Tortoise & Hare
“Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
You know, the best guide that anyone can have is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Children of Israel were led in the wilderness, for forty years, by a pillar of fire at night and a cloud during the day. They followed the cloud and they followed the pillar of fire. Psalm 23, we all know it off by heart but how many of us read it?
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.”
There are too many of us rushing to and fro on this journey and you know when you are rushing it is a dangerous time because we make poor decisions when we are tired.
“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
Only listen to God because people so often will lead you down a cul-de-sac. I can hear some young child saying: “What is a cul de sac Uncle Angus?” According to the Oxford Dictionary, it is a passage or a street that is closed on one end - so when you get to the end of it, what do you have to do? You have to turn around and go all the way back to the main road and start again.
We have got to start to exercise patience. Many years ago there was a wonderful old lady, a saint, who worked here at Shalom with us. When she was 70 years old, on her birthday, she stood up in front of her whole family - I was there. She said, “I am now going full-time for Jesus. I am going to join Angus, we are going to Shalom Ministries.” and she worked here until she died, well into her eighties. She used to send me little poems and these poems were written as follows:
“The story of the Tortoise and the Hare”, she called herself 'Tortoise O’Neal' - Her name was Peggy O’Neal and I was called: 'Angus Hare'.
I was the one who was running to and fro and often she would say I had been running up this hill but she was standing at the top of the hill, with an ice-cold Coke, waiting for me.
She was always there before me. Why? Because she didn’t go down any cul de sacs. Why - Because Jesus Christ was her direction. If we go back to John, Chapter 14 and verse 5-6, this is what Thomas says:
“Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”
And then that famous verse, one of my favourites in the Bible, verse 6:
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Today, don’t be like that hare that is running back and forwards and all over the place. Settle down and look to the Lord and He will lead you home.
Have a wonderful day.