2 Chronicles 11:4
“Thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren: return every man to his house: for this thing is done of me. And they obeyed the words of the LORD, and returned from going against Jeroboam.”
There is nothing more annoying than calling a business and a receptionist answers and quickly says, “Please hold.” While expecting to be quickly connected to someone, they forget you and your hold time goes from just a few minutes to several minutes. This is annoying because you really don’t want to be held up by being on hold.
Rehoboam must have felt that his life was on hold. After making a tragic mistake of not listening to the right counselors, he decided that he would take back the cities that he lost by force. Before he made this tragic move, God commanded him not to “go up, nor fight against your brethren.” Instead, God wanted him to go back to his house and rule the kingdom he had. God was essentially putting his life on hold.
There will be times when God puts your life on hold. When life is on hold, it can become frustrating because you don’t know what God is trying to do through your life. I find that Rehoboam made some wise moves while his life was on hold that made him and his kingdom stronger. Those moves will also help you when your life is on hold. Let me show you what moves he made that strengthened him.
First, he built his defense. Instead of letting his time on hold become wasted time, he used that time to build the defense of the kingdom. Though your life may be on hold, that does not mean that you can’t build. God always wants to build your life. One of the things you can do while on hold is build your defense against sin. Find out your weaknesses and use your time on hold to overcome them. Maybe God put you on hold because you needed to overcome some weaknesses before He could use you in a greater way.
Second, he fortified his strengths. He realized that he may have been strong in some areas, but there was nothing wrong with making sure his strengths were not being weakened. We can get so busy trying to strengthen our weaknesses that we forget to fortify our strengths. If you stop working on the areas of your life where you are strong, then you will become weak in those areas. Don’t forsake working on your strengths just because you are strong in those areas.
Third, he restored the walk with God. One of the best things you can do when your life is on hold is to spend more time with God and allow Him to teach you through His Word and prayer. If the hold time is simply for you to spend more time walking with God, then that alone is worth being on hold.
You will find at times when God will put your life on hold. Use those holding times to make yourself a better Christian. Don’t let the hold time be wasted, but allow it to grow you into a better person so God can use you in a greater way when life is no longer on hold.