The Final Stretch

Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
All ye that wait for the Lord.
Psalm 31:24 (Eng. Rev.)

The final stretch of the race. We can see the finish line, it is just ahead. Our energy is long gone, any clear thought has long since vanished--it’s all heart, soul, and the strength of God that keeps us going. The enemy will use whatever he can to come against all of us in the race we have been called to run for our Lord. Any chance he gets, Satan will relentlessly call out his armies of deception, his warriors of destruction and his rumors of defeat. If we are not completely focused and surrendered in our relationship with Jesus Christ, we will fall prey to his tactics. We will not make it to the finish line. We will give up because it hurts too much to continue on. Then, we will miss the inheritance we have been offered because we were not willing to wait patiently, resting in the strength of our Lord to carry us to victory.

We must wait patiently for God to guide us in each step of the race, and to allow His perfect timing to bring it to completion. If we will not, we will be miserable! We will run out into the battlefield, flailing our arms, screaming in terror and losing all sense of direction because nothing seems to make sense anymore! God gave us a mind to think, to reason, to logically work things out so they make perfect sense to us, didn’t He?… or did He? What if God has spoken to our heart but not given our mind all the reasons why? What if we hear God clearly when we are alone with Him, but when we go back out into the world we start to get distracted with our needs, our wants, our time schedule or the plans we made for our future? What then? Do we say, “Forget it?” Do we tell God to go away and leave us alone? Or do we offer Him our heart, fully, completely and without reservation--no matter what the cost of time, energy, money or even the respect from those around us?

In humbling ourselves, we have to say, “I don’t know. I don’t have all the answers, and I don’t have the strength on my own to complete the task I have been given.” We have to surrender all--every ounce of energy, every thought of independence and every idea of how we think it should be. We have to turn our backs on the devil’s lies, and say, “No Thank You” to the temptations that are being offered.

We have to trust in God alone. Not always knowing, not always even caring about what the world wants us to care about, but following Jesus right into the fire if need be, if that’s where we’re called to go. We are refined in the fire, we are joined there by Jesus Himself, and we are saved there, because in that fire we discover who God really is in our lives.

When we are nearing the end of the race, we have to love our God even more than life itself, because when we get near the finish line it gets extremely difficult! Our hearts must be surrendered and we must listen to His voice as He calls us forward.  The way most probably will be rough, the road most probably will be long, but the end will be glorious because we serve a Glorious God!