BE HOPEFUL, BE EXPECTANT!

Thank God we do not always look like what we are going through, and thank God that whatever we are going through will not always remain the same. It will surely pass. Stories change—and by God’s grace, they change for the better.

There is a scripture that I have been meditating on for a while:  “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” Genesis 8:22 KJV

My fascination is with what lies between seedtime and harvest.  There is a period of time that we cannot determine. A lot goes on during that season, and the truth is that we can never see what is happening. We simply have to trust the process, wait patiently and remain hopeful with the expectation of a bountiful harvest.

The seed may be hidden from our eyes, but it is not hidden from God. God is at work beneath the surface. There is that hidden period when it might appear that nothing is happening. Yet, everything is happening.

Please, do not give up.

I thought about Hannah, the wife of Elkanah, who remained childless after years of marriage while being tormented by her rival. Her husband could not help her, and he honestly admitted as much.

“Her husband Elkanah would say to her, ‘Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?'” 1 Samuel 1:8 NIV

But thank God Hannah did not give up. Every year at Shiloh she continued to pray. She kept believing, and eventually her expectations were met. God blessed her with a son, Samuel, Israel’s greatest prophet.

“There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.” Proverbs 23:18 NIV

I also thought about the woman with the issue of blood. The Bible tells us:  “Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.’ Jesus turned and saw her. ‘Take heart, daughter,’ he said, ‘your faith has healed you.’ And the woman was healed at that moment.” Matthew 9:20–22 NIV

Please read that again.

She had lived with that condition for twelve years.  Yet her hope was still alive. She had not given up. When she heard that Jesus was passing by, she sought Him out, believing that one touch would change everything.

And it did.

Her faith was rewarded with complete healing.

Can we also consider Rahab?  She was a prostitute, but she knew her life could not continue that way. I believe she had grown weary of a life that was going nowhere.

Her hope became evident when she chose to hide the Israelite spies. She recognised that the God of Israel was the true God and courageously aligned herself with Him, even at great personal risk. Her faith saved not only her life but also the lives of her family. In time, she married Salmon, became the mother of Boaz, and found herself in the lineage of our Lord Jesus Christ. What an extraordinary story of redemption! She hoped for something better and she risked her life for it.

Her hope was not cut off.

Finally, I want to leave us with another remarkable example of persistence.

A widow went before a judge seeking justice. Widows, like the fatherless, are often vulnerable and can easily become victims of injustice.

Yet this woman did not spend her time lamenting her circumstances. She did not take “No” for an answer. She did not stop believing that justice would eventually come.

Neither was she discouraged by the fact that the judge himself was unjust. She simply kept going.  Again and again. Until finally, he said:

“Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.” Luke 18:4–5 KJV

Dear friend, if God has given you a promise, do not abandon it simply because the harvest has taken longer than you expected.

That harvest is worth the wait.

Biblical hope does not leave us sitting still. It keeps us praying (just as Jesus encouraged us to do in Luke 18:1), trusting, and taking the next faithful step.

Today, it may feel as though seedtime was long ago and harvest is nowhere in sight.

Do not lose heart.

There is much happening beneath the surface that we cannot yet see.

Keep trusting.

Keep praying.

Keep believing.

God’s harvest is always worth waiting for.

BE HOPEFUL. BE EXPECTANT!

OLUYINKA EGO-MARTINS ©