God's Bus Appears Late Yet...

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him! - Isaiah 30:18

If you have been a Christian for any period of time at all you have had to notice this. How could you not? I mean, has it ever occurred to you that God is not in a hurry?

Check it out. In the Old Testament it took 40 years for poor old Moses to receive his commission, his marching order if you will, to lead the people out of Egypt. God gave Moses a job and then the guy waited 40 long years to see it come to pass!

In the very same Old Testament it took 17 years of preparation before Joseph was delivered from slavery and imprisonment. God promised Joseph really good stuff one day and, well, seventeen years later....

It took 20 years before Jacob was released from his father-in-law Laban's control.

The great patriarch of faith Abraham and his wife Sarah were geezers when they finally received the baby, the son of promise, Isaac.

So why isn't God in a hurry?

God called each of these servants to accomplish a certain task for and on behalf His Kingdom. Yet God was in no hurry to bring their mission into fulfillment. So just what is His deal anyway? Let's look at the facts and hopefully gain our Lord's perspective on the issue of timing.

First, our Heavenly Father accomplished what He wanted in them. The journey matter. What they did along the way was the true focal for God.

We are often more focused on outcome than the process that He is accomplishing in our lives each day. The principles of the Kingdom of God; the things that make up its atmosphere and how it operates define outcomes as merely the fruit of the tree. How the tree of our life grows, what it does in each season will determine the outcome. So, one thing we realize is that God's promises are fulfilled in our lives as we live a life that is in harmony with God's eternal principles of right living.

Secondly, fulfillments are not always giant events.

When we experience His presence daily, (by living a life where our spirit, the Holy Spirit and our Heavenly Father are all aligned) one day we wake up and realize that God has done something special in and through our lives! However, the accomplishment is no longer what excites us.

Did you get that? The end result is no longer what drives us on in our Christian walk. Instead, what excites us is knowing Him. Through the arduous task of living life, we become more acquainted with His love, grace, and power in our lives. When this happens, we are no longer focused on the outcome because the outcome is a result of our walk with Him. The trusting...the feeling of His moment by moment presence in our life through all sorts of situations, annoyances and hassles become sweet and precious and we truly become familiar with HIS ways. The goal of our daily walk is simply walking that honors Him and shows loving service to others.

Hence, when Jacob's son of faith and power, Joseph, the one who was sold by his brothers and betrayed by a woman simply to be tossed in prison finally came to power in Egypt, he probably couldn't have cared less. He had come to a place of complete surrender so that he was not anxious about tomorrow or his circumstances. He simply desired, in whatever state of mind or geographic place he found himself to honor and please God.

He had gotten down to the essence of life. Our New Testament host, teacher and pastor the Apostle Paul put it this way, Not that I speak in terms of "needs" for I have learned in whatever state I am in to be content - Philippians 4:11

This is the lesson for us. We must wait for God's timing and embrace wherever we are in the process. It is a good place to be and God can get us to anywhere He desires right from where we are no matter how grim it may seem.

When we find contentment in that place, we begin to experience God in ways we never thought possible. Let's embrace the journey together!

I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~