TWILY Ministries | Love
Notes |
June 2010
“Wait?” - Why Can't I Just Go and Pick It Up?
Sometimes when we pray, the Lord answers “YES,
but not right now.” Those can be some
of the toughest answers to handle, because they involve waiting, and it is
during those waiting periods,
that many people find themselves tempted
to move ahead of God, especially when they think the "answer"
that He’s shown them - in many cases - will get away.
We have several
Biblical characters who, when it looked like the Lord wouldn't deliver on His
promises, moved ahead of His timing; Sarah and
Abraham, for sure, but for now, let’s look at someone else, namely, King Saul.
Saul had just been anointed as
"Go
down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt
offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do."- NIV
Later, over in I Samuel 13:8, we read the following:
8 He
waited seven days, the time set by
Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul's men began to scatter. 9
So he said, "Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.”
And Saul offered up the burnt offering."
Now, Samuel had
instructed Saul to "Wait seven days", but
when the seventh day arrived, and Samuel
was nowhere in sight, Saul decided to take matters into his own hands and
sacrificed the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings without Samuel being present! Mind you, he didn’t even know what
he was supposed to do (see I Sam. 10:8)!
It is too bad that he couldn’t wait a tidbit longer, because the Bible says
that just as he finished making the offering,
Samuel arrived, and Saul - probably sure and
proud of what he’d done on his own -
went out to Greet him. I can almost hear him saying, “SAMUEL!, You made it! Let me show you what
I did.”; who knows? One thing for sure, Samuel
wasn’t having any of it and wasn’t happy to find that Saul had acted independently
of God’s word. Whatever he said, then, really didn’t impress Samuel, which is
evident by his response:
11-12
“What have you done?... and in
the remainder of those two verses, we find Saul trying to justify his actions, giving reasons for having taken matters into
his own hands. It was of little use, though, because he had disobeyed God’s
orders, which had been given through His prophet and now, the consequences were
upon him, spelled out in the following passage:
13-14 "That was a
fool thing to do," Samuel said to Saul. "If you had kept the
appointment that your GOD commanded, by now GOD would have set a firm and
lasting foundation under your kingly rule over
Wow! Saul, fearing
the circumstances around him, decided that it was just too risky to wait any
longer and moved ahead of Samuel; when he did, it ended up costing him his
kingship. The same thing can happen to us, that is, any of us whom the Lord has
said, “YES, but not right now.” If we’re not careful, we can find ourselves
fearing the circumstances - the time, the scanty opportunities, etc. - and foolishly move ahead of God’s timing,
impatient to wait for Him to deliver what He’s promised. When we do, like Saul,
we’re bound to lose everything He had planned for us, or at a minimum, end up
with a MESS; something - or someone - quite substandard to what He had
purposed.
Friends, “IF” God has promised us anything, in
addition to the MAGNIFICENT things He’s already done for us, though the vision tarries, WAIT ON IT! At the appointed
time, He will deliver. You know, it took years to get here, but I consider
myself to be pretty patient. Still, as lessons go, every now and then, there is
a pop-quiz, just to make sure we’re retaining what we’ve learned. Such was the
case, a few short months ago, when I found myself having to “wait for the appointed time!”
It was a Friday afternoon, and I had
ordered something for a special project,
which I needed by the next Friday. Since I wouldn’t be home to meet
the FedEx truck, I opted to have the package
delivered to “my FedEx”, that is, the one nearest me. That way, I could grab it on
the way to work. According to the vendor, it would reach “my FedEx” on the
following Wednesday morning.
Well,
when Monday rolled around, I decided to TRACK the package, you know, just to
see if it was still on schedule, and when I did, here is what I found: "Package DELIVERED to FedEx - Monday 6a.m." Of
course, I was so glad, because I knew I would be able to get my project done
much earlier than expected, so I called “my FedEx” and after getting a live
person on the telephone, and asking her to confirm its arrival, she said:
"Yes,
Ms. Bailey it has been delivered, but actually, it's at our other location. It
will be at ‘your FedEx’ on Wednesday morning, just as scheduled.
Well,
with the “other location” being a mere two streets over, I quickly
responded, “You mean I have to wait until
Wednesday?” - Why can’t I just go and pick it up?”
"Oh,
I’m sorry”, she said, “but it’s not ready for delivery; it has to be further
processed!”
Well, so much for my plan to get things done quicker; it had quickly been shot to pieces. In looking
back on that incident, though, I can see a lesson in that for many of us,
especially when the Lord has answered, “Yes, but
not right now!”
When He has said “YES”, but seems to be
“delaying the delivery”, could it be that we, ourselves, need to undergo “further
PROCESSING” before He can trust us to receive it? See, by Him being
the Omniscient One, He is fully aware of what's in our hearts and how we will
act once He gives us what we want, you know, whether
we’d give Him thanks and the glory, whether we'd
squander it, whether we’d - like a lots of children do - soon toss it aside, only to ask for something else and
even, whether we’d forget him period! Oh yes, He
knows all these things and since He does:
Shouldn’t we be able to CONFIDENTLY wait for Him to
bring things about at His appointed time?
He expects us to, but
remember, friends, He doesn’t expect us to do it on our own. As I said in a
much earlier article, He gives us Strength While We’re
Waiting, and that’s more than enough.
It is also enough
for this edition of Love Notes, with July’s coming in just about two weeks. First, though, here’s a
closing question regarding “your prayer”:
Has the Lord
answered, “YES, but not right now”, with
delivery still pending?
If so, learn from
King Saul’s mistake; don’t get impatient, moving on without Him. Again, though
the vision tarries, wait on it!
Thank you so much
for your precious time and patience! I’m praying for my readers, and I hope you
will continue to pray for me. God willing see you soon.
Love in Christ,
Joyce
© Joyce Bailey June 2010