By Faith

“He has made everything beautiful in its own time.
He has also set eternity in the hearts of men;
yet they cannot fathom what God has done
from the beginning to end.”
Ecclesiastes 3:11

God says He made everything beautiful in its own time. Which means we may have to wait for whatever time that is.
Waiting is hard! We pace, tap our toes, eat, distract ourselves, anything to pass the time. Most of the time we fake patience. We can look calm, cool and collected but we resemble Mexican Jumping Beans on the inside.

We wait for the wedding date to arrive.
We wait for results.
We wait for babies. We have two grand babies ready to be born anytime.
We wait to graduate.
We wait to celebrate birthdays.
We wait for that movie, book, show to come out.
We wait for vacation.
We wait for red lights. Dean is not a fan of that one. ;)
We wait in lines.
We wait at the doctors.
A lot of life is waiting.
So why are we so bad at it? Why do we get frustrated and are not able to handle set-backs and times of waiting?

Maybe when we wait we struggle to remember that God is good and He has our best in mind.
We can allow the doubt to overtake our faith, especially the longer it takes.

If you think about it, we are in good company with having to wait.
Abraham waited 25 years for Isaac to be born.
Joseph waited 13 years to see his dream come true.
Moses waited 40 years in the wilderness.
David waited about 15 years to become King.
Jesus waited 30 years to begin His ministry.
God is still waiting for those who don’t know Him, to come to Him.

Hebrews 11 is a pretty incredible list to read through. People were waiting and walking through life believing in Who God was and what He promised them, just like us. They had no guarantees on how it would work out, just like us. They suffered difficult and gut-wrenching situations, just like us. Again, we’re in good company! The “By Faith” this list of heroes lived incredible lives, saw God do amazing things and some never saw what they hoped for. Just like us.

For some of the things on my list we don’t need that kind of faith to wait. The light will turn green. The line will move. But there are other things we are waiting for that we will need that kind of faith.

We need something strong enough to hold us up during those times. We need to be confident in our waiting. Hebrews 11:1 says:

”Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.” KJV

The word substance here is confidence, support, assurance and the word evidence means proof. 

Warren Wiersbe says: “Hebrews 11 is not a definition of faith but a description of what faith does and how it works. True Bible faith is not blind optimism or a manufactured "hope-so" feeling. Neither is it an intellectual assent to a doctrine. It is certainly not believing in spite of evidence! That would be superstition. True Bible faith is confident obedience to God's Word in spite of circumstances and consequences.”

So, the question becomes how are we waiting? What is supporting us while we wait? What is our confidence in? How do we handle the letdown of faith? You know, when things don’t go as we hoped or planned for?

While we have to wait for some things, there are other things that we can do but choose not to. I want to live well and wait well!

I’ve been hearing a lot about how much time we have, actually do not have, here on earth and how we are using our time. 

It makes me sad for all the things I didn’t do because of fear or doubt. It makes me determined to be faithful and step out when an opportunity comes my way. It challenges me to be obedient to the things I’m sensing I need to do and not put it off any longer.

We may need to have an attitude adjustment while sitting at the light or in line, but we can live “By Faith” like those in Hebrews 11 when we have to wait and believe God for something.

The rest of Ecclesiastes 3:11 reminds us that we have no hope to understand the plan of God. He sees our lives from the beginning to the end. I don’t know about you, but I am challenged, while in times of prolonged waiting, to remember the Goodness of God. I can trust that. I can lay all my hopes and prayers on that. Even when I don’t see it.

GOD IS GOOD!

Everything He does comes from that place, He cannot be anything else but good.
So, if that is true, can we trust Him in our waiting?
Absolutely!!!

I pray that we wait well!
Have the most amazing day!
All My Love ~
xo Jodi

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