Title: Wait for God's Time
2 Kings (22) Wait for God's Time
(2 Kings 9:1-13)
< Wait for God's time >
When God conquered Jericho, He told them to go around Jericho and be silent. Because there are many times when faith is weakened and destroyed because of words. If you keep walking around Jericho, you may end up with these kinds of resentment and complaints. “Why are you doing this useless march?” When such words come out of their mouths, they fall first before Jericho collapses. Israel's 40 years in the wilderness was a series of lives that were destroyed by horses. Because resentment and complaints block blessings and inflict God's wrath, you must learn to open your ears and keep your mouth shut to hear the word in front of problems.
Tozer, the greatest Christian writer of the 20th century, said: “The most important thing in the godliness training of saints is the silence training.” If you talk too much without silence according to your thoughts, wills, and ways, you will not be able to hear the still small voice of God. Therefore, when you want to speak, be patient one more time, pray and wait, and try to listen to God's voice. Then there will always come a time when you will say, “You were very patient at that time!”
The reason that the faithful saints do not solve their problems no matter how much they pray is not because God's power is not available, but because God's time has not come. In times like these, don't be impatient, pray with ample faith and wait, the time for solving problems will surely come. Galatians 6:9 says this: “Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Ultimately, faith is patience and waiting for God's time.
Many people today are always impatient. Prayers also want to be answered immediately. But God does not work in haste. Even when they answer our prayers, they sometimes make us wait for a long time. Because there is the best time that God has set. When the time comes, the grace of vertical ascension will be given, and the dreams and visions that you have held will come true. The text depicts the story of Jehu, who was usually angered by the Ahab's wrong rule, waited patiently until God's time, and was finally anointed as king.
< Come in God's time >
One day, while Joram, the ninth king of northern Israel, was wounded in the war with the Syrians and retreated to Jezreel to receive treatment, the prophet Elisha called a disciple and went to Jehu, who was guarding Ramoth in Gilead, and anointed Jehu as king. They were told to run away (verses 1-3). Upon receiving the command, the young prophet immediately went to Ramoth Gilead, summoned Jehu by himself, proclaimed the curse that would come upon the house of Ahab, and anointed Jehu as king, and immediately opened the door and ran away (verses 4-10).
So when Jehu came out after being anointed, a general asked: “Are you at peace? Why is that madman here?” At that time, the generals saw the strange behavior of the young prophet and expressed it as 'that madman', but he appeared with an oil bottle, met Jehu alone, and suddenly disappeared. is. Then Jehu said, “Why are you doing this when you know everything?” The crowd said, “I don’t know. Please tell me!” He said frankly that God had anointed Him to be king (verse 12).
When the crowds heard this, each of them quickly took their clothes and laid them on the rock, under Jehu, and blew trumpets, saying, “Jehu is a king” (verse 13). If you look at this scene, you can see that the generals who were with Jehu at the time were eager to have Jehu as king and waited for that for a long time. He had such a heart as Jehu, and his fellow generals had it, but he waited for God's time without showing any signs of it, and when the young prophet, who received Elisha's command, poured oil on his head, he thought it was time and started the revolution.
If you want to do things beautifully, you don't have to go out at any time and don't get up at any time. We must stand up in God's time and rise in God's time. You have to be able to wait until then. The training of waiting is more important than any training. The secret to happiness lies in knowing how to wait. In the end, the secret to happiness is to live slowly while sweating profusely with a clear consciousness. If you know how to wait, your quality of life will increase and the level of fruit will increase. If you want to get something of real value, you have to wait, and if you wait, you get something of real value.
When waiting, two things must be present. One is 'to trust people'. You have to trust and wait for people to overcome problems and stand up. Another is ‘believing in God’. You have to be silent before God, wait patiently, and let God use you to your heart's content. In the end, faith is believing in God and waiting for God, and never giving up on goodness under any circumstances. The number one reason many people fail is because they give up too quickly.
There is no failure in the final sense of the saints. Only giving up halfway is a failure. The reason there is no fruit even if you pray is because you give up on prayer after praying for a while. There are almost invariably moments of waiting when we look at the great characters of the Bible. If you do your best and wait with faith and generosity, the most suitable time for God will surely come. Wait until then and finally experience the grace of vertical ascent.