He Who Began a Good Work

 

...being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.     Philippians 1:6

It starts with a small thing, really. A little insult. An angry look. A smirk. 

The first offense. 

You smile, you look it over, and you forgive. 

Years later, you are so much older, and you have had to repeat this process a thousand times. So very many times. You have forgiven. Over and over again. Sometimes, you have had to talk to the person who has hurt you. Sometimes, they have repented. Sometimes, they haven't. It doesn't matter anymore to you, though, because an apology means very little. Corrected behavior does. 

Right at that time, the person you thought would never hurt you does. And it is excruciating. What do you do? 

You smile, you look it over, and you forgive. 

70 times 7, right? 

Years pass again. You are older and starting to wonder when you'll see your first gray hair. You have a new set of friends now, and things are different with them. Or so you think. 

Then, it happens again. You are betrayed. You are wounded. 

You retreat. You pray. You cry. You ask God what to do. 

You smile, you forgive, but you don't look it over. 

Years pass again. You are afraid of friendships. You wonder if people even know the meaning of them anymore. They have forgotten the verse, "A friend loves (is loyal) at all times." Proverbs 17:17 You wonder if we are living in the last days and everyone's "love has grown cold." Matthew 24:12

You aren't sure, but you aren't willing to look over things anymore. If someone proves themselves not to be your friend, you believe them. Why pretend? 

Now, you are even older. You are starting to wonder if there really is any gray or maybe you see a gray hair or two. You no longer believe in friendship (at least, the way the Bible says it should be), but you still are trying to show people the love of Jesus.

Again, a little insult, an angry look, or a smirk. It's that age old cycle again. This time, you don't even really feel an offense. You wonder why it keeps happening again and again, but you don't hate the person. You wonder what it is about you that would make them be so hateful, but you try to show them the love of Jesus anyway. 

You smile, you forgive, and you move on. You are past looking things over. You've learned about boundaries and continuing to be yourself despite the meanness of others. You have learned that you didn't want the friendship of the hardhearted bully anyway. Who would want to be friends with them? 

You are fine with yourself. You like yourself. 

And now, it doesn't matter who likes you or not. Then, you realize, "He who began a good work in you" has completed it. That is, He is completing it. You are being sanctified through this process, and even though it didn't feel good, you have come out on the other side an even better person. 

Despite the facade of fakes you have endured your whole life, you have not only won the battle, but you have won the war. 

In His timing...He will do it.

 

In His Timing…He will do it.

Our time is usually not God’s time. I wrote a blog a few years ago entitled “He Will Do It!!!” Exclamation marks and all, I truly and wholeheartedly believed God for something, felt like He told me it was His will, and prayed like nothing else for it to happen. I even felt like He gave me this exact verse for it and told me to write the blog as an exercise of faith. 

It didn’t happen.

Now, it has happened. I feel a bit in a whirl since God fulfilled…in His timing…what I thought He should have fulfilled years ago. I didn’t experience a lack of faith or anything like that. I just figured I hadn’t heard Him right or added something to what He told me that wasn’t there.

We do that, ya know.

But now that I am seeing fulfilment of His promise and this verse, it makes me think of other things I’ve prayed for and been given verses for…things that didn’t materialize in that time. I begin to think of how God is not constrained by our time and perhaps His yes…is really "Yes." Maybe we just haven’t seen it yet.

I think of other verses:

“I will hold fast to the confession of my hope without wavering for He who promised is faithful.”

“Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

“Seek Him and His righteousness and all these things will be given unto you.”

“I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you—to give you a hope and a future.”

“But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds…because you are called an outcast, Zion for whom no one cares.”

“For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come. It will not tarry.”

Some of these verses revealed their manifestation in a short amount of time. Others took longer. Others, I am still waiting on.

But perhaps what I felt in that moment God gave me that verse—His approval of my request and the forthcoming answer—was a "Yes" for a certain time not yet revealed.

Lately, I have been seeing the verse again, “The one who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.” I’ve been seeing it at coffee shops, in a co-worker’s office, on Facebook, and in my church's Sunday School room. Literally everywhere.

If that’s not confirmation of what God told me long ago, I don’t know what is. I think He’s let me see this verse again to let me know one thing: He heard me. It took years for His answer to come, but He was willing then to say yes to that thing.

So, if you have been praying and praying…and feeling like you have God’s approval on it…but not seeing the manifestation yet…don’t lose faith.

See this as your encouragement. Wait upon the Lord. To wait upon the Lord is a good thing. That's another Bible verse. 

And perhaps, in His timing, you will see the fulfillment of that precious promise you received to your prayer. Time means nothing to Him, although to us, the wait can sometimes seem cruel. He has so much for you in the waiting, though. Look for those things. Ask Him. See the others around you and all the opportunities to reach out to others and show love to them.

Ask for what He’s trying to reveal to you, through you, and in you. Let Him use those years to change you—to mold you a little more into His Son.

That’s the real purpose after all—the real promise. To one day look in the face of Jesus and reflect His image perfectly. Oh, what a joy—the day of that answered prayer.