Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

Wait for the LORD and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it (Psalm 37:34 NIV).

The act of call and response or prayer and petition dictates that the caller factors in a delay time in their process. This delay time is crucial as it is in this time that frustration can ensue and decisions can be made in haste. All throughout their writings the Psalmists encourages their readers to learn the art of waiting.

Psalm 27:14, be strong and courageous in your waiting; Psalm 40:1 wait patiently for the Lord and Psalm 37:34, keep to his way (NRSV) so that he may act.

I refer to waiting as an art because it is during the waiting time that character is developed. Like the artist who develops a beautiful picture with every stroke of the brush, so we are developed as we learn to wait for God to finish painting our portraits. It is during this time that we are sometimes marred.

Consider Sarah, Abraham’s wife and the subsequent strife between Isaac’s and Ishmael’s descendants in Genesis 16. The failure to wait and keep to God’s ways can have massive and serious impact on future generations. The inheritance of the land mentioned by the Psalmist has been sorted by Jesus and moved from the little strip by the Middle East to encompass the whole earth.

The word to live by today is wait. How long we have to wait for is dependant of Him and Him alone. For Joseph is was 20 years, for the African Diaspora is was 400 years, for you ‘?’ however He know what He is doing!

Whilst you are waiting read Psalm 146