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Wait for God’s Answer, May 8
It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the
salvation of the Lord.
Lamentations 3:26
.
There are precious promises in the Scriptures to those who wait upon
the Lord. We all desire an immediate answer to our prayers, and we are
tempted to become discouraged if our prayer is not immediately answered.
Now my experience has taught me that this is a great mistake. The delay is
for our special benefit. Our faith has a chance to be tested to see whether
it is true, sincere, or changeable like the waves of the sea. We must
bind ourselves upon the altar with the strong cords of faith and love, and
let patience have her perfect work. Faith strengthens through continual
exercise.
We must pray more and in faith. We must not pray and then run away
as though afraid we should receive an answer. God will not mock us. He
will answer if we watch unto prayer, if we believe we receive the things
we ask for, and keep believing and never lose patience in believing. This
is watching unto prayer. We guard the prayer of faith with expectancy
and hope. We must wall it in with assurance and be not faithless, but
believing. The fervent prayer of the righteous is never lost. The answer
may not come according as we expected, but it will come, because God’s
word is pledged.
We need a calm waiting upon God. The need of this is imperious. It is
not the noise and bustle we make in the world which proves our usefulness.
See how silently God works! ... Those who desire to labor with God have
need of His Spirit every day; they need to walk and labor in meekness
and humility of spirit, without seeking to accomplish extraordinary things,
satisfied to do the work before them and doing it faithfully. Men may not
see or appreciate their efforts, but the names of these faithful children of
God are written in heaven among His noblest workers, as scattering His
seed in view of a glorious harvest.
Wait for the Lord, not in fretful anxiety, but in undaunted faith and
unshaken trust.
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