Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”
Our Bible verse for today: “We live by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “A delay is often just a prelude to something better.”
Today is Saturday, the day before Easter. On this day Jesus was in the tomb and the disciples were huddled together in a house, afraid and confused. Friday had been a nightmare for them and now Jesus was dead and gone.
What those disciples didn’t realize was that that long day of mourning was simply a prelude to something better, something glorious. This gap between the death of Jesus on Friday and His resurrection on Sunday would turn out to be little more than an incubation period. True, the physical body of Jesus was dead and lying in a borrowed tomb, but God was preparing the body for a miraculous resurrection which was soon to happen.
But the dispirited disciples didn’t know that. They should have known it, but they didn’t. They knew the promises of God. They had been with Jesus. They had seen the miracles. They had heard His words. Even with the unforeseen turn of events they were now experiencing, their faith in God should still have been strong. But it wasn’t.
The phrase “We live by faith, not by sight” was a favorite theme of Paul’s. He used it here in 2 Corinthians 5:7, and again in Romans 1:17, and also in Galatians 3:11, just to name three. In numerous other places in his writings he expressed the same truth indirectly and in different words. Other Biblical writers in both the Old and New Testaments also refer to it. So the lesson is pretty clear – despite how our current circumstances appear, we are to live by faith not by sight.
This period of confusion and uncertainty which we see the disciples living through, between the death of Jesus on Friday and His resurrection on Sunday, is illustrative of what also happens in our lives. Very often we experience the tragic events of a Friday, and then the long Saturday of grief and regret (which may go on for weeks, months, even years). However, Sunday coming. Just like for them, it turns out for us also that the long Saturday of delay is simply an incubation period as the Lord prepares us for what’s coming.
But also just like them, we sometimes don’t realize it’s coming. We should know. The Lord has promised to walk through the dark times with us and to get us through them. But often in the middle of those long Saturdays of delay, between Friday and Sunday, we lose sight of the truth that God isn’t done yet; the final word has yet to be spoken; and the story is not over.
I’m going to preach about this in my Easter sermon at Oak Hill Baptist Church tomorrow. I encourage you to join us for our Easter Celebration Service at 10:00.
In the meantime, if you are currently experiencing a long Saturday of delay between the tragedy of Friday and the glorious deliverance of Sunday, I encourage you to live by faith not by sight.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 