Do you ever get weary praying, planting seeds, and waiting for the harvest? Maybe you’re thinking that your efforts, your prayers and your faith have made no difference at all.
I’ve had a number of conversations recently with people who are weary in the waiting. I’ve been there myself, many times. During such times, I learned that if I didn’t open my hands and look up, I’d find myself tangled up in my thoughts and tripped up by a wrong perspective.
Scripture calls us to pray and keep praying, to believe and keep believing, to speak life, and keep speaking life. But eventually we want to see the results of our efforts, right? There’s a little something in all of us that after we’ve exerted a certain amount of effort, we start to believe that God owes us something.
Maybe we don’t dare say that out loud, but if we’re honest, there’s a little card in our back pocket that we pull out when we’ve had enough. We hold it up to God and in so many words say, “But what about all I’ve done? What about all I’ve tried to do? Would it hurt You to come through for me? Can you give me something?”
Even Job got there eventually. He was an amazing, righteous, godly man. But when he was pushed far enough, he pulled out the card. He listed his acts of righteousness. Who can blame him? He was a righteous man. But then the Lord spoke and Job covered his mouth. He declared, “Surely I spoke of things too wonderful for me.”
Here’s the thing. Saving faith in Jesus alone makes us righteous. Every good thing comes from Him. Apart from Him, we don’t have a leg to stand on. Even as we grow in Him, we must find our secure footing on Him alone. How easy it is to shift our weight to our efforts, our recent righteousness, or our consistent faithfulness. But we must not. We live faithfully, because He is faithful in us.
In due time we will reap a harvest of righteousness, a breakthrough to our prayers, and blessings for our obedience, if we do not give up. His promises are true and so those principles are true. But those breakthroughs are determined by God’s wisdom and timing. If we shift our weight onto our efforts and begin to expect something before its time, or feel entitled to something that God hasn’t given us yet, we’ll step onto a rug that the enemy can pull out from under us.
God gave us everything when He gave us His Son. He owes us nothing. He deserves our highest praise and our absolute trust. The faithful soul will put a flag in the ground and declare, “Though I can’t see Him, I know He’s with me. Though the barns are empty, I will praise Him. I know He’ll one day fill them. Though my loved one’s heart seems far away, I trust God will one day draw her near. I’m not moving from this place of faith. God will bring the breakthrough when He’ll get the most glory and when I’m most ready for it.”
May we press on, in His Name!
Susie Larson is the host of Live the Promise and author of over 12 books and many articles including .
Featured Songs: Impossible Things – Chris Tomlin; Edge of Heaven – River Valley; Hills and Valleys – Tauren Wells
Weary of waiting
