is a time. One thing for sure God did come and satisfy David’s thirst and He will ours if we too (like David) just wait.
And the second point I would like to look at this month is how God must be able to condition our faculties (thoughts) for the reception of that which is to be followed which will bring man into (hopefully into complete) submission. Now this is huge area in our live. God has spoken something to us, but for us to be able to receive it we must align our thoughts and thinking with what God has said if not it will never happen. Believe it or not we must be able to see it happening (what God has spoken to us) in our mind, in our thoughts, and in our heart. Paul told the Church at Philippi, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” (Philippians 2:5) How could something spoken to us not happen if we have the same mind that is in Christ? No way, it has to happen. Again if we cannot see it happening it will never happen. I do not care what God spoke if we cannot see (in our thoughts, mind, and heart) it happening in our lives it will never happen. In Psalms David writes, “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14) The word “mediation” is translated heart picture. did you know God has a paint brush? And as we medicate (day and night) on what God has told us He is able to paint a picture in our heart of what he has told us. How could it not happen? We have the mind of Christ and God has been able to paint a picture for us what He wants to happen. All we have to do is follow the picture and fill in the details He will provide. It is simple as that. And as we wait God is giving us the mind of Christ. And as we wait and allow God to do a work in our lives and as we meditate on what God said so he can paint that picture in our heart to follow God is able to bring us to a place of total submission for what He wants. You know maybe David did not see the hart with his physical eyes. Maybe David saw the deer with his spiritual eyes as He allowed God to paint a picture of a deer standing by the water’s edge. If we cannot see it in our mind, our thoughts, our heart it will not happen.
Next month we will begin to look at how the rest of God is obtained in the light of Psalms 37:1-5 Walter Beuttler said if you build God a temple He will inhabit it. Have you built God a temple? If you do He will abide and wait for you. Written by David Stahl
