God’s Will is that we Should Endure all things and Keep Faith up to the End

And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me. Gen 42:36  

Life abhors a vacuum. We hate to stand still doing nothing. But we come alive when we are doing something, when we feel there is air and life around us, when we see people on the road, when there is a place to call home, when there is laughter outside and when there is work within. These things give meaning to life. But then something happens. And the rhythm of what we knew as life snaps.

The rhythm of the life of Jacob had broken down many times before. But God had always been there for him to mend the broken parts, but Jacob had forgotten. And upheavals make us do that. We forget. But David too had despaired several times in his pilgrimage. At one time he was so certain he was going to die at Saul’s hand. He forgot God had anointed him to be ruler over Israel. Briefly Elijah forgot Mt. Carmel as he screamed across the desert that Jezebel was about to kill him. John sent his disciples to ask if Jesus was really the one, or whether they should look for another. Where had their faith gone?

You had been certain once that you were doing the perfect will of God. But now doubts assuage you. Things have happened. The hearthstone has gone cold. And ‘all these things are against me’. Don’t be hasty to pass judgment upon yourself. Even more don’t be hasty to pass judgment on God. Wait until the water has calmed in the pond because it is only then that you can see the depth clearly. That was the error of Jacob in passing judgment upon himself. It was the error of David, and many other people who believed God.

Some have supposed this is their end. Few stop to think it might be the beginning of a new thing, and a perhaps a better life afterwards. The time comes when belief looks impossible. But at such times faith says believe more, and act like Abraham 'who against hope believed in hope'. May we never be counted with the ones who staggered at the promise of God through unbelief, but rather let us be ‘strong in faith, giving glory to God.’ Let us remain ‘fully persuaded’ that what he has promised, he is able also to perform (Rom 4:20-21).

Don’t crucify yourself. Don’t loathe yourself. You are human and it is why you are feeling like that. God understands. And he’s glorified when we run to him for help, because he gives it. He is a strong tower, the righteous run to him and they are safe. The Lord is my light and my salvation, who shall I be afraid of?

There is one who knows the end from the beginning, and the story of our own life is still developing. What God begins he finishes, and the Bible story lives as a testimony to this day. We are not alone. Hasn’t he said, ‘I shall not leave you comfortless’? Yes sometimes our eyes can be so cast down looking down at the waves… until we forget to look up at him. ‘The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.’ Step outside for a while tonight and just stare at the starlit blue sky. His voice is everywhere. Shut the silence for a while and just listen. ‘Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard’ (Psa 19:1-3). 

Please God don’t let our fears and our worries so seize us at this present time, until like Jacob, we fail to see our salvation coming! ‘And it came to pass’…what a heading for a testimony! So ‘[w]ho shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? …For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Rom 8:35-39). And may we be able to believe that always, O God!