God has been speaking to me lately about how precious it is to Him for believers to hold onto the promises that He has given them, and continue to believe and stand on those promises.
This week I felt God speak about waiting, and the beauty of waiting with expectancy. I've been waiting a number of years since God first gave me a vision of what my life could look like with Him totally consuming me, and how He longs to cover us all with His love and call His children to Him. Life wasn't easy then, and since that time it has changed but it hasn't got easier, just different. I'm still waiting for the fulfilment of what I've seen Him show me... a promise of what is possible that is very much at odds with the reality that I see around me. It strikes me occasionally how bizarre many people would think this is, to believe in something from a God, who I can't see, but yet I hold onto with determination, despite everything that the world would see to the contrary. I daily choose to believe in God's faithfulness, His goodness and His love.
What God showed me this week was that how we wait and our attitude in that time is precious... It is in continuing to believe in who He is and His character, and believe in the promises He has given us, that we please Him. It is in the act of believing and trusting in His faithfulness that we grow closer and bring joy to Him. It is also this decision to stand in this place of belief that proves our faith, not just in that it is the proof of our faith, but it actually proves our faith like proving bread... it grows and becomes mature. (James 1)
God then led me to consider the Old Testament and the story of Israel. I've mostly looked at the OT and that time as the story of the Israelites failing to be faithful to God, disobeying and falling away, being punished, being forgiven and God bringing them back and starting the cycle again. God showed me though, that ultimately it is a story of waiting. When we consider the stories of all the great OT characters they have stories of waiting until God shows up and saves them. It is the story of Israel itself. The stories are of God's faithful people... What made them faithful?...They continued to believe in Him and trust that He was who He said He was, and that He would do what He said He would do. The faithful endured in their faith by continuing to wait... it was in the waiting that their faith was proved.