Waiting For Peace

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 “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.

Isaiah 28:16, NIV

One genuine experience of the sweetness of God’s forgiveness and peace, though it should come at the hour of death, would be worth a lifetime of patient waiting.

~John Owens

Isaiah 28:16 in the KJV reads, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a triedstone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Haste is a word we don’t use very often these days: we are prone to say ‘hurry up’. The setting of the scripture makes it come alive. Judah was being threatened by Assyria and they were in a panic. They were scurrying around like rats on a sinking ship in an effort to make alliance with Egypt, a type of the world and someone God told them not to trust. Judah’s leaders were making decisions out of fear, rather than faith. They were looking for security in the wrong place. Instead of trusting God, they were relying on themselves and their fear had made them frantic and frantic leads to panic. The NIV nailed it, ‘those whose faith is in the corner stone do not panic’. The CSB translated that last phrase, ‘those who believe will be unshakable‘. The NASB and LSB translate it ‘those who believe will not be disturbed’. The NLT reads, ‘those who believe need never be shaken.’ Our eternal security is in Christ the Cornerstone.

Hurrying ahead of God is evidence of impatience and rashness. But the person who has discovered God’s faithfulness to keep a promise is freed from this anxious impatience. He is willing to wait until God chooses to give him the promise which could be the peace and assurance he longs for. Suppose you are facing a crisis of faith and it has disturbed your peace. You feel very anxious about this problem. You do not want to think about it or worry about it, but you find it difficult to get it off your mind. You long for Christ to stand on the bow of your heart and speak peace to this turbulent storm. You want that peace that passes all understanding but you don’t feel it and you continue to worry. God does not fulfill every promise in an instant; unfortunately for people like me, waiting is a part of the process. We want patience and we want it now; but God does not yield to our wants. As He said to Isaiah is 60:22, “At the right time, I, the LORD will make it happen.”

The believer does not have to wait for God to become willing to forgive or show mercy, but he may have to wait for his own heart to enjoy the assurance of that forgiveness. God’s promise is already trustworthy, even when our emotions have not caught up with the promise. Faith must rests upon God’s character before it can rejoice in God’s comfort. Our impatience reveals our desire to control God’s timetable but faith can rest in a promise before the promise is fulfilled. The more we get to know God and His character, the more confidence we will have to wait on Him.

  • The knee has me awake in the middle of the night so I thought I would go ahead and blog. Got a shot in it yesterday but if it doesn’t work, we are talking about a knee replacement in February. Some times it takes a couple of days for the shot to take effect. I was late posting yesterday due to the knee but this one shouldn’t be late.
  • We are considering changing our…49er Christmas Party to December 11. Same time, 11:30 and same menu. Christmas finger foods. Bring your favorite Christmas candy or cookie. If this creates a problem for anyone, I need to know ASAP.
  • I hope you have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.
  • I posted the Veteran’s picture after I posted the blog so I will leave it up for those who read the blog before I added to it.

GRACE POINT VETERANS

Left to Right: Jamie Hodge, Mike Childers, Perry Smith, Colonel Steve Smith, James M. Russel, Jim Mullins and Don R. Widner. {Jim is a veteran of the Korean and Viet Nam war. He is 97 and lives in Huntsville. He drives to church every Sunday {does not miss}. He buys all the coffee products and makes the coffee each Sunday morning. Three or four are Viet Nam vets: Perry, Jim and Mike for sure and I can’t hear that good but I think Jamies was there too. Perry was a helicopter pilot who was shot down once and sustained gun shot wounds twice. Three of them are career vets [all army]: Steve Smith [paratrooper], Perry Smith, and Jim Mullins. Jim inlisted in 1948, the year that June was born.

I can’t believe I am saying this after his wise crack about my football officiating but Don had a very interesting testimony; one that everyone needs to hear. If I understood correctly, he was in a riffle unit that was sent to DC during the riots and protest of the Viet Nam war. The only fire he was under was from out own people. Personally, I have no clout and very little influence but I will say again what I have said before: our country does not do right by the military veterans and never has. We did not do General Washington right, nor his troops and nothing has changed. June’s dad came home with shrapnel in his legs and could barely walk at age 50, he drew a measely 30% while those who ran the veterans administration in Limestone County faired sumptiously. Viet Nam vets were treated like villains. The real villains were in Washington.

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