We don’t often see the fruit of our decisions right away. We plant the seed and wait. While we wait we water, tend to it, and wait. While we’re tending to and waiting, we are expectant. I pray these last admonitions and encouragements from Pastor Chuck uplift you!
Driving through the downtown area of any major city, we see skyscrapers rising into the blue skies. Whether they’re tall or wide, cement or steel, one thing they have in common is the deep foundation on which they stand. Before buildings can be built high, strong and sturdy, the construction teams must go down deep and wide. The taller the building, the deeper the foundation needed to keep it steady and secure. The more God wants to use you, the deeper He must go!
Pastor Chuck Smith wrote:
“Do not despise “the day of small things” (Zechariah 4:10). Our own hearts are capable of concocting some grandiose visions of how we can serve God or how He should use us. But in His school, God begins with the alphabet. He patiently lays a foundation in our lives before raising the walls and towers. I have found that it is important to be willing to do no more than plant seeds, even if we will not live to see the harvest.”
Serving Jesus in ministry is a lot like that. God wants first to go deep in our lives. The deep spiritual building work of God takes time. Yet often the days of deep character development are long, hard, and relatively fruitless to the eyes. The impatience within us wants God to work faster. We get restless. We get frustrated. In this ‘get it now’ society, waiting is not highly valued. Then comes the temptation to take things into our hands to ‘get this thing going faster’. We must resist the temptation and wait patiently for the Lord!
Be careful here friend to embrace the thorough work of the Spirit in your life. Even if you never see the full results of God’s deep work in your life, He will use it for His glory, and His Kingdom. “Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”Psalms 127:1
I pray today is one where the Lord uses it greatly in your lives!
