Sunday, July 22, 2007

What Time Is It?

Does anyone else get confused about what they're supposed to do and when? Are we just out of touch with God and His plans for us? Are we supposed to be this confused, or is this just part of the mystery of human life?

Mark taught an interesting class this morning about Judge and prophet Samuel and King Saul.

I empathize with stories like this one, or the one about Abraham and Sarah.

When Abraham was about 75 years old (and his wife Sarah about 65), God promised him children. When he was 86, childless and barren, he and Sarah thought, "well, obviously God's waiting on us to do something". So Sarah gave Abraham her maid to...well...you know. And they had a son; about 15 years before God's plan. They were supposed to wait on Him.

At one point in his reign, King Saul became impatient. The Israelites were at war with the Philistines, but Saul was to wait a week for Samuel to show up before giving some offerings to God to ask for help before attacking. After seven days, and seeing the Philistines assemble, and his men about to run scared, he gave the offerings himself. Again, the wrong thing to do - Samuel showed up and told him that because of his disobedience, his kingdom wouldn't last.

I am, by nature, a procrastinator. I put things off, and put them off. Krista knows this too well. So, when I tell her that I think I'm supposed to be waiting on God for something, her mouth says, "okay", but her eyes say, "yeah...uh-huh..."

I realize that nowhere in the Bible does it say, "God helps those who help themselves," but I also believe that God doesn't want us to sit on our hands and do nothing until he gives us a yellow-brick road to follow. So at what point do we get off our butts and actually do something? When do I know whether or not something is in my time, or in God's time? Is it something that we should know, but we don't because we're too out of touch with God?

Quote of the Day
Where I am right now is a direct result of God working in my life.
-Mark Killen

2 comments:

  1. Jerry Ross prayed something last night that I loved. He said "Help us when we make decisions, and when we make the wrong ones, make them right" Thats not really a direct quote, but it was something like that.I just thought that was great. not sure if it goes along with what you were thinking. But I thought about it when I read your post.

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  2. I'd say it goes along with it.

    We just need to learn to rely on God, and pray that when we get in the way, He moves us to where He wants us to be.

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