The Weight of Waiting: Digging Deeper Into Victory, Part 7

by | May 7, 2016 | Digging Deeper Into Victory, Experiencing God, Focus, Surrender, Waiting

On our way from Arrowtown, New Zealand, our tour operator took us on a small detour, over a small, narrow rocky mountain pass. I had no idea what our driver would do if we met traffic head on, as the pass was only large enough for one car.

The road itself had been built over a seven year time period. Quite a long time for such a narrow, rocky road! The builders had some challenges to face though, like manually create a couple of passes through hard rock. Interestingly enough it took them three months to build the pass called “Hell’s Gate”, while it only took them one month to build the one called “Heaven’s Gate”!

Seven years they worked on that road that lead to a small village far in the mountains. So far, in fact, that its name eludes me. But they persisted for seven years, and they succeeded. And it was well worth the wait for these poor, isolated villagers!

Our tour operator dropped us off in a location with an outstanding view. He told us he would be back, as he had to turn the car around somehow. With a precipice on one side and hard rock on the other side, we wondered how he would succeed.

After taking several snapshots, we started to wonder if our tour guide would ever come back for us. We had no choice but to wait. It’s amazing how annoying waiting is for most of us, especially if it seems like an eternity! But for those who do wait, the reward is so sweet! Welcome back Landrover!

The weight of waiting is far from over for most of us through, especially when we crave victory over our annoying weakness. Will we ever reach maturity? Will we ever attain real living as promised by Jesus?

If we have such questions, it is of utmost importance that we contemplate the following words from Jesus “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.'” (Matthew 16:24-25 NIV)

What does that have to do with the questions at hand?

Everything!

Did you notice the repetition of the word “life” in that text? In the original Greek text, there is no mention of life at all (or “bios” or “zoe”). The Greek word used here is “psuche” which means “soul”. Let’s read the text over again, with the word soul as indicated in the original text:

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his soul will lose it, but whoever loses his soul for me will find it.”

Wow! In this context, it makes completely sense! As long as we continue to exalt our soul (“psuche”), we will never find what we are looking for! However if we are willing to lead our soul to the cross and starve it with all its egotistic longings and bombastic self-exaltations (“It feels so good!”), we will find what we are looking for!

Jesus’ soul also clamoured to be heard over Jesus’ decisions! “‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,’ he said to them.” (Mark 14:34 NIV)

However He didn’t let it dominate Him. He let God reign over Him: “Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.'” (Matthew 26:39 NIV)

The soul will do anything to survive: mess up our emotions, make us feel sick, fill our thoughts with unwanted obsessions, and make us feel miserable. It will want its voice to be heard and will always offer us tempting alternatives, as long as it can continue to be exalted over anything else!

If we want to participate in the victory promised by Christ to us, we need to let our soul starve to death. There is no other way! “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life (“psuche” in the original) will lose it, while the man who hates his life (‘psuche” or soul) in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:24-25 NIV)

Our soul really stands in the way of victory! It also stands in the way to our salvation!

Too often we hear preachers encouraging us to accept Jesus as our Saviour, without any mention of accepting Him as our Lord as well! No wonder we lead a life of defeat! Our soul never died! We haven’t changed! Instead we have taken a life policy, hoping it will pay out for eternity. Defeat is the norm if we insist on letting our soul have control of our lives!

Only One can conquer our soul. He is the very One who set His soul aside to do God’s ultimate will. He is the One who earnestly died for us with the only purpose of bringing us real living, without any hints of any kind of defeat. He is the only One who can bring us victory! He is the Only One who will fulfill what we long for the most. He is the answer to our ultimate questions! Our wait is over, Jesus is our answer!

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life (In Greek “zoe” or life), and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10 NASB)

“…But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:57 NASB)

Isn’t it time we experience utter victory? Isn’t it time we lead our soul to the cross and let it remain in the ashes where it belongs? Isn’t it time we let Jesus be in control of our lives and experience a real “zoe” life? Let’s go after Jesus and deny our souls. May He be exalted instead! May He lead us instead!

“He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30 HCSB)

It sure is worth waiting for the Lord to shine over us. When we humble ourselves, we can be assured that we will receive grace. The other way around (Exhalting our soul) leads only to constant headaches and disappointments.

The cross was ultimately designed to dethrone our souls from their lofty places and reverse the consequences of sin. Now it remains for us to determine what we will do with our souls and with the One who is called the Christ.

The view is sure awesome over this rocky pass!

Rob Chaffart


(To access the entire “Digging Deeper Into Victory” devotional series, please click here.)

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The Weight of Waiting: Digging Deeper Into Victory, Part 7

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