Dear Ones:
There is nothing so frustrating as seeing the necessity of climbing a wall, or scaling a mountain, and not being able to do so. And what makes it even more imperative is the demand by circumstances…it is essential, perhaps to life itself. It is those moments, or perhaps days, that two questions must be asked, with the expectation of two answers. First, “Is that you, Lord?” There is nothing so comforting as the knowledge that Christ is IN the boat in the storm, and that He is Lord of the elements of that storm. But secondly, “Lord, what are You going to do?” When Israel was specifically led to the place where from which they would cross the Red Sea, they did not know what God was going to do. With Pharoah’s army behind them, and the daunting defiance of the Red Sea before them, they needed an answer to this second question, “Lord, what are You going to do?”
The root of our problem of frustration at times resides in the reality, and knowledge of our limitations. In our modern society, with its resources of “man’s” ingenuity, we seek to drive back those limitations, whether they be physical, mental, or spiritual. However, if we are honest, the needs that are without in our circumstances, and within our own hearts, demand a response of resources which we do not normally, naturally possess. It is then that we are in dire need to know the answers to these two questions.
The first answer must be clearly articulated and grasped, for the “proclamation” of His presence, enables us to “practice” His presence. Not only does God say to the believer, “…God …is a very present help in time of trouble,” but that, “I am WITH you always.” But let us go further, and grasp the significance of Jesus’ words when He declares concerning the Holy Spirit, “…He dwelleth with you, and shall be IN you.” (Jn.14:17) Not only are we to practice the presence of God, but also, the very proximity of His presence. “Abide in Me, and I IN you.” (Jn. 15:4) Though there may be a lack of communion with Christ for one reason or another, by virtue of this union with Him, there is never a separation from Him. The “I AM THAT I AM” is with us, and IN us, by the Spirit.
The answer to the second question has to do with waiting on God. There are times, when after we have attempted in vain to scale the mountain, or to climb the wall, that we are brought to the point of asking God, “What are YOU going to do,” as opposed to what I have been trying to do. It is then that we are to look to hand of the Master, stand upon our tower to see what He will say, and hear the Beloved Son. God does not need our good ideas. He would have our trust, and that manifested by living in the expectancy of His word to our hearts. We are to trust Him for that “Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” And sometimes, what He says is not what we would have imagined. When the Lord spoke to Ananias to go and find Saul of Tarsus, put his hands on him that he might receive his sight, Ananias did not expect this. Saul had been an enemy of the church, a very dangerous man. But look at what transpired when Ananias obeyed the Lord in this most unanticipated manner. Saul becomes the Apostle Paul. And look at the blessing that Christendom, and the world, has received from Saul receiving his sight because of a man who was open to what the Lord wanted to do, the Lord who was present with him.
So, today, let us grasp that He is with us, in us by His Spirit, and that He delights to do the wonderful thing. Let us sit at His feet and look up to Him, and ask, “Lord, what are You going to do?” “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say on the Lord.” (Ps. 25:13-14)
Love, Dad