03/01/2018
Do you wait patiently for God’s provision and direction? Have you become practiced in allowing Him to do all things in your life, or does He teach you over and over again how to wait? Have you set your spiritual clock, and your expectations to divine time, the time of heaven? As the length of an earthly day is constantly changing, and our bodies acclimate to that change, we must also acclimate spiritually to the natural variation in the will of God... the day of heaven.
“These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.”Psalms 104:27-28 KJV
We go to the Lord in prayer and ask, but do we ask according to His Will and timing? In today’s world we ship goods around the globe. When it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, we stock our shelves with fresh vegetables from the Southern Hemisphere... we have found a way to overcome nature, and have satisfied our human disdain for waiting. It is important to realize that our impatience, and our need to be satisfied “Right Now!” runs counter to the movement of God. This thinking attempts to place Him at our command, and not us at His.
“"At the set time that I appoint I will judge with equity. When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars. Selah”Psalms 75:2-3 ESV
In a time before huge container ships and airplanes of immense size and incredible speed, people stored up the provisions of summer to make it through the winter. They asked for a good potato crop when the season was right for potatoes, and turnips in the late fall when it was their season. Then they prayed for good health and ability so that they could bring these crops into the storehouse. They adjusted to the natural flow of the seasons and understood them well enough that they didn’t pray for fresh apples in the middle of winter.
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.”Jeremiah 29:11-12 ESV
God has a divine plan and will for us that extends much further than the natural seasons of the earth. He has spiritual, life, and other intricate seasons, that we sometimes find intolerable, and are impatient in. The question becomes this; do we ask for things that are in God’s season for us? This is called praying in the will of God, and to do so we must be able to know His will for us and to remain in it. If I ask God for something that is out of season for me... I had better be prepared to wait, and getting aggravated is only going to make you doubt God, and Him see that you need a further lesson in how to wait. Just as we wait for the return of Jesus, we must also wait for the will of God regarding those things we ask.
“For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, "Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him."”Hebrews 10:36-38 ESV
So how acclimated are we to the divine seasons and will of God? How patient are we when what we ask for would do us harm, or be better served in days to come? Do we believe in God’s goodness? Can we trust that the loss of an eye will allow us to see heaven in all its amazing glory, or that hungering now increases our portion on the heavenly table of God? Do we have faith in His provision; in His answer to our prayers at just the right time? How do you approach God in prayer, as His beloved child, and with loving humility, or as a spoiled child, with impertinence, and intolerance?
Pray to understand the will of God, and do so in the Spirit because he will show us the will of God, and direct our prayers accordingly.
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”Romans 8:26-27 ESV
It is more than interesting that one of the most revealing passages regarding our waiting upon God, and leaning on His goodness and provision should come from Lamentations, but listen:
“The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him; let him put his mouth in the dust— there may yet be hope; let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults. For the Lord will not cast off forever, but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.”Lamentations 3:25-33 ESV
God does not afflict from His heart, and in ours we must trust in Him; we must await the season of His will.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your answer to my prayers, and for fulfilling each of them at the perfect time. I pray to better know your will for me Father, so that my prayers can be aligned with your seasons and plan for me. If however I should pray for something that might hurt me, or my faith, then Father, in your infinite wisdom and mercy... withhold it, and open my eyes. If I should pray for a desire that is not within the season of your will... then give me patience, and perseverance, so that when that season arrives I will be grateful, and during my wait I will praise your goodness without hesitation. Holy Father, you are my provider, my defender, my rest and my strength; you are all things to me, and your will for my life is without flaw, and perfect... help me trust in you more; help my unbelief. In you all things are possible, in you my prayers have answer, and in you I find safety and protection... even against my own desires. Great are you Lord, and greatly are you to be praised! Let no untimely or inappropriate prayer that I might pray come between us, let my trust be in you always, and my knees be bent before you as I give thanks to you in all things great and small. Holy, Holy, Holy, art thou my God.
Rich Forbes