Go Forward in the Way of Heroic Faith
A great deal is said in the Bible about waiting for God. The
lesson cannot be too strongly enforced. We easily grow impatient of God's
delays. Much of our trouble in life comes out of our restless, sometimes
reckless, haste. We cannot wait for the fruit to ripen, but insist on plucking
it while it is green. We cannot wait for the answers to our prayers, although
the things we ask for may require long years in their preparation for us. We
are exhorted to walk with God; but ofttimes God walks very slowly. But there is
another phase of the lesson. God often waits for us.
We fail many times to receive the blessing He
has ready for us, because we do not go forward with Him. While we miss much
good through not waiting for God, we also miss much through over-waiting. There
are times when our strength is to sit still, but there are also times when we
are to go forward with a firm step.
There are many Divine promises that are
conditioned upon the beginning of some action on our part. When we begin to
obey, God will begin to bless us. Great things were promised to Abraham, but
not one of them could have been obtained by waiting in Chaldea. He must leave
home, friends, and country, and go out into unknown paths and press on in
unfaltering obedience in order to receive the promises. The ten lepers were
told to show themselves to the priest, and "as they went they were
cleansed." If they had waited to see the cleansing come in their flesh
before they would start, they would never have seen it. God was waiting to
cleanse them; and the moment their faith began to work, the blessing came.
When the Israelites were shut in by a pursuing
army at the Red Sea, they were commanded to "Go forward." Their duty
was no longer one of waiting, but of rising up from bended knees and going
forward in the way of heroic faith. They were commanded to show their faith at
another time by beginning their march over the Jordan while the river ran to
its widest banks. The key to unlock the gate into the Land of Promise they held
in their own hands, and the gate would not turn on its hinges until they had
approached it and unlocked it. That key was faith.
We are set to fight certain battles. We say we
can never be victorious; that we never can conquer these enemies; but, as we
enter the conflict, One comes and fights by our side, and through Him we are
more than conquerors. If we had waited, trembling and fearing, for our Helper to
come before we would join the battle, we should have waited in vain. This would
have been the over-waiting of unbelief. God is waiting to pour richest
blessings upon you. Press forward with bold confidence and take what is yours.
"I have begun to give, begin to possess." --J. R. Miller
From L.B. Cowman's Streams in the Desert
Photos by D.F.G. Hailson