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God often says, "Wait."
Jeremiah 42
As a mostly impatient person, I couldn’t get over the sequence of events in this chapter. After the disturbing events of last chapter, all the people left in Israel came to Jeremiah to ask for counsel from the Lord. They were so eager to hear His word, they made an oath to obey: “Then they said to Jeremiah, ‘May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything the Lord your God sends you to tell us. Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the Lord our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the Lord our God.’” (vs 5-6)
God throws pots on the fly.
Jeremiah 18
You may have looked at the title of this blog and went, huh? In case you’ve never worked with pottery before, doing what Jeremiah describes in the beginning part of this chapter is known as throwing a pot. “Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was working at the wheel. And the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he made it over, reworking it into another vessel as it seemed good to the potter to make it.” (vs 3-4)
God turns things around.
Isaiah 35
Have you ever watched a movie about the struggle between good and evil that ended up with evil defeating good? I know I have. Unfortunately, I can’t think of a good example right off the top of my head, but I know that more than once in recent years, I have come to the end of a movie with a knot in my stomach because the story didn’t end well. What does Hollywood have against happy endings?
God is an infinitely patient teacher.
God takes the long view.
Psalm 92
We have a problem with patience in our society. Maybe it’s the increase in technology. Or maybe it’s simply the decrease in spirituality. One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is patience, and there seems to be alarmingly little of it these days. We are a buy now, pay later society in the midst of a 24/7/365 culture. Well, I guess the corona virus has slowed us down significantly, for the time being, but when life is running at normal speed, there isn’t too much that we truly have to wait for; thus, we don’t.
God is one patient Dad.
Psalm 13
After I got pregnant the first time, my husband bought a T-shirt that epitomizes the kind of father he hoped to be (and that I can report he is—most of the time). On the background of this shirt is the same bit of dialogue repeated over and over:
“Are we there yet? . . . No.”
“Are we there yet? . . . No.”
God wants us to surrender.
Nehemiah 13
For Nehemiah, this must have been a shocking end to his story. He had devoted his life to overseeing the rebuilding of the Jerusalem walls and ushering in a new era of spiritual revival for the Israelites. The dramatic rebuilding of the wall—which had survived numerous attacks and intended detours by political enemies—had been topped off by a spiritual celebration in the temple, culminating in a signed covenant made by the people.
God has His own time zone.
2 SAMUEL 8
This chapter outlines all of David’s military victories after becoming king of Israel. Incidentally, after defeating the Philistines, the Moabites, the Arameans, the Edomites, and the Ammonites, Israel had finally acquired all the territory that the Lord had promised to Abraham in Genesis 15:18-19, over 1000 years before.
God doesn't get what He wants by force.
2 SAMUEL 4
What made Rekab and Baanah think that David would rejoice over their murder of Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth? Didn’t they remember how David reacted to the Amalekite who claimed to have killed Saul? In their zeal to secure the throne for David, they did something very foolish... and paid for it with their own lives.
God will take care of us.
1 SAMUEL 26
David was God’s anointed man for king. The problem? There was already another man in that position. The "logical" thing for David to do would have been to figure out how to get Saul off the throne. After all, as long as Saul was still king, David couldn’t assume his rightful position as God’s anointed. And I wonder what thoughts and emotions must have run through David’s mind as the saga with Saul dragged on and on and on.
God does not retaliate.
1 SAMUEL 24
In this chapter, we see a beautiful picture of God shining through David, the one who was later called "the man after God’s own heart." David has been on the run from Saul for a very long time. Then, suddenly, in a reversal of fortune, Saul enters a cave where David and his men are hiding. David could have easily ambushed Saul; instead, he cut off the corner of his robe. (And even that got to his conscience later on.)
God has the answers.
JUDGES 21
You might think that’s a funny title to describe a chapter of the Bible in which God never speaks. But, for me, that’s precisely the point, so I thought we’d get right to the point today. Did you notice God’s lack of participation in the dialogue of this chapter? The Israelites were asking a lot of questions, but they never received an answer.
A Patient's Impatience {gn16}
Photo © Unsplash/Ricardo Viana
Abram couldn't wait on God,
but listened to his wife,
who suggested a surrogate with a working womb,
and together, they foisted Plan B on the Almighty.
That's how Hagar became
the mistress of her mistress' husband,
and that never has a happy ending.
Hagar was destined for a rock and a hard place—
punishment if she refused,
punishment because she obeyed.
Hagar could stomach the morning sickness,
but she'd had it with the abuse
and ran away, determined to die in the desert
rather than spend one more day
as a pawn in a power play.
God could have let Plan B die right along with her
and the unsanctioned baby hiding inside.
Instead, he gave birth to Plan C,
and it's been hard labor ever since.
Abram couldn't wait on God,
but God has enough forbearance
to deal with all our impatient messes—
even if it takes an eternity to clean them up.
God is forbearing.
God answers our questions.
God's blessings are constant in changing situations.
GENESIS 31
In this chapter, Jacob complains that Laban has changed his wages ten times. "However," Jacob said, "God has not allowed him to harm me. If he said, 'The speckled ones will be your wages,' then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, 'The streaked ones will be your wages,' then all the flocks bore streaked young." (vs 7-8)
God's timing is different than ours.
GENESIS 23
As I was reading this chapter, it dawned on me that the first part of Canaan that Abraham possessed with a burial plot. That seems rather odd, doesn't it, given what God said in Genesis 15:18-21? "On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, 'To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.'"