Verse for the Week: Galatians 4:4, “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.”
When Adam and Eve sinned, God shed blood for the very first time to clothe them with animal skins. It may have been at this time that He explained to them His plan of salvation through sacrificing Himself. When Eve gave birth to her first son, Cain, she said, “I have gotten a man from the LORD.” I heard in a sermon once that she may have believed that her son was going to be the fulfillment of God’s plan of redemption. Wouldn’t she be surprised to know that Jesus would not come to earth for another 4,000 years!
The Bible shows us time and time again that God is in no hurry (in man’s timing) to perform His will. I think of how long He made Sarah wait before He gave her a son. He made Rebekah and Hannah wait a long time also. Many people have prayed a long time before God has answered their prayer.
In my own life I often ask myself the question, “Molly, how long are you willing to wait for that to happen?” If the Lord worked behind the scenes for 4,000 years to perfect all the details of His plan of redemption, the most important event in history, I should not expect that He must answer my every prayer in five minutes or five days.
Let me ask you that same question today. How long are you willing to wait for your prayer to be answered? How long are you willing to wait for God to give you a husband? How long are you willing to wait to have the marriage you always dreamed of? How long are you willing to wait for the Lord to give you a child? How long can you wait for your loved you to come to Christ or come back to God’s will?
We have issues in our lives that are so important to us that they fill our thoughts almost constantly throughout the day. Our desire is so strong that we can almost taste it. Sometimes we wonder if God hears us or if He is angry at us and doesn’t want to help us. Have faith! God is working in your life behind the scenes to bring about His will in His time!
Where do you want to be in ten years? What dreams do you have for your husband, for your marriage? Work and pray and praise and wait for God to bring those things to pass for you. I have many dreams of what I want ten and twenty years down the road.
I have quite a few friends who cannot have or could not have children. Some of them are now mothers, and some are not. My question is, “How long are you willing to wait, without bitterness and envy and despair?” Don’t give up on God.
I have so many dreams for my children. Reality tells me that my boys will probably go through stages in which it will seem like they forgot every single thing I taught them. Heaven forbid, but they may even break my heart and turn from God and walk away. I am deciding now, while they are young, that I am willing to wait an entire lifetime for my children. I will never give up on them, no matter how difficult it may be.
My husband was saved as a young boy, but he moved out right after high school graduation. He found some ungodly friends. For the next several years he was away from God, but he had praying parents who would not give up on him. Every Saturday night, his father and his father’s pastor, Larry Brown, and men of his church would pray for my husband in their men’s prayer meeting. Eventually he moved back home, got under the preaching of Pastor Brown, and gave his life to God. Shortly thereafter, he came to Hyles-Anderson College . We met, dated, and married; he began teaching Bible at our Christian school and graduated from Bible college. He now owns a business and is a faithful deacon, Sunday school teacher, and church bus driver.
Never, ever give up on your child! How long are you willing to wait for God to work a miracle in your child’s life?
Whatever the situation is in your life, I ask you, “How long are you willing to wait for the answer?” Don’t give up. Trust God. The longer it takes for your desire to be fulfilled, the sweeter it will be when it happens. Sometimes you will not see any progress; then, out of the blue, you will get what you always prayed for. For example, I remember when I had my first baby. It is such a sweet time but such an exhausting time, as you get no sleep. I put the baby on a schedule, just like the book said, but it didn’t seem to work. The book said that by twelve weeks the baby should sleep through the night. Well, at eight and nine and ten and eleven weeks, I didn’t see any improvement. Then, all the sudden, one morning I woke up, and I had slept for six hours! I couldn’t believe it! I ran to the baby’s crib to be sure he was still breathing! He didn’t sleep for two hours, then three hours, then four hours, etc. It did not happen gradually. But one night he just slept all night! The book was right! It was a miracle! That is the way it happened for all three of my babies.
That is probably about how it will happen for you too. Just when you are about to give up, when you can no longer see that light at the end of the tunnel, everything will change. Just hang in there! Believe in God. He will bring it about in the fullness of time.
