The Cost of Not Waiting

Ever feel like you were born waiting?  Waiting to be seated at restaurants, waiting to order, waiting to get food, waiting for the check.  Waiting to check your luggage at the airport, waiting in lines at airport security, waiting to board your plane, waiting for your plane to take off.  Waiting to get a doctor's appointment, waiting in the office for the doctor to see you, waiting to get test results after the doctor's appointment.

Practice might make perfect in some things, but waiting isn't one of them.  The more we wait, the more irritable we often become.  We can't just wait!  We need to be doing something!  We want to make things happen!

We have attempted to speed up some areas of our lives to compensate for the areas that we can't avoid having to wait in.  We cook in microwave ovens that cook foods more quickly.  We take advantage of twenty minute workouts that help us exercise more efficiently.  We use hot houses and Miracle-Gro to make our plants grow faster.

We don't like to wait.

But sometimes we run into a situation, and God says wait.

That's what happened to Saul.  Saul "was an impressive young man without equal among the Israelites" (1 Samuel 9:2).  When Israel rejected God as their king and demanded an earthly king, God selected Saul to fill that position.

Some time after he became king, Saul found himself waiting at Gilgal.  Jonathan had won a battle against the Philistines, but the Philistine armies had joined together to attack Saul.  He apparently had instructions from Samuel to wait for seven days for Samuel to arrive to offer the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.

Saul's troops began running off.  Where was Samuel?  Saul waited.  The days passed.  Four.  Five.  Six. Seven.  The day Samuel was to arrive.  What time was he coming?

"Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear.  He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul's men began to scatter." (1 Samuel 13:7-8).

Saul waited.  How much longer was he supposed to hold on?  Saul's impatience finally reached its limit. Deciding something needed to be done, he took matters into his own hands.

Saul offered up the burnt offerings himself.

Remember the rules about the burnt offering?  The priest was to offer it.  No one else, including the king, had authority to do that.  No exceptions.

Here is recently appointed King Saul taking on a role only the priest was to fill.  Here is King Saul disobeying God.  Notice Saul's explanation for his arrogant gesture:  "I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering." (13:12). Compelled?  Saul had a sense of urgency to ignore what Samuel said and to put himself above God's law?  What could have possibly compelled him to do that?

All Saul had to do was wait, but he determined that he couldn't.  He decided he didn't have to follow the law.  The kingdom was his.  He had celebrated with the people who were elated to have him as king.  No split decision or opposing parties.  Israel wanted a king and they wanted King Saul.  But the decision not to wait cost Saul God's favor.

Ironic that what Saul didn't get, his successor King David understood very well.  Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. (Psalm 27:14)

We say we would rather do something than nothing.  We don't stop to realize that waiting on God is the most important something we can do.

What's the cost of not waiting on God?

It cost Saul his kingdom and eventually his relationship with God.

What might not waiting on God cost us?

Press In. Press On. Press Forward.

Ever been to an event where people are standing, waiting to see a celebrity or important person? Invariably there will be someone from the back who is determined to get to the front of the crowd. They seem oblivious to everyone else who has been waiting patiently, courteously, standing in polite rows, following the unwritten rule that you fall in behind the person in front of you. This person will shove everyone else aside, pushing ahead, pressing in, determined to get as close as they possibly can. Maybe they came late to the event, but they aren't going to let that stop them from being close. No one is going to keep them from the front row.

Seems rude. Shouldn't they have come early if they were really that interested? How dare they push everyone else out of the way!

The woman who had been bleeding for twelve years may have seemed rude as she pressed in close to Jesus. She wasn't rude. She was desperate. Desperate to be healed. Desperate to touch the one who could change her life. If she could just get close enough to touch his clothes....

She pressed in.

Jesus turned and saw the woman and said, "Be encouraged, dear woman. You are made well because you believed." And the woman was healed from that moment on. -- Matt. 9:22.

Then sometimes you press on.

Naomi went from being a wife, mother of two sons and mother-in-law, to being a widow with two widowed daughters-in law. Life was filled with pain and heartache. The future seemed empty and hopeless. But Naomi didn't give up.

Naomi pressed on.

Naomi returned to her home in Judah with her daughter-in-law Ruth. There she introduced Ruth to Boaz, Ruth's kinsman redeemer. Through events only God could arrange, Ruth married Boaz. Then God gave her not only a husband, but a son. God redeemed Ruth and restored Naomi's dreams.

The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. The women living there said, “Naomi has a son.” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. -- Ruth 4:13-17.

God gave her a grandson. A little baby boy to love and hold. She was undoubtably thrilled and excited. But little did she know how much more God was doing than she could see. She thought she was holding a grandson. She didn't know she was holding a great-grandparent of the Messiah, the Promised One.

Naomi could have focused on her losses. But she pressed on to be a part in the events that set the stage for the birth of the kinsman redeemer who would redeem all mankind.

Press Forward.

One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. -- Philippians 4:13-14.

We are not made to live here. This earth is not our home.  If sometimes we feel a little out of sorts being here, it is because we were never supposed to be completely comfortable here. This is our preparation area for heaven.

Too often we live like this life is all there is. We don't talk about hell much anymore. We don't talk about heaven, either. We act as if the Christian life works because it is good for us now; that we accept Christ for what He can do for us in this life.

But we are called to press forward to heaven.

When I was a little girl, I loved the old songs about heaven. I remember regularly singing:

When We All Get to Heaven

Sing the wondrous love of Jesus,
Sing His mercy and His grace;
In the mansions bright and blessed
He’ll prepare for us a place.

Refrain:
When we all get to heaven,
What a day of rejoicing that will be!
When we all see Jesus,
We’ll sing and shout the victory!

Onward to the prize before us!
Soon His beauty we’ll behold;
Soon the pearly gates will open;
We shall tread the streets of gold.

We can not allow ourselves to become so acclimated to this earth that we don't yearn for heaven. We were created for heaven! We were created to walk on streets of gold, to live in mansions God has prepared for us, to spend eternity praising the One who died for us. There was an old saying that we don't want to be so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good. I am afraid that we have compensated to the point that we aren't heavenly minded at all! 

Be changed by His Spirit. Don't give up despite the circumstances. Yearn for heaven.

Press in.  Press on.  Press Forward.

  

Chosen to Make a Difference

In the book of Joshua the children of Israel were victorious warriors who were following God and claiming God's promise. 

In Judges, a new generation grew up.  Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked (Judges 2:17).

People haven't changed much.  How easily forgotten are the lessons learned by previous generations. Pridefulness makes us think that we are smarter and more accomplished than our parents and grandparents.  The children of Israel arrogantly rested in the military successes of their forefathers.  No longer did they depend on the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to lead them.  No longer did they celebrate the crossings of the Red Sea and the Jordan River.  They had come to believe their sufficiency was in themselves and not in God who had delivered them from Egypt and established them in Canaan.

In the midst of this apostasy, God's spirit continued to move.  He continued to raise up leaders to challenge Israel and to direct them back to the source of their strength and hope. 

Leaders who were willing to take a stand.

God chose leaders who didn't always fit the mold.  Women.  A wimp.  A disabled person.  People who might have been viewed as incapable and whose lives may have seemed inconsequential. Yet these people became leaders who changed the outcomes of battles and reminded the people of God's power and love for them. 

A woman named Deborah.  

After the need for military leadership waned, God raised up judges to lead the land.  Until Deborah, all of the judges named were men, but at that time a woman was appointed to leadership. Deborah was respected, both for her judgement and military prowess.  When God instructed Deborah to direct Barak, a commander in the army, to complete the conquest of Canaan, he balked and agreed to go only if she accompanied him.  Deborah agreed, but warned that because of his reluctance to go, the honor of defeating Sisera, the Canaanite commander, would go to a woman.   

A woman named Jael.   

Barak had a shrewd plan of attack, and Sisera's entire army was killed.  Sisera alone fled for his life, into the tent of Jael.  Jael's husband and Sisera's king were on good terms.  Sisera didn't know it, but Jael didn't feel as hospitable toward him as her husband had.  He went into her tent, drank some milk, told her to stand guard at the tent door while he went to sleep.  She waited until he went to sleep and drove the tent peg through his temple.   

Don't mess with Jael. 

Forty-seven years later -- forty of those peaceful, and Israel had once again abandoned their faith in God.   At that time another unlikely leader came to power.  Reluctantly.  He seemed more than content to hide out threshing wheat in a winepress.  A winepress?   

Gideon never professed to have great courage. 

Or great faith.  God called.  He answered, in a squeaky voice.  "But Lord".  "But Lord, surely you have made a mistake."  "But Lord, surely you can find a man more suited for the job."  But Lord, how can I save Israel?  My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family. (Judges 6:15) 

God sees what we can become, not how we are.  The angel addressed Gideon as a "mighty warrior".  He didn't look like one when he was hiding out in the cave using the press that was designed to extract wine to make flour.  Nor did he look like one when he asked for a sign that it was really God calling him.  So God gave him a sign.  Did fire from a rock convince him?  No, he needed more convincing.  He requested a wet fleece and dry ground, then a dry fleece and wet ground before he answered the call. 

Even then, he wasn't ready to lead the army into battle against Midian.  He agreed to go, but was uncertain of victory.  God spoke to him and sent him to hide out and listen in on a conversation in the Midianite camp. 

Gideon was good at hiding out.  Remember the winepress.

Gideon heard two Midianites talking  One shared a dream.  The other interpreted.  This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon. God has given the Midianites into his hands. (Judges 7:14).   

Gideon finally got it.  He led the army.  The battle was won.   

Don't mess with Gideon when he's finally convinced of what God can do. 

Fast forward over a hundred years later.  Israel was still rebelling.  They had again abandoned their faith.  But God is faithful to the faithless.  An infertile couple was visited by an angel and told they would give birth to a son. He would be a Nazirite.  They named him Samson. 

Samson was destined for greatness.  He looked like a leader. But bad choices changed the course of his life.  He had a weakness, and it wasn't short hair. 

It was women.   

Samson bought a night with a prostitute, sold the secret of his physical strength, and the Lord left him. Left powerless to defend himself, he could do nothing as the Philistines gouged out his eyes and shackled him.  Later they mocked him and used him for entertainment like some sick sideshow spectacle.  The once impressive leader became an impotent fool. 

His hair grew back.  So did his relationship with God. 

Samson did more after his blindness than he ever did when he had sight.  His disability focused him on the source of his ability.  When he was being taunted at a celebration for the Philistine God Dagon, Samson prayed for God to strengthen him one more time.  God did.  Samson pushed on the central pillars of the temple, and the building came down on the three thousand people who were in it.  Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived (Judges 16:30). 

Deborah.  Jael.  Gideon.  Samson.  Not the typical leaders.  Weak by the world's standards. Flawed.  Disabled. 

CHOSEN.  Chosen to impact their world.  Chosen to make a difference. 

God doesn't choose us because of what we have to offer.  He chooses us because of what he can do through us.  

Each of us has been chosen.  Chosen by God to make a difference.  Whether we allow Him to use us is up to us.  God did not put us on this earth to wile away our seventy plus years waiting for Him to take us home.  Sure, we need to be anticipating our next life.  But we need to be spending our time and energy in this one fighting the enemy.  Our enemy isn't the Canaanites or the Philistines.  It isn't the Taliban or terrorists.   1 Peter 5:8 identifies Satan as our enemy who is trying to destroy us.  Trying to destroy us and prevent us from reaching the millions, maybe billions, who don't know who Jesus is and what He did for them. 

Chosen to fight.  Chosen to preach.  Mark 16:15 says Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. You have an appointment to do His work.  Will you accept the challenge? 

Deborah.  Jael.  Gideon.  Samson.  Flawed, weak, disabled.  Brad.  Kierra.  Brooke.  Lucas.  Brittany. Jamal.  Rick.  Alex.  Each of us can add our names to the list.  The list of the flawed, weak, and disabled.  The list of people God has chosen.

Chosen to impact the world.  Chosen to make a difference.

  

You Have to Stop at Gilgal Before You Defeat Jericho

The book of Joshua.  I love the book of of Joshua!  Do you know how many times Joshua says, "Be strong. Be courageous.  Do not be afraid.  Do not be discouraged!"  What is more powerful than reading Joshua 10:25? Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous. This is what the LORD will do to all the enemies you are going to fight.”  As I thought about Joshua's words, about God conquering our enemies,  I was excited about how that applies to us today.

"Write about Gilgal," God spoke quietly to my heart.

Gilgal?

"You have to go back to Gilgal",  He reminded me.

Gilgal.  The Israelites had crossed over the Jordan River on dry ground, much like the generation before had crossed over the Red Sea.  But this generation is poised for victory.  The Promised Land is in sight.  The generation before saw enemies who were giants and cities protected by strong walls.  This generation saw an enemy that God was giving into their hands and a land that was theirs for the taking.  But first, God commanded that they stop at Gilgal.

Can't you imagine 2 . 5 million Israelites, excited, focused, ready to FINALLY defeat the enemies they had been training to fight for 40 years?  Think of all the men, sharpening their swords,  preparing their gear for the time that they are to go into battle.  The women, concerned, yet encouraging, getting together food and supplies that they knew the men might need (but wouldn't think about).

Then God said, first things first.  First, you have to stop at Gilgal.

Three things of significance happened at Gilgal.  First, Joshua took twelve stones that he had ordered removed from the Jordan and made an altar.  This altar was to serve as a reminder of not only how God had dried up the Jordan River for them to walk over, but also His faithfulness to the children of Israel.

Second, God ordered that all the men be circumcised.  Remember, the previous generation of Israelites had been circumcised, but the men born in the desert had not.  God ordered that they be circumcised as a reminder that He had removed the stigma of their slavery.  He said He "rolled away the reproach of Egypt."  No longer did they have to carry the identity of being children of former slaves.  They were free to experience the promise that God had given them.

Third, the Israelites celebrated Passover.  Remember, this was one of the feasts that God commanded them to celebrate.  One of the requirements to observe Passover was circumcision, so now the children of Israel could once again celebrate this feast.  On this Passover, they ate food that the land produced, unleavened bread and roasted grain.  At this point, manna stopped, and they became dependent on the land for their food.

Gilgal was a place of remembrance.  Reflecting on what God had done in sparing their firstborn, delivering them out of Egypt, providing for them, leading them safely to the edge of the Promised Land.

It was a place where their reproach was removed.  They were no longer former slaves.  They no longer had a slave mentality.  God had shown them how to be free.

It was a place of celebration.

They had to experience Gilgal before God gave them the victory at Jericho.

Have you ever been on the edge of claiming what you believe is God's promises for you when He says, "Wait; first, you have to go to Gilgal"?  Sometimes, God has something else He wants to do before He completes His plan for us.  Maybe there is something He wants to remind us of.  Maybe it is something He needs to cut away.  Maybe He wants to remove our reproach.  Perhaps he wants to take away that thing that we have identified with and set us free from thinking about ourselves in terms of it.

The Israelites camped at Gilgal, but they went on to defeat Jericho.  They went on to fight (and win) several other battles,  but after each victory, they would return to Gilgal.

I believe God wants us to return frequently to that place of remembrance.  I also know He wants to keep us free.  Free from those things that could hold us back.  Free from identities of bondage.  He wants us to celebrate what He has done so He can take us where He wants us to go.  Then we can say with the psalmist: With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies. (Psalm 60:12)