Waiting Teaches Us to Trust God

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
–Proverbs 3:5-6

Our Cherith, our waiting place, teaches us to trust God absolutely. God said to Elijah in 1 Kings 17:4, “You will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.” In other words, God was saying, “Elijah, you will have to depend on Me daily for your food and water. I will send ravens, and they will bring you food every day.” So every day, Elijah had to exercise the truth of King Solomon, who wrote in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

Notice that when God sent Elijah to a waiting place, He didn’t send him to a large river with an unlimited supply of water; instead, He sent him to a small brook in the dusty wilderness. And God didn’t give Elijah a refrigerator full of food; instead, He said, “I will send ravens to bring you food every day.” Ravens are considered to be the court jesters of the bird world. They’re a lot of fun to watch, but they are not the most reliable creatures to depend on for your daily sustenance. God said to Elijah, “I will teach you how to trust Me absolutely.”

Some of you are in a Cherith, a waiting place, right now. Let me give you a word of warning: Don’t be surprised if things get worse before they get better. That’s what happened to Elijah. He was barely surviving day by day, living by faith, when we see what happened in verse 7: “It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.” Suddenly, the one provision God had made for him, for water, suddenly dried up.

Some of you are in that same situation. You are in the waiting place trying to learn the lessons God wants to teach you, and your brook has dried up. Your financial resources have dried up. Your job prospects have dried up. Your relationships have dried up. And you are wondering, “What do I do next?” Our first reaction is to pack up our bags and get out of our Cherith as quickly as possible. We think, “God, if You can’t do a better job of taking care of me, then I’ll just do the best thing I can think of.” But it’s always a mistake to move without God’s leading.

What did Elijah do? We see in verse 8: He didn’t leave Cherith until “the word of the Lord came to him.” He waited there. Sometimes it takes more faith to stay in a place than to leave a place. Sometimes it takes more faith to stay in a marriage, to stay at a job, to stay in a school than it does to leave. Elijah understood that. He waited in his testing place, Cherith, until the word of the Lord came to him.

***

Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Secret #3: Wait on God’s Timing” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2017.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

 

Share This:

To Experience God’s Power

This week, we’re going to discover five principles that Abraham’s servant Eliezer exercised in finding the right mate for Abraham’s son Isaac. These principles can help you, your children, and your grandchildren not only to find a mate but also to know God’s will for any area of life.

To Obey God’s Commands

This week, we’re going to discover five principles that Abraham’s servant Eliezer exercised in finding the right mate for Abraham’s son Isaac. These principles can help you, your children, and your grandchildren not only to find a mate but also to know God’s will for any area of life.
Search

Pathway To Victory
Po Box 223609
Dallas, TX 75222-3609