Wait Patiently

F.B. Meyer

It came to pass after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land (1 Kings 17:7).

Week after week, with unfaltering and steadfast spirit, Elijah watched the dwindling brook, often tempted to stagger through unbelief, but refusing to allow his circumstances to come between himself and God.

Unbelief sees God through circumstances, as we sometimes see the sun shorn of its rays through smoky air; but faith puts God between itself and circumstances, and looks at them through Him. And so the dwindling brook became a silver thread; and the silver thread stood presently in poois at the foot of the largest boulders; and the pools shrank. The birds fled; the wild creatures of field and forest came no more to drink; the brook was dry. Only then to his patient and unwavering spirit, "the word of the Lord came saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath."

Most of us would have gotten anxious and worn with planning long before that. We would have ceased our songs as soon as the stream caroled less musically over its rocky bed; and with harps swinging on the willows, we would have paced to and fro upon the withering grass, lost in pensive thought. And probably, long before the brook was dry, we would have devised some plan, and asking God’s blessing on it, would have started off elsewhere.

God often does extricate us, because His mercy endureth forever, but if we had only waited first to see the unfolding of His plans, we would never have found ourselves landed in such an inextricable labyrinth; and we would never have been compelled to retrace our steps with so many tears of shame. Wait, patiently wait.

* * * * *

Does the answer seem to linger
To your earnest prayer?
Turn your praying into praise, and
Get somewhere.
You will never know His fullness
Till you boldly dare
To commit your all to Him and
Get somewhere.