Waiting

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (ESV)

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

I am waiting impatiently to get this surgery over with and want Wednesday to get here in a hurry.  I came across some good advice from the 19th-century preacher A.B. Simpson:

"Beloved, have you ever thought that someday you will not have anything to try you, or anyone to vex you again? There will be no opportunity in heaven to learn or to show the spirit of patience, forbearance, and longsuffering. If you are to practice these things, it must be now." Yes, each day affords countless opportunities to learn patience. Let's not waste them.

Commenting on our need for this virtue, M.H. Lount has said, "God's best gifts come slowly. We could not use them if they did not. Many a man, called of God to...a work in which he is pouring out his life, is convinced that the Lord means to bring his efforts to a successful conclusion. Nevertheless, even such a confident worker grows discouraged at times and worries because results do not come as rapidly as he would desire. But growth and strength in waiting are results often greater than the end so impatiently longed for. Paul had time to realize this as he lay in prison. Moses must have asked, 'Why?' many times during the delays in Midian and in the wilderness. Jesus Himself experienced the discipline of delay in His silent years before His great public ministry began."

God wants us to see results as we work for Him, but His first concern is our growth. That's why He often withholds success until we have learned patience. The Lord teaches us this needed lesson through the blessed discipline of delay.

Let us all wait upon the Lord knowing that His timing is perfect.

Dear Lord, we pray that we would be patient as we wait upon His timing. Help us to be disciplined in what we do. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

It is good

Romans 8:28 (ESV)

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

An African king had a longtime friend who always looked at everything positively, always saying "This is good!" even in the face of the most difficult situations. Hunting one day, he was preparing the king’s guns. When the king took his first shot, his thumb was blown off. Though the friend realized that it was his grave mistake for not properly setting the gun, and even in the face of this furious, bleeding king, he looked at him and said, "This is good!" The king was LIVID, and ordered that his friend be thrown in jail immediately.

A year later the king was hunting in an area where he should have stayed clear and was suddenly captured by Cannibals. They tied him up and were preparing to cook him when they realized he had no thumb. They didn't eat anyone who was less than whole so they released him. Upon his way home, the king pondered the event that had taken his thumb in the first place. He went straight to the jail, told his friend what happened and apologized in tears for sending him to jail like he did. His enthusiastic friend looked at the King and replied "This is good!"

The king, taken aback once again said "What do you mean 'this is good!' I sent you mercilessly to jail and you’ve been suffering for here for an entire year – how is that good?" His friend responded unwaveringly, "Well, if I had not been in jail, I would have been with you"!

I hope this has encouraged you to trust in your difficult situation. Let’s leave it in the Lord's hands today, and all say it together in faith…. “This is good”!

Dear Lord, we want to give You the good and bad situations knowing that You are in control. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

The Zebra and the Lesson of Timing

Timing is everything. A few years back there was a show on Discovery Channel. It was about the wild animals in Africa and how they migrate. It focused on wildebeests and zebras as they migrate and how the predators would wait for them. In this one instance they had to cross this river and these huge crocodiles were waiting. They would cross by the hundreds. As these zebras and wildebeests were crossing this one zebra was crossing a bit downstream from the rest and out of nowhere this giant croc grabbed the zebra by the head and dragged it under the water and drowned it.


-This poor zebra was at the wrong place at the wrong time.


15Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise (sensible, intelligent people), 16Making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil.
- Ephesians 5:15-16 (Amplified Bible)




Dear Lord we thank You for the time you give us, we pray that we would use it wisely. We pray that we would take every opportunity to do the things you would want us to do. In Jesus' name, amen.