Watch And Pray While You Wait

Theme: Watch and pray while you wait for the Lord

Text: 1 Kings 17:8-16; Heb. 9:24-28; Mark 12:38-44

“Who can I trust?” is a question that is often asked by all of us. This is simply because your whole life depends on it. What makes this question even more difficult is that many people are doing all that is possible to win your trust only to serve their own selfish purposes. Politicians and advertising agencies know the importance of wining your trust. Even con artists know that to be able to deceive others they first have to win their trust. Trust is so important that one of the greatest disappointments in life is to discover that you have misplaced your trust and trusted the wrong person. It really hurts but it will hurt a lot more when this misplaced trust has eternal consequences. Who then can we trust? When the Apostle Paul was nearing the end of his life, locked up in prison for preaching the gospel, he knew exactly where he was going and wrote to Timothy saying "I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day." Paul was sure of heaven because he knew whom he had trusted. His faith and confidence was in Christ and in Him alone. He was not trusting in his good works or in his self-righteousness. He trusted the Lord and could therefore watch and pray while he waited.

Who do you trust? You can only trust a person you know, a person you have a relationship with. The most important person to know is the One who created you. He knows all about you and has a plan and purpose for your life. You can only trust a person you know who is also capable of meeting your needs. The only person who is capable of meeting your needs is the all sufficient One, God Himself. If He created the world and everything in it, why would He not be capable of meeting your needs. You can only trust a person you know who is capable and willing to meet your need. Only one person can be trusted and that person is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. How can we refuse to trust the One who created us, knows us, and is capable and willing to meet all our needs.

We can only trust someone you know and you can only know someone by having a relationship with that person. This is because it is impossible to trust someone you do not know. We often say we know and trust Christ when our actions say otherwise. If we trusted Him the evidence would be seen in our obedience. The woman of Zarephath not only had a relationship with the Lord, her obedience proved that she trusted Him. Although she had a need herself she first fed the prophet trusting the Lord to meet her need. Her obedience and trust in God activated His miraculous supply. When we truly trust God we would have no reason to put our trust in anything else, not in idols or possessions, neither in man. Can we truthfully say that our trust is in God? We can simply tell by the time we spend with the Lord as we spend most of our time on what is important to us. Spending time with God deepens our knowledge and increases our trust in Him.

There is always a basis for our trust. You normally put your trust in someone who loves you and has gone to great lengths to meet your need. No one can love you more than Christ and no One has gone to such great lengths to meet your needs as Christ has. He sacrificed His life to pay the price for your forgiveness. The price Jesus Christ paid was all inclusive and the author of Hebrews declares, “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” Perfected and forever speaks of a sacrifice that comprehends every need of the entire human race, and its effects extend throughout time and into eternity. Is that not enough reason to trust God completely? The blood of Christ has not only paid the penalty for sin. It has made us righteous with the righteousness of Christ. We are spirit beings who possess a soul and live in a body. The blood of Christ has cleansed, sanctified and made our spirits perfect for the Holy Spirit to live in. How can we not trust the One who has made us righteous and given us eternal life? The basis of our trust is daily evident in the love and faithfulness of Christ. “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end” (Lam. 3:22). God has done so much for us and can be trusted to fulfil His promises. Scripture declares “He is not a man that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfil?” (Numbers 23:19)