Streams in the Desert – July 26
Waiting For Hope / George Mahtheson "For we through the Spirit by faith wait for the hope of righteousness" (Gal. 5:5, RV).
27 Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God”? 28 Do you not know? Have you not heard?The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
There are times when things look very dark to me--so dark that I have to wait even for hope. It is bad enough to wait in hope. A long-deferred fulfillment carries its own pain, but to wait for hope, to see no glimmer of a prospect and yet refuse to despair; to have nothing but night before the casement and yet to keep the casement open for possible stars; to have a vacant place in my heart and yet to allow that place to be filled by no inferior presence--that is the grandest patience in the universe. It is Job in the tempest; it is Abraham on the road to Moriah; it is Moses in the desert of Midian; it is the Son of man in the Garden of Gethsemane. There is no patience so hard as that which endures, "as seeing him who is invisible"; it is the waiting for hope.
Thou hast made waiting beautiful; Thou has made patience divine. Thou hast taught us that the Father's will may be received just because it is His will. Thou hast revealed to us that a soul may see nothing but sorrow in the cup and yet may refuse to let it go, convinced that the eye of the Father sees further than its own.
Give me this Divine power of Thine, the power of Gethsemane. Give me the power to wait for hope itself, to look out from the casement where there are no stars. Give me the power, when the very joy that was set before me is gone, to stand unconquered amid the night, and say, "To the eye of my Father it is perhaps shining still." I shall reach the climax of strength when I have learned to wait for hope. --George Matheson
Strive to be one of those--so few--who walk the earth with ever-present consciousness--all mornings, middays, star-times--that the unknown which men call Heaven is "close behind the visible scene of things."
Today’s Hymns:
My Peace
Patience Enduring
Scripture to Respond:
Romans 8:24-25 (NIV)
24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Isaiah 30:18 (NIV)
18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
Reflection:
Do you find yourself in such darkness that even hope has to be waited for?
Facing the present adversity, do you bear it helplessly, or take this opportunity to grasp God’s promise, look up to God in faith and strengthen your spirit?
Prayer:
Lord, please make me wait patiently for Your work in this unpleasant circumstance. Let me hold Your promise so that my spirit is filled with peace and hope in the comfort of Your Word.
Wong Wai Tung (Chief executive officer of The Great Wall Education Foundation) & Sam Chow (Administrative officer of The Great Wall Education Foundation) Translated by Esther Leung
