WAIT ON THE LORD

Seabiscuit was a champion horse that raced during the 1930’s.  While watching the 2003 movie about this horses’ career I was impressed with a spiritual application I would like to share with you.  The film begins with four separate stories, which come together to make up the body of the movie.

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Charles S. Howard was an automobile entrepreneur whose only dream was to sell cars and get rich.  He went through difficult trials when his only son died and his wife left him.  When he remarried, his new wife was interested in horses’ so he decided to become a race-horse owner. 

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Tom Smith was a man who lived as a hobo during the depression.  Nevertheless, He loved to train horses.  He did so in his way rather than the conventional method of the day.  He knew how to heal their wounds with natural herbs rather than put them down as some would.  Smith once said, “You don’t throw a whole life away just cause he’s banged up a little.”  Howard noticed Tom Smith’s tender care for his lame horse and decided to hire him as his trainer.  

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Red Pollard was a young man who loved horses.  He was a gifted rider who was a natural and dreamed of being a champion jockey.  He too went through great difficulty.  As a teenager he was separated from his parents during the depression.  Starting his career as a beginning jockey Pollard worked for an owner who mistreated him and overcharged him for living expenses.  He tried to add to his income by boxing.  However Pollard was always getting beat pretty badly, but he would never give up.  One day Tom Smith noticed his courage and resolve and decided to make him his jockey.

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Seabiscuit was a small horse that was mistreated and underwent poor training.  He was actually taught to let another horse win.  This was done to encourage the other horse because the owner thought that that horse had a better chance to win.  Tom Smith saw Seabiscuit at a racetrack one day and concluded he had the competitive spirit in him that would make him a winner if he was trained right.  Smith convinced Howard to purchase the horse, which as a loser, was being sold at a low price.  

SPIRITUAL APPLICATION

I noticed that these three men, and horse, had to develop the right character before they could come together as a winning team.  That got me to thinking about how God develops his children’s character in order to fulfill the plan He has for them.  If we learn to understand this process, we will be more patient in responding to His guidance in our lives.  When we learn to accept an answer to our prayer that may not be what we want and continue to trust in Him, our faith grows and God will move us on to the next lesson.  We must be willing to say and mean what Job said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him...”[1]

When God gives us a dream and we know He has called us to that dream we must always wait on Him.   There is always a process that the Lord takes us through before the dream is realized.  We must not move ahead of Him to see its manifestation.

Joseph is a good example of what I mean.  He dreamed he would be a great leader and his Father and siblings would one day bow down to him.  However, Joseph had to go through several years of preparation by God before the dream was fulfilled.  When he was a slave to Potiphar and when he was in jail—and it seemed the dream would never be fulfilled, he did not lose faith in God.  After Joseph gave a favorable interpretation of Pharaoh's chief butler’s dream (the butler had been put in jail) he asked him, “… remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house.[2]  After a year and a half passed and Joseph heard nothing, it seemed as though the dream would never be fulfilled.  Nevertheless, Joseph continued to serve God faithfully where he was.  And, in His time, God promoted Joseph to prime minister of all Egypt.  

Can we continue to trust God during His preparation time for us?  If we can, we will see the manifestation of His plans for our good[3] in ways we would never expect.  Our faith will grow and we will draw ever closer to our Lord and Savior.  The Bible says:

Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD (Psalms 27:14)!  …But those who wait on the LORD, They shall inherit the earth (Psalms 37:9).  Wait on the LORD, And keep His way, And He shall exalt you to inherit the land…(Psalms 37:34).  And I will wait on the LORD …And I will hope in Him (Isaiah 8:17).  But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:31).

Shall we not wait on the Lord—no matter how difficult the trial?

And that’s my Opinion

                                                                                                                        Larry  Parker                                                                                                                       May, 2015

www.larrynlucky.com

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