By Josmat Jerry
Quite a couple of times, we engage and strive hard in one activity or the other so as to arrive at a positive end. We might have set for ourselves some attainable goals with lay down principles, and strategies that will guide us in the path that leads to our golden destination. Even when we engage in prayers wanting something from God, we perform it with a focused heart and pray fervently to God to grant us our heart desires. But, it is somehow unfortunate and also fortunate for us unknowingly that the time we had foreseen such thing to come to pass is far different from the time God wants it to happen i.e. God’s time is very much different from ours.
There are times when we have struggled to reach a certain destination and it comes to a point whereby we are tired of trying and keeping up the pace. This is as a result of a weary heart because, to us, it seem as if our hopes are all sinking, and we will think thereafter that nothing good will come to pass and that what we are asking for will not be fulfilled. As at such moment, we are running out of time, we are running late and we are on the point of the eleventh hour.
The eleventh hour is the time God operates most. When you think there is no way out, when you view it all as if your world is crumbling and is about come to an end, when you think no one is going to save you out of this mess. When you suppose death is the only option, when you are almost giving it all up despite all your hopes, when your faith is completely running out. When you think the world is no longer a safe place or a location for you to dwell in, when you feel your secrets are wide open to the whole world, that’s when God comes in and pave a mysterious and dramatic way for you.
The eleventh hour is that moment the examiner announces its five minutes left to submission, when you feel the possibility is unlikely and you are facing evacuation. Scraping through all these may appear impossible to men but very much possible before God. The heart fails because we attach time to every activity and measure its success by it. Time is a measure for man and not for God. If only you can still hold on to the string of faith, trust God unwaveringly and will not be distracted by your fears and state, God will surely show up. He is best at responding at the eleventh hour (the last minute). God can respond a minute to go and even after the time has elapsed because He is not guided nor restricted by time.
Waiting and keeping our tabs till the eleventh hour requires a whole lot of patience and determined faith. Few number of people always wait till the eleventh hour, and these least figures are hearts equipped with endurance and long suffering. Will you have blamed people who got worn out during their quest to the object of their heart desires? The fact that the rate at which we can withstand hard time differs from one entity to another, we have folks who’s heart are filled with shaky faith and doubts, who at the middle way gave up all hopes and eventually lose it all. Also, we have some category who does not even give anything a try wanting life riches and affluence without paying any price.
This hour (eleventh hour) is a moment of complete turnaround, a time which marches in with a whole breakthrough. A period of accomplishment and reward for long waiting and not giving up. It is a time meant for individuals who are warriors, whose heart never die down. It always come in with a bountiful of precious stock and accumulated wealth of infinite years. Surprises abound at the eleventh hour. Sincerely, victory is sweet when it comes after all hopes are lost. You may have laboured all through the hours, the visitation of the Almighty overwhelms the labour of so many days.
According to Mahatma Gandhi, “God is the hardest taskmaster I have known on this earth, and He tries you through and through. And when you find that your faith is failing or your body is failing you, and you are sinking, He comes to your assistance someway or other and proves to you that you must not lose your faith and that He is always at your beck and call, but on His terms, not on your terms. So I have found I cannot really recall a single instance when, at the eleventh hour, he has forsaken me.”
For any treasurable and last longing thing, there’s always a demand price to pay, the price varies from one individual to another, you don’t just get things on a platter of gold, you have to sacrifice and go through some endurable fire. The price we pay for such will always worth it. When we ourselves withhold the gains at the end line, we will say to ourselves, “Yes! This is worth its sacrifice.” We will see ourselves as a true warrior who through all hard times and trying moments resist giving up and keeps on pushing on until the finish line.
