Focus on the Locus

UV 1434/10,000 Focus on the Locus

For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

Isaiah 64 v 4

Waiting on the Lord implies focussing on Him. It means keeping our attention, our minds, our eyes and ears focussed on the Author and Giver of life everlasting. It means trusting in His Name and all that it means for sustenance, growth and progress in our lives. Change is inevitable but growth is God-promised. We should not look at the worldly and envy their prosperity. It would distract us from our purpose. We should wait for what God has prepared in His love and wisdom, a common plan for our salvation but an unique plan for each of our lives. Israel was not contented with the small streams and rivers that God had placed in that land but looked with envy at the mighty Euphrates and Tigris of Assyria. We should be contented with whatever God brings into our laps, our storehouses or our bank accounts. Then the Lord will cause things to happen that are not imaginable, conceivable, perceivable. As we wait for it to happen, we should believe in God’s promises in our hearts and confess with our mouths. Another inner meaning that this uni-verse holds is that our own eyes or ears may not see or hear it but it will happen in God’s time to the amazement of many.

When I read about how Sheryl Sandberg’s husband died recently- a fall on the treadmill as he was exercising and a fatal blow to his head caused instantaneous death and end of a very promising and gifted life, I realized how vulnerable each of us is , how our lives literally hang on a thin string. But as we hang on to the scarlet thread of the faithful faithless woman Rahab, a prostitute and make the confession of the thief on the cross, the Lord Jesus will enable us to scale down a wall and enter the promised land, the land of the ever living, where no one will taste death, where all God’s promises are fulfilled, which eye has not seen nor ear heard of nor has man perceived with his wildest imagination. All her life Rahab lead an unfaithful life, focussed only on scraping a living by selling her body but her one act of faith in the God of Israel based on stories she had heard of the crossing of the Red Sea, she re-focussed on God as the source of her salvation. She cast her fortunes on the side of Israel as shrewd woman that she was knew that it was the winning side. Rahab did not live to see it but she became the forebear of the greatest of Jewish Kings, King David and the Messiah Jesus Himself.

As we focus on the Lord we ought to be patient and wait. The vision or the promise will be fulfilled at God’s appointed time and it will not delay beyond that. In our impatience, we should not try to hasten things or try to make things happen by our natural efforts for that will show our lack of faith. We should be prepared to wait as long as it takes. We should not try to speed up things or we would receive the sign of Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. The word in Isaiah 8 means , “The Lord will hasten the plunder. “ We should not try to help God in our disbelief like Sarah who gave her slave Hagar to Abraham to sire an heir instead of waiting for the Lord’s word to be fulfilled. We should not take the responsibility of making God’s word happen into our own hands. We need to focus on the locus. Our attitude should be one of joy, faithfulness, thanksgiving for mercies and blessings received hitherto and increasing and not fading hope as time goes by. Waiting on the Lord implies not relying on our natural resources, talents, abilities or connections but seeking God’s face, His will and His help in and through His Word, living a life where praise, worship and prayer is co-terminous with breathing.




Prateep V Philip