WAIT FOR GODSpeaker: Dr. D.G.S. Dhinakaran Gist: Those who wait upon the Lord will have their strength renewed. God taught Elijah to wait when he was weary. The same Elijah who brought down fire from heaven before a great multitude prayed that he might die, and said, "It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!" (1 Kings 19:4) My forefathers died and so also let me die. Why did such a situation occur wherein a profound statement as one wishing for death be uttered by a mighty man of God?
My dear Friend, do not forget this thing. On the one side the world would praise you and on the another, for all toil and every skillful work a man is envied by his neighbor. (Ecclesiastes 4:4). Ninety percent of the people may praise you but surely there would be someone rising up against you. The sheer reason is jealousy. The queen heard that many people had retreated to the path of righteousness through the act of Elijah. She immediately sent out a decree claiming the life of the man of God. The soldiers closely follow Elijah to behead him. Elijah flees the city. On reaching the jungle takes shelter under a broom tree and it is under such a circumstance he makes this moving statement looking upto God.
Is there any man who is not weary? The servant of God became weary but God did not. “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable” (Isaiah 40:28) The Lord said, “Has Elijah grown weary? I will grant him new strength and bring him back to track.”
I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?" (Numbers 8:12).
Now when Moses went into the tabernacle of meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice of One speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the Testimony, from between the two cherubim; thus He spoke to him (Numbers 7:89). This Moses who spoke face to face with the Almighty God asked the Lord to kill him having become weary over the attitude of the multitude whom he led.
The Lord certifies about Job and says, "Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?" (Job 1:8) Job, when he had lost his children, inheritance, was struck with ill health and afflicted with sores from head to foot in his weariness pleaded, “That it would please God to crush me, that He would loose His hand and cut me off!” (Job 6:9; 7:15)
However, God did not become weary instead He renewed the strength of Elijah, Moses and Job. The Lord sent an angel with the words "Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you." The word from God lifted Elijah up and for forty days he walked day and night with the strength that the Lord had given him.
Those who wait upon the Lord will have their strength renewed.
Prayer:
Loving Lord,
Give me the grace to wait upon You. Please be merciful to me this day and exalt Your holy name. You are a God of justice and I know that I would be blessed if I wait for You. Renew my strength and help me soar like an eagle today. In Jesus’ name I pray.
Amen. |