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13/09/2020 03:00 - 14/09/2020 02:00

“Hope deferred makes a heart sick but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life” - Proverbs 13:2 (NIV)

There is a saying that delay does not mean denial. When God appeared to Abraham at ninety- nine years and promised him that he would have a child late in life, both he and his wife Sarah doubted. “Abraham’s face fell down; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at ninety?” (Genesis 17: 17).

For Sarah, whose biological clock had long passed, she scoffed. After she too heard of the same, “Sarah laughed to herself, as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?” (Genesis 18: 12).

All this did not please God. “Then the Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh and say, “Will I really have a child, now that I am old? Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son” (Genesis 18:13-14).

And who would have the last laugh! “Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a child to Abraham in his old age, at the very time he had promised” (Gen 21:1-2).

Here in these passages we see two things. First of all, the tendency to weigh things from a human perspective other than a divine appreciation. This couple based on their understanding of human reality had long given up. Yet their failing was to see matters only from a physical angle and not spiritual light.

Secondly, based on their limited understanding, they could not imagine that God could turn around their home situation. For them their case was beyond salvation. The chapter of child bearing had been lost.

But as we see how mistaken they were!

Like Abraham and Sarah, any of us, could be faced with a matter when from a physical look of it, all hope is lost. We are past the sale date. What happened to this couple shows that sometimes things may no longer make sense in a physical sense to us, and we are led to easily give in. Not so says the Lord. When we take such matters to Him, as we should, He breathes a new life to them, and resurrects them to life. As it was written, “But those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31 NLT).

Whatever is your situation the word of God says do not give in. Wait on the Lord. “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day...” (2 Peter 3:8).

Prayer for today: Lord Father God of creation, today I bring to you this long overdue case which from a human angle no longer makes sense, but I know with you all things are possible to they that believe, and you will grant me success, in your time, this I pray in the blessed name of Jesus.

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    “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” ( Isaiah 43:19).

    Just before fire was unleashed down on Sodom and Gommorah, Lot was told to pack up with his wife and two daughters and leave their homestead. Now, once out of danger, “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” ( Gen 19:26). Perhaps here we might pause and ask why she was bothered to look back.

    Of course it could have been that old “curiosity killed a cat” mistake! Yet, it could also have been Lot’s wife was not sure where she was going and longed for her old life back. This is a common error. There was nothing stirring to look back. Just before Lot’s neighbors had attacked his house eager to rape his visitors. “They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them” ( vv 5). Was there anything worth looking back to!

    The case of Lot’s wife could be anyone else’s experience. The Lord has plucked you out of some mess. You have been delivered to a new life. Yet, somehow you decide to look back, as though there was anything good and worth longing for. Sometimes it is a bitter past you have been delivered from. Other than rejoice in your new blessings you keep being drawn back!

    A wise caution goes, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly” ( Proverbs 26:11). If the Lord has just led you out of a certain mess why look back like it was much better! Instead look ahead, for “he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” ( vv 17- 18).

    Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, I thank you for delivering me from the darkness of the past and I look forward to a bright new future in you, this I pray in Jesus’ name!

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