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
I don't think it dawned on me until I had read the same stories like 10 times. It might have even been more than that. All I do know was that I didn't remember the preacher's in my life pointing it out and it had not dawned on me.
Have you ever noticed that God is not in a hurry?
It took 40 years for Moses to receive his specific orders from God the Father to lead the people out of Egypt. Again, in the Old Testament, it took 17 years of preparation before Joseph was delivered from slavery and imprisonment. I still think that it's funny that we call that preparation; as if it is some requirement that we go through some hideous experience and it was the same as Spring Training is for the Cubs! Praise His name that God is more effective in His choice of preparation for us than the Cubs are for their Spring Training! (Sorry, I needed that rant) It took 20 years before the Old Testament patriarch Jacob was released from his father-in-law Laban's control. And, Abraham and Sarah were in their old age when they finally received the son of promise, Isaac.
So why isn't God in a hurry?
God called each of these servants to accomplish a certain task in as that person or persons particular calling. The work of it was, in God's thinking, Kingdom of God activity. You would think if anything demanded urgency it would be something that God is requiring you to do. I mean, in each of these cases, the stories I mention above, each one affected the outcomes of the history of the entire world! Yet our Heavenly Father was in no hurry to bring their mission into fulfillment. At least as we count time, it didn't seem to be hurried.
Well let me point out some things that have struck me about each of these stories and perhaps your story as well.
First, our God accomplished what He wanted in each of them and not just because of them. And, actually, I think this is really the only point I want to make here. We are often more focused on "the goal" or the end result than we are in understanding the process that He is accomplishing in our lives each day. What God does on the road of life you and I travel is often the real story. When we experience our God's presence daily, one day we wake up and realize that God has done something special in and through our lives. It is very much like my realizing that repetitive reading has put God's word in me to recognize truths that were never evident when I had only read them once, twice or more. In this case we get to a point where the accomplishment of the task is no longer what excites us. Instead, what excites us is knowing Him. As we travel the road that is our journey in our faith, we become more acquainted with our God's love, grace, mercy, methods of guidance, His glory, what gives Him satisfaction and His 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. Our life becomes a play for our Lord's very creative mind. It's more like, "Okay Father, what will you do next?" God's great accomplishment is not the goal of our life journey, but the by-product. Hence, when Joseph 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.
This is a massive lesson for you and I. What is that lesson? We must wait for God's timing and embrace wherever we are in the process. If you do not have an insight into what you are doing in your life, ask your Father. He wants you to know! Just realize that if you are feeling anxious it might not be the tugging of the Holy Spirit on you to hurry up; rather, it might just be the enemy trying to get you to ignore the real lessons that cause God to transfer His character into you! When we find contentment in our life, where we are at, the now and now place, we begin to experience God in ways we never thought possible.
For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel,"In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength." - Isaiah 30:15 The rest of this verse said, "you were not willing..." We need to willingly understand where God is in our life today. We need to "get" that our God can move us from where we are now to where He wants to take us if we will but look up, worship and adore and realize who He is right now. May we but learn to wait, gain insight into our today and expect His personal leadership in our lives.
I remain...
InHISgrip,
~J~
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
The Great Heist
But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. - Luke 12:39
I got up this morning contemplating what a great day it had been yesterday at the Church on Rogers Street. Sharing the blessing and realizing all that Ephesians 1 informs us about as to our calling, election; that God has chosen us and it is in Him we find our purpose was awesome!
As the old preachers might say, it was a good day in the Lord.
It also got me to thinking. What are the times when you and I are most vulnerable to being caught off guard by the enemy of our souls? When does it seem easiest to go from being the guy God wants us to be and migrate back into the one that no one wants to be around? Let me suggest that one of those times is just after you've had a great victory. Consider Jesus when He was baptized and was about to begin His public ministry. He was taken away into the desert to be tempted by satan.Now I realize you and I are not Jesus. He is a pattern however, His life and trials for what we can expect from an earthly perspective.
Leisure time is another place that satan seeks to take us off our normal routine of personal quiet time, meditation and contemplation. In the normal routine of life, our senses are tuned to the need to draw upon God's Spirit to see us through the activities of each day. However, when we get away from our routine and go on vacation, we can often drop these routines. Whether we do it intentionally or simply change our dance, we wrongfully think that we do not need to spend time with the Lord during leisure times. This is a grave mistake. The vacation becomes a test of character. During vacations we turn freely to what we enjoy from an earthly perspective most. It reveals to us what is at the core of our existence and often that core is not nearly as strong and stable of a structure that we had presumed or hoped to have.
As a ex-teacher I can tell you that we often exchanged thoughts on the hardest challenge we had to students getting in the "learning groove." Whether it was the long summer or the shorter times during holidays during the school year vacations never helped move the learning process forward it seemed. Just when we had brought the students to a certain discipline and place in their study habits, we would take massive steps backward.
It is the same in our spiritual lives. It only takes a small crack in the door of our heart to lose our spiritual focus and impetus.
I know it is late in the game but I hope this summer you will be on guard when times of retreat are made available to you. Use these times for spiritual refreshment, not just physical refreshment, and you will keep the thief from entering your house! I remain...
InHISgrip,
~J~
I got up this morning contemplating what a great day it had been yesterday at the Church on Rogers Street. Sharing the blessing and realizing all that Ephesians 1 informs us about as to our calling, election; that God has chosen us and it is in Him we find our purpose was awesome!
As the old preachers might say, it was a good day in the Lord.
It also got me to thinking. What are the times when you and I are most vulnerable to being caught off guard by the enemy of our souls? When does it seem easiest to go from being the guy God wants us to be and migrate back into the one that no one wants to be around? Let me suggest that one of those times is just after you've had a great victory. Consider Jesus when He was baptized and was about to begin His public ministry. He was taken away into the desert to be tempted by satan.Now I realize you and I are not Jesus. He is a pattern however, His life and trials for what we can expect from an earthly perspective.
Leisure time is another place that satan seeks to take us off our normal routine of personal quiet time, meditation and contemplation. In the normal routine of life, our senses are tuned to the need to draw upon God's Spirit to see us through the activities of each day. However, when we get away from our routine and go on vacation, we can often drop these routines. Whether we do it intentionally or simply change our dance, we wrongfully think that we do not need to spend time with the Lord during leisure times. This is a grave mistake. The vacation becomes a test of character. During vacations we turn freely to what we enjoy from an earthly perspective most. It reveals to us what is at the core of our existence and often that core is not nearly as strong and stable of a structure that we had presumed or hoped to have.
As a ex-teacher I can tell you that we often exchanged thoughts on the hardest challenge we had to students getting in the "learning groove." Whether it was the long summer or the shorter times during holidays during the school year vacations never helped move the learning process forward it seemed. Just when we had brought the students to a certain discipline and place in their study habits, we would take massive steps backward.
It is the same in our spiritual lives. It only takes a small crack in the door of our heart to lose our spiritual focus and impetus.
I know it is late in the game but I hope this summer you will be on guard when times of retreat are made available to you. Use these times for spiritual refreshment, not just physical refreshment, and you will keep the thief from entering your house! I remain...
InHISgrip,
~J~
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