When you read a Scripture and it seems to leap out at you, or you hear a sermon that sounds like the Pastor read your mail. Maybe you are praying and and a word drops into your spirit. You hesitate to tag it as a promise from God, afterall you don't want to go round saying 'God said'. Yet, everywhere you turn for a few more days, you read articles or see plaques with.... you guessed it, the same Scripture! Yes, God is speaking, He is speaking to you and every promise in His word is true and applicable to the blood bought sons of God.
By now you're rejoicing and thankful, right? If you're like me and have walked with God for any length of time, you know without doubt that His promises, though 'yea and amen' are not always fulfilled in our way or our time. Stay with me now, there is more to this. The promise creates an expectation in our hearts and mind and we immediately embrace it. We are looking for the harvest and like children at Christmas, we pick up the package, examine and re-examine it. We shake it and poke it and play 20 questions with God.
Our prayers go something like this: "Daddy, thank you for the promise. I know You are such a good God. When will it be Lord? Is it this? Is it that? Its ok, I trust You.' Then two months later (or for some of us, next day) our prayer is developing an edge of desperation. 'I know I don't deserve it Lord. You don't have to give me anything, I'll still love You. But You did promise, didn't You? Are You sure Lord? ' Finally it becomes, 'when, God, when? Why did You have to give me hope only to dash it? I think the whole thing was my imagination'. Then God speaks again to encourage us, He reminds us "Is there anything too hard for God?" and peace returns to our soul until the next wave of doubt and fear. On and on we go, a spiritual roller coaster.
The question is, what is our faith in - in the promise, in our faith ability or in God the Promise Giver? There you go, trust is really the issue. We get so caught up in the 'dream' and become engrossed in receiving rather than believing. We lose sight of the more urgent and important priorities of a life of worship, and strain at the gnats of self focus. Like junkies whose habit must be supported, we are propped up by snatches of happiness (note I didn't say joy).
God promised to make David king without David seeking it 1 Samuel 16:1. Samuel sought him out and anointed him king, yet David later found himself hiding in caves away from Saul who wanted to kill him because of the same promise. Abraham waited 13 years after God called him out to make of him a great nation (Genesis 12:2) before he saw sight or sound of the promise God gave him. Some promises will not resemble the outcome we're looking for, because we define God's promises by our limited imagination. We set a time, a place and a method for God to act and get angry at God when He doesn't respond the way we plan the unfolding drama.
God is still God, and will do what He says He will do. Like Hannah's son of promise, Samuel, all promises have to incubate. He is preparing hearts and perfecting the reward, making it more than you can ask, think or imagine. Let's not abort it through unbelief. Rather, rejoice as you wait for God because He that will come will come - He will not tarry. (Habakkuk 2:3). If you spend all the time fretting in anticipation of the promise, you will not only wear yourself out emotionally and spiritually, you will lose your joy, thus wearing out those around you and you will lose out on enjoying where you are today.
Wait on the Lord, and be of good courage, and He shall stregthen your heart. (Psalm 27: 14) That which is yet to come will be better than what you see today. Amen, so let it be Lord.