”When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his
fellow Israelites. He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so
he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Moses
thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them,
but they did not.” Acts 7:23-25
(To see today’s Bible reading, Acts 7:17-34, click here.)
Sometimes I think we relinquish to God our “what” much more quickly than our “how” and our “when.” We see what God wants and agree that it is good ... only to “take it from there” in a way that seems best to us. And as surely as adding two negatives results in a greater negative, our ways plus our timing equals disaster.
It seems that, even as a younger man, Moses had some sense of God's purpose for his life: to deliver Israel. But killing an Egyptian at age 40 was neither God's way nor his timing. No, he would take another 40 years to develop an older, wiser, less self-reliant Moses, an upgraded “Moses v80.0” who would hear God, trust God and obey God. And when it was God's time to lead his people out of captivity, he called Moses and led him down Exodus paths so amazing that they are still being retold to this day.
Submitting our “how” and “when” to God requires patience and trust. We tend to view patience as an ability to control our emotions – even if begrudgingly – until we get our way or at least a reasonably acceptable turn of events. But the older I get, the more I see patience as trusting, embracing and actually celebrating the wisdom of God’s timing ... even as it unfolds. For when we look back over our lives, we have to admit that God’s plan has always been better than ours, and his results much grander. Where we envision a stick figure, God always paints a masterpiece.
God has his plans and he delights in involving us in them. It is comforting to know that, even as God works around us, he also at work within us, equipping us, upgrading us and syncing us to his “what” ... his “how” ... and his “when.” And it’s always worth the wait.
Once we “get” that deep within our souls, we can be content, confident and joyful, trusting that God will always be as faithful as he has always been.
(To see today’s Bible reading, Acts 7:17-34, click here.)
Sometimes I think we relinquish to God our “what” much more quickly than our “how” and our “when.” We see what God wants and agree that it is good ... only to “take it from there” in a way that seems best to us. And as surely as adding two negatives results in a greater negative, our ways plus our timing equals disaster.
It seems that, even as a younger man, Moses had some sense of God's purpose for his life: to deliver Israel. But killing an Egyptian at age 40 was neither God's way nor his timing. No, he would take another 40 years to develop an older, wiser, less self-reliant Moses, an upgraded “Moses v80.0” who would hear God, trust God and obey God. And when it was God's time to lead his people out of captivity, he called Moses and led him down Exodus paths so amazing that they are still being retold to this day.
Submitting our “how” and “when” to God requires patience and trust. We tend to view patience as an ability to control our emotions – even if begrudgingly – until we get our way or at least a reasonably acceptable turn of events. But the older I get, the more I see patience as trusting, embracing and actually celebrating the wisdom of God’s timing ... even as it unfolds. For when we look back over our lives, we have to admit that God’s plan has always been better than ours, and his results much grander. Where we envision a stick figure, God always paints a masterpiece.
God has his plans and he delights in involving us in them. It is comforting to know that, even as God works around us, he also at work within us, equipping us, upgrading us and syncing us to his “what” ... his “how” ... and his “when.” And it’s always worth the wait.
Once we “get” that deep within our souls, we can be content, confident and joyful, trusting that God will always be as faithful as he has always been.
