Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Psalm 105 and verse 19. Psalm 105 verse 19, Until the
time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him. Psalm 105 verse 19, and this
is in the context of Joseph. In the Word of God, we have set before us those times
that the Word is a real blessing to the people of God, a real
joy. Other times, that same Word really
tries them, really tests them. And this is what it is speaking
of here with Joseph. The Word of the Lord tried him. When we think of the path of
the fathers that went before Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then
they also knew what it was to have the Word of the Lord trying
them. Lot that Joseph walked and that
many of the people of God will walk is not a unique path at
all. We read in Genesis 12 how the
Lord appeared to Abraham and that he told him that he would
make of him a great nation. Abraham was 75 years of age at
that time. But he had to wait 25 years before
he was given even one son to begin that making of a great
nation. In the midst of that time, the
Word greatly tried him. And in the midst of it, he listened
to Sarah, who advised him to take Hagar, and they had Ishmael. But Ishmael wasn't the promised
seed, and they had to wait for that. Then we have with Isaac
as well, the path that he had to walk, a very trying path at
first, because, again, many years that Rebecca was barren, and
even when she was with child, those twins, they struggled within
her. And she said, if it be so, Why
am I thus? If this is the promised seed,
if this truly is the Lord, why all this commotion? And the Lord
told her of those twins that were in her womb, of two nations,
Jacob and Esau. We think of Jacob and his path,
and especially in relation to Joseph, because Jacob, when Joseph was 17, he
felt that Joseph was dead. The brothers came back, his sons,
and showed him the coat of many colors dipped in blood. He believed
that he was dead. And we read that Joseph, when
he stood before Pharaoh, he was 30 years of age. So he had those years that went
from then, from 17 through to 30, 13 years. And then we had
seven years of the years of plenty And then when Joseph was made
known to his brothers, he said that there were yet five years
in which there would be still famine. So again, 22 years had
passed, and then Jacob, though he felt all these things were
against him, at last was brought to see Joseph and brought into
Egypt. And so we have it with Joseph
from having his dreams at 17 years of age and then having
those 13 years to waiting and waiting. And even then when he
stood before Pharaoh, It was going to be another nine years
before he saw his brothers bow down to him and give him obeisance
as he had seen in the dreams, the dreams of his sheaves that
were his sheaves standing upright and the sheaves of his brothers
standing round and bowing to him and then the stars of heaven,
another dream, bowing down to him. He had that anticipation
that the Lord would do great things in his life. These things
would come to pass. And we read, when Joseph's brothers
came and bowed down, then he remembered the dreams. He remembered what they'd said
concerning them and how they hated him because of those dreams. And so going back over and looking
at the history of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, we see that there
was first given an anticipation through the Word of God, and
then there was a period of time that there was a real trial of
that Word, and the very Word of God was used to try them or
test them troubled them even through that time. And then there
came the appointed time when they were delivered, and that
too was through the word of the Lord. And so that is what is
said before us here, until the time that his word came, the
word of the Lord tried him. And that laid on my spirit is
when the Word tries us. And made me think of this, that
we could say, well, the Word of God is casting us down. Or the Word of God takes away
our hope. But the way it's set before us
here, is that the Word is to try us. Here it is a picture
of an exercised soul, not one in despair, but one that is exercised,
living, has not cast away the first word of anticipation. It's very much with them, that's
why. The Word of the Lord is trying them. So that is what
is set before us here. So on to, look at three points.
Firstly, the anticipation by the word of the Lord. And then secondly, trials by
the word of the Lord. Tried by the word of the Lord.
And then thirdly, deliverance by the word of the Lord. In speaking of Joseph here, this
may be a help to some of you. Joseph's case, Joseph's life
has always been an encouragement to me, and especially that blessing
that was pronounced on him in Genesis chapter 49. Jacob, he blessed each of his
sons, but he had this blessing at the end of his life for Joseph. And the latter part of it, he
says in verse 26 of Genesis 49, the blessings of thy father have
prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost
bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of
Joseph and on the crown of the head of him that was separate
from his brethren. Here's that last part. That was
separate from his brethren. In my own case, when I was 19,
the Lord began to work in my heart. It was my family that
moved away in Providence at that time. And I stayed, lived on
my own for 10 years, attending the church at Melbourne. That
is where the Lord began with me and where I was brought. into
gospel liberty and also into the ministry. But it was a lonely
path. It was also a lonely path because,
and even now, the only one of my siblings that have been called
by grace. So that brings, though we love
each other, it does bring a separation, because we are not one in the
Lord. And even now, of course, they
live in Tasmania, over in Australia and we live over here in the
UK, so separated in that way. But it also applies as well,
we can be in the midst of brethren, we can be in the midst of churches
as we are here, and yet there be those things that make us
lonely or separate from our brethren. Joseph was in the midst of his
brothers, but they did not understand him, They hated him. He was not going amongst friends
there. David, he also knew the same
when Eliab accused him falsely when he came to the battle with
Goliath. And very often the people of
God are found to be as speckled birds, as those that are as a
sparrow upon the housetop, as the Word of God describes them.
And so if that is you this morning, you may be feeling this, that
you're separate from your brethren, whether through affliction, housebound,
whether through distance, you may not have a place of worship
that you can gather and worship with the people of God, and you
feel very much that distance and separation. You'd love to
have it otherwise, In God's providence He has ordered a more lonely
path. Or it may be you are in a church
and you do have many about you, but many can't understand you.
They can't understand your path, your feelings, your exercises,
your burdens, and you must bear those things alone. The heart
knoweth its own bitterness. A stranger doth not intermeddle
with his joys. And that here was the case with
dear Joseph, and as it has been a hell to me often, may it be
a hell to some of you as well, a blessing that was on the head
of Joseph, on the crown of the head of him that was separate
from his brethren. Well, let us then look firstly
at the anticipation by the word of the Lord. It was by the word of the Lord
that Abraham first came out of Ur of the Chaldees, by the word
of the Lord that he told him about the seed that he should
have and the nation that should be built. It began with the word
of the Lord. The whole earth began with the
word of the Lord. The Lord spoke and it was done. We have to remember this, that
even though it may be providential things, they happen by the word
of the Lord. We read further on in this psalm
here, Psalm 105, some of those signs that were wrought in the
land of Egypt and Some of them are marked in the way that they
came to pass. In verse 31, we read, He spake,
and there came diverse sorts of flies and lice in all their
coats. And so it doesn't just say these
things came, but they came because the Lord spake. In verse 34,
he spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillars, and that without
number. And so we have the Lord speaking
and commanding, and then things are happening, things are being
done. It's good in all the three points
that we have this morning to remember that, because sometimes
it is that we do not hear the literal word but we hear the
effect of it. Sometimes the two things go together. We have the case with Jacob when
he was with Laban that two things happened. One was he saw that
Laban's heart was not towards him as before time. And the other
one was that the Lord spake to him and said to return unto his
kindred. And so The two things went together. We know that all things that
happen on the earth are done at the command of the word of
the Lord. He spake and it came to pass. He spake and it was done. And
this especially is the case with that which brings about an anticipation
with the people of God. After Adam fell, Then the first
promise was given of the seed of the woman that should bruise
the serpent's head. And that led to the Church of
God anticipating the blessing that was to come. And we only
have the list in Hebrews to get some indication. Those that lived
and died by faith, they lived on this expectation of the coming
of the Lord. We have a description of them
in verse 13 in Hebrews 11. These all died in faith, not
having received the promises. They anticipated really all their
lives that the promised Messiah, the seed of the woman, should
come. But having seen them afar off, we're persuaded of them
and embrace them. They embraced these promises
of Christ. They had an anticipation, an
expectation, that He that said He would come, He would come. And we know, of course, He did
come, and how He came, and when He came. But for these Old Testament
saints, they lived their lives trusting in the Word of the Lord,
trusting in His promise. And may that be with us as well,
that we see the promises of the Gospel, we see the promises of
eternal life, see the promises through our Lord Jesus Christ,
and we embrace those promises. And may it be that the Lord has
raised up that expectation in your heart, in my heart, through
the promises of God. It may be that he is given also
an expectation and is through the word coming as what the Apostle
Paul saw as he was. That he said that I was alive
without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived
and I died. That which was ordained unto
life he found to be unto death. But it began with the word of
the Lord coming, the law of God brought into his heart, condemning
him, bringing him under conviction, slaying him, and then as a schoolmaster
leading him to Christ and to trust alone in Christ and not
in his own works. bringing about first an expectation,
instead of just doing something, instead of just bringing it to
pass, there is an expectation first. We have that in many things
in our lives. We think of if we were to go
on a holiday, we don't just suddenly up and go, usually there's a
planning for it. as finding a place to go, appointing
a time to go, and making that known. If we've got
a family, if we've got children, part of the joy of going on holiday
is the anticipation, the build-up to it, maybe months or even a
year in advance, that we're going to go away at a certain time
and to a certain place. And that all happens before it
comes to pass. It is the same in the Word of
God. You think of the children of
Israel in Babylon captivity. They were told that they should
go there, told that they should have 70 years there. Then they
would be brought back out all the time. That 70 years there,
they knew that there was that anticipated time that they would
be brought out. And we went back to the children
of Israel in Egypt. The Lord had sent to Abraham
that his seed should be a stranger in a strange land, but that in
their fourth generation that they should come forth to this
place. Those that knew what God had
said, they would have had that anticipation that He would do
those things, that He would bring it to pass. And of course, going
into the land was what had happened with Joseph, was the means of
them being brought into Egypt. Anticipation by the word of God. He which hath begun a good work
in you. The beginning of the thing is
with the Lord. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. And in the beginning, in salvation,
it is God that makes it known. It is God that speaks to His
people. It is God that brings His Word. And the Word that we have should
be the beginning of everything that we hope in, everything that
we expect, everything we look to come to pass. It should be
that the Lord is in the beginning of it. He is the author of it. And a great part of that then
is, anticipation of what the Lord will do, what shall be accomplished. Now, we need to be very careful
in those things. We think of in the book of Daniel,
where there was that anticipation, he was told clearly about the
length of time. We read in verse 1 of chapter
10, in the third year, Osiris, king of Persia, a thing was revealed
unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar, and the thing was
true, but the time appointed was long. In the margin it says,
great. And he understood the thing and
had understanding of the vision. So there was a true thing. but the time appointed. There
was a time appointed and it was a long time. Sometimes those anticipated things
that are spiritual things in the spiritual life of a child
of God, from first conviction of sin, first being to a need
of a saviour, first being to a hope in his mercy or to be
waiting upon him, looking to him, In a spiritual way, those
that are first brought to seek the Lord, there is a time from
the beginning of seeking to when they find Him and when they are
blessed and they're brought as well-deserving sinners with no
hope to then raised up to a hope and then having that hope realized
in the Spirit bearing witness with their spirit that they are
a child of God. And it is vital that we all have
that work, a spiritual work, a saving work in our hearts. It is vital. An expectation in
the Gospel. But then there is those providence
leadings of the Lord. What we should do, where we should
go. If we have a knowledge of the
Lord's overruling hand, then our desire will be that our ways
might be ordered by the Lord. Lord, what wilt thou have me
to do? But again, such care we need. Sometimes we can have an expectation
like Naaman had when the little maid told him he was a leper. the prophet that dwelt in Samaria,
Elisha, that would heal him of his leprosy. And his expectation
first was that, well, he should go to the king, but the king
couldn't heal him. And then when he went to the
prophet, the prophet would say some great things and do some
great things and wonderful things. And when he only just sent his
servant and told him to go and wash seven times in Jordan, then
he was very offended. His servants calmed him down,
he did as he was bade, and he was healed. But his expectation
was very different from the reality. It was a right word, there was
healing there, but not in the way he thought. We find with
the two on the way to Emmaus, they had the same views of our
Lord Jesus Christ. They had seen him taken by the
Jews, crucified and slain, And they said that we trusted it
should have been He that should have redeemed Israel. They could not see, they did
not realize that they had actually witnessed the redemption through
the precious blood of Jesus Christ shed on Calvary's tree. They
needed the Lord to come and interpret that to them and to with His
word reprove them and to show in all the scriptures the things
concerning himself. We think of the Jews walking
in sinfulness, walking against the word of God, seeking to destroy
Peter. They put Peter in jail, in prison. They'd already slain James with
the sword. They expected after Easter to
bring forth Peter and to kill him as well. But the Lord appeared,
heard the answers to the prayers of the Church of God, and we
read, delivered Peter from all the expectation of the Jews. They expected that they would
destroy him, but God delivered him out of their hand. And we can have expectations,
and yet they be sinful ones, or wrong ones. and they can have
ones that will never come to pass. Many have made mistakes. The Lord has told me this and
told me that. And yet when we look at their
lives, we can see that they're walking sinful lives, contrary
lives to the word of God. The Lord would never tell people
things that would make them walk in a wrong way, a God dishonoring
way. And so we must be very careful
to sift out what we receive as from the Word of the Lord, and
especially if we try to shape our lives by it, and that shaping
is in an ungodly and unscriptural way. Often it is good to have
that exercise before the Lord, to try it by the Word of God,
and of course that is what is here. our second point, but to
wait upon the Lord in that matter. But that anticipation is a way. The Lord does deal with his people
in providence and in grace. He gives them an expectation,
gives them an anticipation, and then comes a time of delay, a
time when it looks perhaps that it won't come to pass, it won't
happen at all. And instead of being a time that
is said to be discouraging, it may be discouraging, but in the
Word here, it's a time when the Word tries us. So I want to look at that in
our second point, where the Word of the Lord tries us, trial by
the word of the Lord. Until the time that his word
came, the word of the Lord tried him. I believe that it's not so much
as the word of the Lord tries that original word of promise
of anticipation, But here it says that the word of the Lord
tried him. It was a personal trial. It was something that was testing
his faith, his trust in the Lord, who he was, how he would act
under these things. Now some have said, and I must
say, I've trembled to hear them say it, that a particular exercise
or word that they've said, that if they're wrong in that, they're
wrong in everything. And I thought, well, man, would
you really cast away all of your faith, all of your religion,
all of what the Lord has so done for you and sealed for you and
everything, upon whether this one exercise, one word was right. I'm not saying under the spirit
of the Lord and under real faith that one might feel that and
the certainty of that coming to pass. But I feel there's been
many that have said such things like that and those things have
not come to pass at all. But what is being tried here
is the person their trust in the Lord, their
reliance on the Lord, that He would bring these things to pass
in His time and in His way, and that if we are mistaken, the
Lord will show us, and the Lord would correct us, but that we
would not cast away our faith, we would not cast away our trust,
we would not descend into utter despair, but that we would say,
though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. Or in Peter's way, that
ye must, if need be, be in heaviness through manifold temptations,
or manifold many different trials, and it brings about a heaviness. We read in Hebrews 12 of those
that are Chasten, now no chastening, for the present seemeth to be
joyous but grievous, yet nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable
fruit of righteousness to those that are exercised thereby. Not to those that don't think
about why this has come or what it is doing or whether their
lives should change or whether they should humble themselves
before the Lord is to those that are exercised. These things cause
much searchings of heart, much going to the throne of grace,
much searching the word of God, much waiting on the Lord. It evidences a living soul, not
one that turns back and walks no more with the Lord. But ourselves
are being tried. We are being standing before
the Lord. You think of our Lord's parable
with the sower. What happened to the word? And
this is speaking of the word that gives the anticipation,
and the Lord speaks about that one parable which is a key parable. He said to the disciples when
they didn't know what that parable meant, if you know not this parable,
how will you know any parables? Because it was speaking about
the Word of God and its fruitfulness. And what happened with that Word?
Well, one, on the wayside, the devil took it away straight away
because it was not understood. But the others, especially those
which was on stony ground, stony ground hearer, sprung up quickly,
joyfully received, but then there came persecution because of the
Word, Then there came trials and they became offended and
they went back. You don't read that because of
those trials, because of those troubles, they were exercised,
they were tried by it, they were tested by it and they claved
to the word and they kept going. No, they went back, they walked
no more. And the other, amongst thorns, along came the things
of this world and they completely entangled, smothered, overrun,
that good seed, like those overcome by the things of the world. The
things of the world didn't try them, trouble them, make them to be much tested as
to be drawn back into the world, but crying to the Lord to be
kept and to be preserved from it. No, they just went back. And so the Lord has put the Word
here. Until the time that His Word
came, not the Word of the Lord was tried, but the Word of the
Lord tried Him. Are you a tried soul? Am I a
tried soul? A tested soul? Things are going
on in your heart, in your life. There are really trying everything,
you're looking narrowly at your prayers, your faith, your hope
in Christ, your interest of heaven. All of these things are being
tried and tested. Where am I? What am I? Am I truly
the Lord's? Am I in His path? All of these things, and the
Lord is using the pathway, the life of his people, for their
spiritual good, to keep them alive, and to bring them trite. And another aspect will be the
actual words that are written in the Word of God. You know,
we read in Lamentations, who receiveth Seth, and he cometh
to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not. And if we have an anticipation
of something, Think, if the Lord hasn't commanded this, it will
never come to pass. If he has commanded it, it will
come to pass, but at this present time, it hasn't come to pass. So that very word in Lamentations,
it tries us, we look at it, we go over this word. We think of
the promises that are in some of the Psalms. Psalm 37, delight
thyself also in the Lord, he shall give thee the desires of
thine heart. And you say, but I've got these
desires, these desires of my heart for these things to happen,
these things to come to pass, for these blessings, but I'm
not having these, they're not being granted to me. Do I really
delight in the Lord? Am I really one of his? Is this
why? My desires aren't being granted
and in this way the word is trying us, it is testing us. We might read in Psalm 50 and
verse 15. Call upon me in the day of trouble,
I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me. And you say,
but we've had these days of trouble and I've called upon the Lord
and he hasn't delivered me, he's silent to me. Be not silent unto
me, lest if I be silent unto me, I become like them that go
down into the pit. You think of dear Job and how
low that he was brought. He could not find the Lord, he
looked on one hand and looked on the other, that trial went
on and on. His friends thought, well because
it went on and on, There was something wrong with Job. He
must have brought the chastising hand of God upon him. We know
it wasn't through chastening. It was the Lord working these
trials for good. The book of Job, if ever there's
a book where it shows of one being tried by the word of the
Lord, first it was through that which was being brought even
by his friends as they first came to comfort him, but afterwards
Like in chapter 5, where Lifas, he speaks to him and says, he
maketh sore, bindeth up, he woundeth, his hands make whole, he shall
deliver thee in six troubles, yea, in seven there shall no
evil touch thee. And he's speaking things that
are all truth and all right, but in Job's position, They are
really trying words. You think of how many words his
friends spoke that were true, the right words, but in Job's
trials and difficulties, they were like arrows and piercing. Do you have that? Do you read
the Word of God? You come across words, come across
passages, and they're like arrows, like piercing things that really
try, and the devil says that if you were a child of God, that
wouldn't happen, or that would happen, that would come to pass,
but it's not, therefore you're not a child of God. And these
things cause great exercise. You're being tried and tested
by these things. The Psalms especially speak of
many of the exercises of the soul in this way. We think of Psalm 91. We are
told, I will save the Lord. He is my refuge, my fortress,
my God in whom will I trust. In him will I trust. Surely he
shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, from the noise
and pestilence. And there's many promises there.
But when we think, Well, the Lord hasn't delivered me. I've
gone into this trial, I've gone into this trouble, I've gone
into this affliction. And that can be a real trial
to the people of God. Psalm 73, when the psalmist Asaph,
and he sees the prosperity of the wicked. The psalm begins,
truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean
heart, but As for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had
well nigh slipped, was envious at the foolish." And he was seeing
their prosperity, the weaker to prospering. God's people are
not. He says, they set their mouth
on high, but he said, therefore his people return. Hither, waters
of a full cup are wrung out to them. They're exercised, they're
burdened, they're tried by this. They say, verily I have cleansed
my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency. He said,
these are the ungodly who prosper in the world, they increase in
riches. Verse 16, when I thought to know
this, it was too painful for me. Are there things like that
with us? It's so painful for us to think
on or to read on. It says here, though, until I
went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end. Sometimes we cannot understand. We're not seeing as God sees. We're not understanding as God
understands. Jacob, he's saying all these
things are against me. But we who know the whole picture
and the whole story know they weren't against you, Jacob. Joseph
is alive. He's gone before God has sent
him before. And Joseph here, Joseph would
have said, these dreams that I've had, this expectation, how
has it happened? My brothers have dealt with me
in this way. They've sold me as a slave. I've then been falsely accused. I've been put into prison. I
have interpreted the dreams of the butler and baker. And I so
desired the butler to remember me, to speak to me, to Pharaoh
to bring me out, but nothing has happened. And I've been in
this prison these two years, even more after that time, and
everything would have seemed so dark. How was it going to
end? How was it going to be changed? That first word, the first expectations
through the dreams, those things, the word of the Lord tried him,
the word first given, the word of the Lord that he knew, really
testing everything that he understood and knew of God or trusted in
God. Painful things. The Lord tries his people, tests
his people. You know, if we were to have
something that we said, well, we're told this is gold, and
you thought, is that really gold, or is it perhaps an imitation? They said, well, test, you could
do. Was it magnetic? Or perhaps it is plastic, so
you put it in the fire, and it doesn't burn up, it doesn't not
destroy it. You think maybe it is gold. And
the trial of God's people is spoken of as being, as the trial
and testing of gold and of silver. Not with the intention of destroying
it, but really of the intention so the people of God, this side
of the grave, they know it is God's work, it is His work, and
it does stand the fire, it does stand the test, It doesn't say,
well, I've got to understand everything, and everything the
Lord does, I've got to understand it before I believe Him, before
I trust in Him. Because the faith of God's dear
people, it stands in the Lord, in His wisdom, not in our own.
In many, many things in our lives we cannot understand, cannot
fathom. But the Lord will do what is
His will and right for His people. The trial of the Word. Is that
where you are now? Now you think of it in this.
This is what you're going through is trying you. God is using you
to try you, to test you. And so don't forsake Him. Don't think that, because you
can't understand the way the Lord doesn't view it, not as
to cast you down, not as to discourage you and to take you away, but
as one of those tests and trials that the Lord, like He's done
with His saints before, has appointed for you, appointed for me. and yours is different than mine,
and different than others of the Lord's people, but he's working
the same way. But there is a time that the
Lord's word will come, a time of deliverance, and I want to
speak of that last. Deliverance by the word of the
Lord. Remember we said at the beginning
that It may be purely by the word of the Lord and certainly
I remember that when I was brought out of seven years of bondage
with the exercise of the ministry, it was through the word of the
Lord. The Lord brought me into personal
spiritual liberty and in liberty regarding the ministry in a moment
and it was through His word. Nothing changing in Providence,
but everything did change in Providence once the Lord blessed
the Word and set me free. And there's been many times in
my life as well that there's been this waiting time, appointed
time, that has come. Sometimes it has been the Lord
giving the Word that people then have acted, things have happened
in Providence, things completely. Out of my own control, but the
Lord has given the word, and then the thing is done. And that
was a deliverance here. How quickly that must have appeared
for dear Joseph. Going about his work there in
the prison, and then suddenly the command comes from Pharaoh. to have him washed and shaved
and dressed and brought before him. And all his life changes
in the moment. The thing was done suddenly. And I'd say, well, that was Pharaoh.
No, it was the word of the Lord that ordered providence, that
brought the butler to remember, that brought Pharaoh's dreams
to him, and brought then Joseph to interpret those dreams. Deliverance by the Word of the
Lord. May we hold fast to this. Until the time that His Word
came, the Word of the Lord tried Him. Try right up to the time
that the Word of the Lord came, brought to pass His Word, spoke
deliverance. Same with the children of Israel
coming out of Egypt. You think of those nine and none of them released them
from Egyptian bondage. But then the Passover, and a
beautiful type really, of the incarnate Word in the shed blood,
and they were thrust down that same night. The thing was done
again, very suddenly. Same with the children of Israel
out of Babylon, or any foretold that Cyrus should make the decree
and that they should come forth. It just waits upon the Lord to
say so. Now is the time. Deliverance
now. Appear now. Move this person. Move that person. Bring this
about. This is what we wait upon for
the Lord's doing. To be able to look upon it and
say this is the Lord's doing. is marvellous in our eyes. James in his epistle speaks of
the endurance or patience of Job and the end of the Lord. And this is the time that the
Lord has said. He said a time when his word
gives the anticipation. He said a time when his word
is a word of trial and testing for us. And then He set a time
for deliverance, a setting on high, the appearance of the Lord's
Word to bring about His will and His purposes. And I believe
we will always be able to look back and see the Lord's way has
been the right way, the best way, that His will has been done. The Lord says, Your time is always ready, but
my time is not yet. We often are very impatient,
but the Lord will have us to be patient and steady and wait
on Him still. And may this word then be a help
to you, a help to me, in seeing especially that that time of
waiting is not wasted time, is a needful time. That's why Peter
says, if need be, now through heaviness, through manifold temptations
or manifold trials, may we hold fast to a path that already tried, already proved. And I believe some of us in our
lives, if we're honest with ourselves, we've already walked in several
other different situations than maybe we're in now. Until the
time that His Word came, the Word of the Lord tried Him, but
His Word did come. And we see the end of the matter.
And may the Lord be pleased to appear for us, for you, and we
see also the end of the matter, the end of the Lord, to His honour
and glory. We be coming forth out of these
trials as a vessel for the finer, to the Lord's honour and glory,
not destroyed, but still trusting and looking upon the Lord, confirmed
as His dear people. The righteous are tried, are
tested by the Lord, and He will choose how that is brought about. Until the time that His word
came, the word of the Lord tried Him. The Lord at His blessing. Amen.