09/03/2020
God speaks to us, and asks us to do something, but at that particular moment it is inconvenient for us, so we say “I will do it tomorrow Lord”, and we go about our business, however, when we are faced with a trial in our own lives we pray for His relief, and expect Him to answer immediately. Does this sound familiar? So often we hold God to a standard of immediacy that we ourselves would never agree to, and yet we treat the God of all creation as though he was our personal servant; sent to do our bidding. Why is it that we lose faith, or become angry with God when in our minds He is slow to act? In fact, is that really true?
“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
2 Peter 3:8 ESV
We are impulsive Creatures, and that is especially true when we are young. I remember a time in grade school when I wanted to be an Astronomer. I had bought a book about our solar system at my school’s book fair, and became amazed with the moon, stars, and all that existed in the heavens. I did more than just read that book... I memorized it. I knew the distance from earth to every planet in our solar system, their circumference, diameter, what they were made of, and even dreamed of going to each one when I grew up... all of this because I read one small book. Later that summer I signed up for a little league baseball team, and immediately wanted to be a Major League Baseball player. Then, as I grew older I joined the Boy Scouts, and immediately fell in love with hiking, camping, and everything about nature and the outdoors, so as a result I was convinced I wanted to become a Wildlife Biologist. Today I have spent my life in computers, and as I look back at my impulsiveness I smile, and thank God for directing me past all of those sudden decisions. He does the same thing in our faith, and the lives we are currently leadIng. He isn’t being slow, or not answering our prayers, as we often accuse Him of, but deliberate.
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
2 Peter 3:9 ESV
I wasn’t meant to live my life dreaming of the stars, hitting home runs in Yankee Stadium, or studying animals and ecosystems. I wasn’t meant to forgo a family for a monastic life, or become a preacher. I wasn’t meant to marry my high school sweetheart, or stay in the city where my parents lived... no, God was slow to answer those prayers I prayed, or at least I thought He was slow at the time, and by His deliberate action my life became so much more than I imagined.
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”
Psalm 32:8 ESV
If we are honest with ourselves when looking at our faith, and lives, we will find the loving hand of our Heavenly Father has been steadily leading us. Instead of blaming Him for not making a career of one of my childhood dreams, I thank Him for my life today. He could see each path I might have taken, and led me to a life that brought me to know His Son Jesus, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and to know a life brimming with more than I could ever have dreamed of... not always joyous, not always easy, or whst I expected, but ever closer to Him. He opened my eyes to a reality that I could never have dreamed possible, even when looking into the stars.
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,”
Ephesians 3:20 ESV
David understood this when he wrote so many of his psalms. One of them is a particular favorite of mine, and of so many others, and we go to it when we need to find calm, encouragement, or peace, but when it is approached differently, and we look at how these six short verses speak to us of God’s hand making a life for us, it gives us hope in every circumstance, and removes the randomness from life that we once felt... and blamed Him for.
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
Psalm 23:1-6 ESV
So, rather than being short tempered or impatient as a result of the prayers we pray, we should look closer for the will of God in our lives and pray within it. When we pray emphatically, and feel that God is slow to act, or has left us hurting by His silence, we should stop doubting Him at His word, and start looking for His deliberate action in our lives. Our Father has a plan for each of us, and it works for our good. Sometimes the expansive stars we ask Him for aren’t nearly as wonderful as what He has in store for us in a tiny iPhone, or at the keyboard of a laptop computer. God led Jesus to the cross, but how wonderful was what awaited Him, and all of us, from there.
Prayer:
Father thank you for answered prayers because they show us that what we have asked is from within your will. Thank you also for your deliberate action, and inaction, in our lives as you work out the goodness that awaits us in Jesus, and an eternity with you. Open our eyes Holy Father to your eternal nature, and show us how you have known us from the foundation of creation, and can see beyond our present lives into eternity itself. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who is deliberate in all you do, and who leads us to green pastures that we are unable to see from where we are. Great are you who defends us against our earthly enemies, but greater yet are you who delivers us from spiritual adversaries. Praised be your name Father for every prayer you answer, and the good time in which you answer it. Have mercy upon us Lord for the times we have not responded when you have asked something of us, and forgive us for our impetuous nature, and the anger we feel when our desires are not yours. Hear our prayers of contrition, and forgive us our sins. Wash us clean in the blood of your Son Jesus, and seat us at your table forevermore. This is our one true prayer, and to be in your presence always is our greatest desire.
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Ephesians 3:20-21 ESV
Rich Forbes