Our Loudest Preaching

"Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us; Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD is his memorial.  Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment and wait on thy God continually."  (Hosea 12:4-6)

'Wait on thy God continually.'  Those that wait upon God with sincerity will find Him.  God for His part is very faithful.  Jacob who postponed receiving God's blessing was led to tears.  He was met by God at Bethel but did not receive His full blessing.  He got a kind of material blessing.  Genesis 28:10-15.  Jacob was a passive recipient of God's blessing.  We cannot be passive in religion.  We have to be active.  There is a reciprocal action of asking and receiving.  It is possible to get a statement of God's blessing and not receive it.  We must actively claim it.  If God's blessings are given away without one asking for them, one does not value them.  Genesis 32:24-29.  Jacob waited very long to become a real man of faith.  He was receiving God's blessing in a very passive way.  But in the 32nd chapter Jacob was faced with terrible difficulties.  He had no other help but God.  He cast himself entirely on God.  Some people will not cast themselves entirely on God till they are cornered.  But within those twenty years Jacob's children were ruined.  Why should we not find God in the days of our youth?  Hearing the statement of blessing passively is not a real blessing.  There must be active faith involved.  We tend to read the Word of God and all His promises passively.  We do not wait on Him and claim them.  Young people must claim complete victory.  There should not be any vacillation in faith or correct living.  Our loudest preaching is through our life.