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 NKJV).
Many people fail for fear of failure than for the inability to have succeeded. The fear of what may happen at the middle or just before the end has precluded many from ever taking the first step. People are scared of embarking on new ventures or revisiting old and previously abandoned ones because they fear to fail. And yet, the first real step to success is that we overcome the fear of failing. While it is important to count the cost, we should never allow the cost scare life out of us. Many people have failed in the midst of abundance just as many others have recorded resounding success in the face of nothingness. Truly the youths may faint and be weary, and the young men may utterly fall, but they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength (Isaiah 40:30-31). They shall be like mountain Zion which can never be moved (Psalm 125:1) and as a house built upon the rock (Matthew 7:24-27). Two major limitations stare us in the face whenever we are confronted with a new venture. The first is the awareness that no matter how prepared we are, we can never be truly self-sufficient. Deep within our souls lies the undeniable reality that being humans, there are many things that can shake us off our very foundation. The second limitation that often stares us in the face is the fact that the most well-thought out of our plans can be shaken out of place by certain unexpected occurrences. Man, being man, lacks the ability to see all of the future. He is not omniscient and so many things can take him unawares.
These two glaring limitations of man underpins his inevitable need for the Creator. God’s omnipotence covers up for our inability and His omniscience helps us peep into the future with some enhanced degree of perceptive accuracy. But even at that, we are still largely limited in so far as seeing and preparing for the unseen are concerned. The good news however is that the things that the LORD keeps away from our eyes, He prepares to deal with by Himself and on our behalf. Knowing that we have on our side a God who is both omnipotent and omniscient should be sufficient respite for us, and enough to free our hearts from the fear of tomorrow’s failure. That said, God neither joins nor leaves any man at the middle. If He ordered the journey at the beginning, we can be sure to find Him walking to our rescue at mid-sea when our dreams and visions begin to experience the most turbulent of times. (Matthew 14:22-33). In like manner, God can not be coerced into becoming a part of what He did not ordain at the beginning nor will He be waiting to receive us at the end if He never ordered our path. Put in the simplest of terms, if He is not our Alpha, He can not be our Omega (Revelation 22:13), and if He is not the Author, He can not be the Finisher (Hebrews 12:2).
Bringing God in at the beginning of whatever we do and holding on to Him all through the journey is a recipe that is common to all who would make full proof of their faith walk. God will always complete what He started (Philippians 1:6). There is never a shadow of doubt about that. It is nevertheless highly imperative that we know for sure what we are fully persuaded of. In the midst of his sufferings and contradictions, the apostle Paul remarked that he was not ashamed: for he knew whom he had believed, and was persuaded that he was able to keep that which he had committed unto him (2 Timothy 1:12). Paul was never in denial of the present contradictions, but much more real to him than the contradictions which were neither in short supply nor light in magnitude was the apostle’s persuasion of the faithfulness of God. Moments of contradictions should in effect draw us deeper into our persuasions and closer to the God of Covenant, with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning (James 1:17).
Often times, the journey to our mid-sea may be quite smooth and even. At other times, no sooner have we left the shore than a tempestuous storm from the enemy begins to rage. Whether it is at the beginning, at the mid-sea or just before we begin to rake in the harvest, we should never forget that all through our journey, God has sworn to never leave nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5, Psalm 121:4). Not every journey or venture goes in one straight, non-stop process from start to finish. In many instances, there are recognizable stages and rest points on the journey.
Whether our journey is swift or in several slow but steady stages, what is most important is that we arrive safely and in God’s time.
Peter would continue to walk on the water for as long as he maintained his gaze on the Lord and held on to the words of the Master that bade him to come. In like manner, the storms of life will always remain powerless in the face of an unshaken gaze on the Master.
The rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem under Nehemiah, provides sufficient justification that not all projects continue non-stop. Israel, of course, did not arrive in the promise land the same day they left Egypt or without having to camp at several different locations along the journey. Interestingly, it was God Himself who periodically ordered them to either camp and rest or break camp. Like it was with the parable of the ten virgins, sometimes, our ‘bridegroom’ delays and our waiting time is lengthened for no fault of ours (Matthew 25:1-5). While we may be able to hazard a few guesses in some instances as to while our journeys may delay, we should never forget that there a number of idiopathic delays and happenings in life that defile all explanations. At such times, our most plausible explanation becomes our faith in God. As touching the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem by Nehemiah, we are first told that they built the wall up to the half thereof (Nehemiah 4:6-7), before the wall was eventually completed (Nehemiah 6:15-15).
It is great wisdom to perform in stages tasks that we may lack the capacity to take on at one go. It does not in any way show that we are weak. On the contrary, it depicts the exercise of godly wisdom.
God could have asked Joshua and his men to carry out all rounds of marches round the city of Jericho in one day, yet divine order required that they did this in seven days and according to very clear orders. While speed and timeliness remain extremely vital, these are only relative and vary from venture to venture and from person to person. Whether our pace is fast or slow in the eyes of the world, what is most pertinent in the sight of the LORD is that we maintain our gaze on Him and keep our vision uncorrupted.
Being ready and steady is far more important than speed devoid of stability. Often, we want things to go much faster than we have the God-given capacity to sustain. The end result is often that we crash out of that which was originally the will of God for us. Being ready (prepared), steady and stable are vital because there is no vision worth its sort that will not be tested. Whatever we trust the LORD for must be tested by the devil. The enemy may employ tactics ranging from discouragement to subtle and even overt intimidation just so we give up and abandon our goals and project. In the midst of it all, we must stay resolute and dogged, knowing that halfway the entire journey is never good enough. God is not just the author; He is also the finisher.
It is impossible to run our race without encountering men in the molds of Sanballat and Tobiah somewhere along the journey. Rather than get scared or intimidated, the appearance of such figures should remind us that our mission in God is having the desired effect against the enemy. Let us stay encouraged and comforted that He who has begun a good work in us will complete it. If indeed the hands of Zerubabel laid the foundation, we can be sure that his hands also will complete it (Zechariah 4:9). While we await the sounding of our victory Shofars signaling our entering into God’s rest, let us keep hope alive knowing that He is faithful who has called us (1 Thessalonians 5:24)
