PRÉCIS ON WHY WE CAN WAIT WITH JOY: HE. IS. FAITHFUL!

SCRIPTURE. “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, endure forever—forsake not the works of Your own hands.” –  PSALM 138:8, AMPC

KEY TERM: “PERFECT.” ‘Gamar’ [גָּמַר]: “From a primitive root meaning, ‘To end’ (in the sense of completion); to cease failing, as in  to perform [or accomplish a promised matter]; the Psalmist here prays for an end to wickedness as the godly person falters, fails or is overcome; God in return Promises to deploy all of Heaven’s Might and Majesty on behalf of ‘that which concerns him’ [disturbs or makes him uneasy].”

QUOTATION. “As we Grow our Faith, we [must often] wait in Silence. As we listen for ‘His Voice,’ we have Hope that He will speak. It may not be a loud boom or thunder, but a soft whisper. He may use a song, a butterfly, a sermon, a stranger, or even a red cardinal, but there is hope that God will come through for us.” ― DANA ARCURI, Sacred Wandering: Growing Your Faith In The Dark, 2019; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me’ – He will complete what He has begun. He will not begin to interpose in my behalf, and then abandon me. He will not promise to save me, and then fail to fulfill His Promise. He will not encourage me, and then cast me off. So of us. ‘He will complete what He begins.’ He will not convert a soul, and then leave it to perish. Grace will complete what Grace begins [so long as our hearts are right!]. ‘Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever.’

‘Forsake not the works of Thine own hands’ – What Thou hast made; what Thou hast begun to do. Do not leave me to perish. Prayer is one of the means – and an essential means – by which the saints are to be kept unto salvation. ‘The Doctrine of the Perseverance of the saints’ is not inconsistent with Prayer, but rather prompts to it; and he who professes to rely on that Doctrine and feels so safe that he does not need to pray, and does not pray, gives certain evidence that he has never been [fully] converted, and has no true Religion.” – JOSEPH BENSON, Notes on the Holy Bible, 5 vols., 1811-1818; edited

DK’S TAKE. One: The Lord is flawless, perfectly and powerfully Faithful forever to bring to pass that which He has personally promised us, thereby giving us rest to replace worry and vexation. Two: He shall do so, however, only on behalf of those who – wait for it – ‘Persevere!’ [cf. Matthew 24:13]. He shall accomplish nothing for those who waste their gifts and their time and their efforts on sloth or foolish presumption that He shall do it all].

In Sum: We also must do our smaller part, beloved, and He shall accomplish the much larger portion. That’s the way it works.