05/25/2019
Are you a driven person? Do you run at everything you do whether it is work, play, friendships, relationships, or even your faith? Are you known by monickers such as hard working, industrious, unrelenting, or other such descriptions? Being driven is a personality trait that often gets in the way of our faith. It is valued by society because we are creatures bound by time, and it lends well to works, but to God the true value is in perfection, purity, righteousness, and holiness. How do we reconcile these two ways of approaching life, faith, and eternity?
“Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!”
Psalms 38:22 ESV
If you have children then you probably have at least one who is in constant motion; they can’t sit still long enough to complete a task, even to eat. You know them by their behavior, and you know them by their works; by that I mean that they leave a trail of half-done things behind them. You walk into their room and every toy they have is strewn across the floor... it looks like the aftermath of a hurricane or some other natural disaster, or you look at the place where they typically dine at the table and beneath their chair is a pile of crumbs, and a trail leading away. Do you have one of these? How do we love such children, and if given the choice, why? Initially, we are all like this in our faith...
we are to faith what Jerry Lee Lewis was to his hit song Great Balls of Fire,
https://youtu.be/UMKhjrWIQQw
and not as Brahms was in Air on A String from His Orchestral Suite Number 3 in D...
https://youtu.be/GMkmQlfOJDk
heck, most of us can’t stand still long enough to read the title of a Brahms piece, and our attention spans are typically limited to a few seconds at best. Bible characters were not much different than we are today. Look at what God told Moses...
“"Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle."”
Numbers 20:8 ESV
And what did Moses do?
“And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.”
Numbers 20:11 ESV
He not only failed to honor God, but his impatience at the speed in which the water was beginning to flow caused him to immediately strike the rock a second time. He was irritated with the people, and he wanted action NOW! In today’s way Moses said “You want water? I will show you water!”
So we aren’t much different are we, but is this how the Lord would have us be? He didn’t tell Joshua to run down there, and by the time you reach the walls of Jericho I will have knocked them down and you can just run right through them without breaking stride!! So get going!!! No, listen to the instructions He gave...
“And the Lord said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him."”
Joshua 6:2-5 ESV
In human terms there is no “FAST” about this, and this is true with most ways that God interacts with us. Patients, Perfection, and purity... these things take much time to master, lifetimes, and they are inward journeys that manifest themselves outwardly as byproducts of calm, and peace; this is contrary to how we like to live life.
“Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.”
Proverbs 16:32 ESV
So how do we pray, expect, and handle our waiting? Does our impatience stand in the way of our rest in Christ? Do we attempt to approach the perfecting of our faith in the same way we do the works we set about completing? How often do we begin a walk with Jesus and then run so far ahead of Him that we have difficulty hearing His voice? In those times it becomes so easy to think He has abandoned us, and forget that we set out to walk with Him... and not for Him to walk with us.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your perfect pace, and the way in which you use it to take the anxiety out of my life and replace it with your rest and peace. Help me Holy Father to sit patiently at your feet, and before your Son Jesus, as I learn to wait on you, and to hang on your every word! Teach me patience Father, and as the years pass, make my stride match yours... let me walk forever by your side. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who perfects me in your own good time. Perfect are you in understanding, and patience, as you deal with my impatience. Praised be your name always, and forever. Great is your glory which build to crescendo through eternity.
“And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.”
2 Thessalonians 3:5 KJV
Rich Forbes