Are You Weary in Well Doing?

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Are You Weary in Well Doing?

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Are You Weary in Well Doing? #dontquit #theanswersontheway

Galatians 6:9: “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

2016 has been a tough year for my family and for me. But it’s not just us. I could make a long list of people I know who have struggled this year. There have been separations, divorces, and serious illnesses among my friends. And there have been new broken hearts as the children of friends have begun to or continued to act out.

Perhaps the hardest of all have been the struggles of people who have been walking a hard path for a long time. Two friends in particular come to mind. One friend and her family are fighting cancer for the fourth time in five years. Another friend has been faithful to pray for her prodigal for more than 20 years with no change. They’re both discouraged.

Who could blame either of them if they said with the psalmist, “How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?” (Psalm 13:1) How can they hold on when they’ve been praying for months or years, and it seems like God isn’t listening? How can they stand firm and remain faithful when there seems to be no hope?

Miss Rosa is a member of our Sunday School class, and I sat in awe as I listened to the story she shared about her mother yesterday. She told us about a time years ago when our church did not have a pastor. Nor was there an interim pastor. The church’s one deacon was so discouraged he didn’t bother coming to church anymore.

But Miss Rosa’s mother refused to give up on her God or her church. She would put her children in the car each Saturday afternoon and go through the neighborhoods of our small town, stopping at every house that had children. She would invite them to come to Sunday School the next morning.

Some Sundays she couldn’t get into the little white church, so she taught Sunday School in the yard. And on some of those Sundays, the only children there were her own. But Miss Rosa’s mother remained faithful, Saturday after Saturday and Sunday after Sunday, hoping where there seemed to be no hope. People scoffed and told her she was foolish, but that didn’t even slow her down. She just abided faithful.

Miss Rosa challenged us to look around at what God had done because one woman was faithful to pray and believe God even when she wasn’t seeing the answer to her prayers. She didn’t see the results in her lifetime, but she refused to accept that God would not and did not ignore her broken heart and her prayers.

As I looked around our new church building and the more than 200 people who were there on a “low” Sunday, my heart was both encouraged and challenged. What might God do in the lives of my loved ones if I am faithful to pray and believe God? And if I don’t see the answers coming, I can remind myself that answers delayed are not answers denied.

The day will come, discouraged Christian friend, when God will bless your faithfulness. God hasn’t forgotten you. He hears every broken-hearted prayer and sees every tear you’ve cried. And the day will come when you will be able to say with David, “I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.” (Psalm 13:6)

Challenge for Today: What might happen if we, just for today, determined to abide faithful and trust that God hears our prayers?