To
prove that God is not on our time-table, the Bible is full of testimonies of Saints
who waited years for the fulfillment of His promises. Abraham and Sarah are two
such Saints. They waited 25 years for their promised child.
Of
course, they attempted to force the fulfillment by their plan to have Abraham conceive
their child through Sarah's servant. The Arab nations came from this
self-willed effort. We also often veer from God's path for us by trying to help
Him out.
We
lack patience and do not want to delay the fulfillment of our need. We grow
weary of waiting on God to change our circumstance, whether it is conceiving a
child, getting married, recovering from ill health, emotional fulfillment,
vocational or address changes, etc.
Trusting
the Lord with our whole heart is difficult due to our lack of patience;
therefore, we take matters into our own hands and create a huge mess from which
we reap a negative back-lash for years to come. God has a perfect will for
every moment of our day.
This
requires our focused attention on His Spirit's leading us as we walk in that
will. We start by sitting quietly and waiting on Him. Then we walk in His
Spirit, and we break out of the bondage of our inordinate expectations, carnal
desires, playing at religion in our church life, etc.
God's
Spirit is always fulfilling His promises to us in His timing and way. We step deeper into God's living
water of life by following His guidance into unknown places of service and
greater heights of worshiping Him with our thoughts, words and deeds.
Prayer:
Father
God, help us to set our affections on things above (Colossians 3:2), on the
eternal aspects of life. Then we can rise above the limitations of this mundane
earthly realm. Direct us, as You did Ezekiel, to enter the river, and to go
deeper and deeper into the water until he could no longer stand, but must start
to swim. He trusted You with the results, and we can too (Ezekiel 47:1-12).
Over
the years of life, we come to realize that You are interested in us living in oneness
with You. Our body is the temple of Your Holy Spirit, and He abides within us.
We are not our own, we are Your unique possession (1 Corinthians 6:19). We want
to serve You with every fiber of being, because Christ is our whole life
(Colossians 3:3-4). You are our benevolent Father, and we live to worship You
with our life.
Thought
for the Day:
Trusting
God with each moment of our day, and walking by the direction of His Holy
Spirit in the center of His rest and His perfect will for our life, is the most
freeing priority we can have in this imperfect world; we never drown in our
weekly agenda, we accomplish our duties at home and in our vocation, we have
time to play with our family and friends, and we are more productive than we
ever were when we planned our own schedule.
