Scripture: Ephesians 6:16
“Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” — (KJV)
One of the most difficult things in the Christian life is living between a promise and its fulfillment.
Most of us do not struggle to trust God after the answer has come. We struggle while we are waiting; we struggle when the prayer has been offered many times and nothing appears to be changing. We struggle when we have obeyed God, yet the road ahead seems just as uncertain as it did before. It is in those moments that faith becomes more than a word we use in church; it becomes a choice.
Abraham is called a father of faith because of his understanding of this truth. God gave him a promise, but the fulfillment did not arrive immediately. Years passed, and Sarah grew older. In fact, everything he could see seemed to argue against what God had said. Yet he continued to believe.
I sometimes wonder what Abraham’s ordinary days looked like. We often read his story from the comfort of the ending, but Abraham lived it one day at a time. He woke up every morning with the same promise and the same unanswered reality. The promise had not changed, but neither had his circumstances. So many believers find themselves here today.
There are prayers you have prayed that are yet to be answered. There are things you genuinely believe God has placed in your heart, yet you cannot see how they will happen. If we are honest, those seasons can be exhausting because waiting tests what we truly believe.
As a result, Paul describes faith as a shield. A shield is not something a soldier admires from a distance. He holds it because he expects an opposition. In the same way, faith is not needed only when everything is going well. Faith becomes most valuable when doubts, fears, and questions begin to fly like arrows.
The enemy often takes advantage of waiting seasons. He whispers that nothing is happening. He points to the delay as evidence that God has forgotten. He encourages us to focus on what we can see while ignoring what God has said. Yet faith has always required something deeper than sight.
Faith acknowledges the difficulty of the situation while continuing to trust the character of God. The truth is that some of God’s greatest work in our lives happens before the answer comes. Waiting has a way of revealing what we are relying on. It exposes our need to control outcomes and teaches us to trust the One who already sees the end from the beginning.
Perhaps that is why the shield of faith is so important. It protects the heart from becoming hardened by disappointment and from being overwhelmed by doubt. It reminds us that God can be trusted, even when His timing is different from ours.
Today, if you find yourself in a season of waiting, do not measure God’s faithfulness by what you can currently see. The same God who made the promise is still watching over it, the same God who began the work is still able to complete it, and while you wait, keep your shield raised.
Prayer
Father, strengthen my faith in the seasons when I do not understand what You are doing. Help me to trust Your character more than my circumstances and Your promises more than my doubts. Teach me to wait well and to keep believing even before the answer comes. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Leave a Reply