BIDING OUR TIME

Isaiah 15:1-18:7; Galatians 1:1-24; Psalm 58:1-11; Proverbs 23:12

“’In that day…. the whole land will look like a grainfield after the harvesters have gathered the grain. It will be desolate, like the fields in the valley of Rephaim after the harvest. Only a few of its people will be left, like stray olives left on a tree after the harvest. Only two or three remain in the highest branches, four or five scattered here and there on the limbs,’ declares the Lord, the God of Israel. Then at last the people will look to their Creator and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel. They will no longer look to their idols for help or worship what their own hands have made. They will never again bow down to their Asherah poles or worship at the pagan shrines they have built.”

“But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him to reveal his Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles. When this happened, I did not rush out to consult with any human being. Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away into Arabia, and later I returned to the city of Damascus. Then three years later I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter, and I stayed with him for fifteen days.”

“The godly will rejoice when they see injustice avenged. They will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked. Then at last everyone will say, ‘There truly is a reward for those who live for God; surely there is a God who judges justly here on earth.’”

“Commit yourself to instruction; listen carefully to words of knowledge.”

I don’t know why I am so obsessed with the future and so edgy about the present. Abiding in Christ is exceptionally difficult when one is not content knowing just what we know. That does not temper my impatience at all, though. If only I could be sure now how this particular issue will get resolved, or how that particular crisis will turn out, I could relax. Right. I know better, really. Such knowledge would only cause me additional anxiety about whether or not I might be interfering with God’s future plans in my enthusiasm and foreknowledge. I want to do something about the future, but I’ve got to bide my time. I want to move ahead immediately, and get about the work of improving things – particularly, my perpetually nervous stomach. But that’s not what the Lord, or trust, are about. First and foremost, if faith is about anything, it’s about waiting on the Lord… whether we like it or not!

Jesus certainly understood this, or at least came to know it. Right after the spiritual high of His baptism, the Spirit led Him out into the desert to endure forty days of temptation and stress. What really happened out there, besides what little the Gospels actually record? Good question. Maybe it’s better we don’t know. There’s still a point to be learned, regardless. Jesus did not just jump right from His baptism, His affirmation by the Father, and into ministry. He went back to school first. He let God have His way with Him. He learned what it meant to be fully human, and how nevertheless to rely on the divine within Him.

Paul also took time to prepare, with the Spirit’s help. After his encounter of the Living Christ on the Damascus Road, he did not immediately hurl himself into inspired evangelism, nor did he promptly publish any tell-all or instructional books. (Not then, anyway.) Instead, he first disappeared into a distant land, Arabia, where he spent three years as a complete nobody, learning how to open himself to the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit. It took him a lot longer to become acquainted with the Divine than for Jesus to put His human nature in its proper place, but that was to be expected. The point is, both men understood they were not ready for God’s “next big thing” in their lives until they had taken time to digest their initial, mountaintop experiences and learn how to apply what they had experienced in very practical ways. They did not burn out, because they took time to lay the proper foundations. Yes, they each could have started their formal ministries sooner. Had they done so, however, those ministries no doubt would have been quite different from what God desired of them.

So it is with us. Today’s take away is just that there is always enough time for thoughtfulness and preparation, when our Creator is calling the shots. The Spirit is never in a rush. We are the ones who get ahead of ourselves. Our hectic efforts to just get out there and start saving souls or solving the world’s problems smack of spiritual immaturity. We may, at times, have to think quick, like Jesus on the Temple roof with Satan. On other occasions, we are called to more leisurely contemplation and instruction. Either way, we at least have to slow ourselves down long enough to let our Father catch up. Our self-generated emotional enthusiasm and passion – admirable and exciting though they may be - can never hold a candle to having the wisdom, love and security of the great I AM bubbling up from our inmost being and guiding us along our way.