Waiting is Biblical

I think Holy Spirit is teaching me that to wait is biblical. It is a hard lesson because I am a naturally inpatient person. I remember becoming so frustrated as a child if I couldn't figure out a puzzle right away. I wasn't the type of child to keep doing the puzzle until I got it right. Not me. I would get upset and knock the puzzle over and stamp away in frustration mumbling "stupid puzzle!"

As I've grown older, I've learned to be patient but it's still not easy. I like doing puzzles now even though it takes days for me to do them. I enjoy the process of working on puzzles till there complete, and have even learned to work on them daily instead of spending hours on it. 

When I took jiu jitsu for a few months, I learned to be patient when I didn't get the exercises right away. I still remember when a teaching assistant showed me how to front roll because I wasn't getting it. Once he showed me, I got it and was so proud of myself. I even learned to front roll and stand up straight, which impressed the teaching assistant. During that night of learning to front roll, the students in the class set up obstacles to see how far you could fly and still front roll. You had to do a running start and let yourself fly through the air over the obstacles and do a front roll. Now that I think about it was kind of dangerous, and not everyone participated but I did. I made it the second to the last obstacle course and did my front roll and stood up at the end impressing everyone in my class. 

When Holy Spirit is trying to teach me something, books show up randomly in my email Inbox to help me. This is the book that showed up - Mark Vroegop called "Waiting isn't a waste: The surprising comfort of trusting God in the uncertainties of life." Here's a bible passage from the book:

"They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31.

There's also an article from the book author on the Crossway website - How (and How Not) to Wait.

I still hate waiting, but I am learning that if I become inpatient than it means I am not trusting God and the Holy Spirit to lead me in my life. Thinking that I don't trust God seems more horrible to me than the act of waiting, so I am learning to wait and taking comfort from all the bible passages on waiting. 

Day 175 Bible Readings - Acts 16: 6-7 (ESV)

1 Kings 12: 25-33, 1 Kings 13, 1 Kings 14: 1-20, Acts 16: 1-15, Psalm 94: 12-23

Acts 16: 6-7 (ESV)

“And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.”

Verses 6 and 7 from Acts 16 describes the Holy Spirit guiding Paul in his missionary work and how obedient he was to following the Holy Spirit. One of the commentaries I read on Acts 16 said something to the effect that the Holy Spirit guides by opening doors as well as closing doors. It can seem confusing sometimes when you feel blocked to go in a specific direction that seems like such a good idea, and when you pray about it you get the message that the Holy Spirit saying that direction is not a good idea. You really must rely on your trust and faith in God to not go through in what looks like a closed door. Perhaps the timing is off, perhaps God has a different door that you need to go through to get to where you want to go, only God knows what the specific reason is for the closed door. What we can do is to have absolute trust that God is always leading us in the right direction and in the best time for us and God’s plan.

Day 174 Bible Readings – 1 Kings 11: 39 (ESV)

1 Kings 11: 14-43, 1 Kings 12: 1-24, Acts 15: 22-41, Psalm 94: 1-11

1 Kings 11: 39 (ESV)

“And I will afflict the offspring of David because of this, but not forever.’”

Verse 39 from 1 Kings 11 shows the compassion of God to Solomon and his descendants, even though Solomon had disobeyed God in his old age and started worshipping other Gods. God did punish the descendants of Solomon, but because he made a promise to David who was faithful to him the punishment would not be forever. God would bring the messiah Jesus Christ who would come from the line of David.

When we are disobedient to God, we are punished but the punishment is not for all time. God remembers his promises to us and will fulfill his promise to us in the end. But in the meantime, until God does fulfill his promises to us, we will be tested in our faith. But this testing will make us stronger in our faith and more reliant on God than we had been before the testing. We need to have faith in God that he knows what is needed for us to become closer to him, even if to become closer our faith will be tested. But only in testing, can the depth of our faith be revealed to us.

Day 173 Bible Readings – Acts 15: 10-11 (ESV)

1 Kings 9: 10-28, 1 Kings 10, 1 Kings 11: 1-13, Acts 15: 1-21, Psalm 93

Acts 15: 10-11 (ESV)

“Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

Verses 10 and 11 from Acts 15 is Peter’s response as to whether the Gentiles needed to follow the laws set forth by Moses when the Hebrews left Egypt. Peter’s argument is that laws of Moses were hard for even the Hebrews to bear, and they kept breaking them again and again. Peter then argued that with resurrection of Christ, the people who believe in him are saved by God’s grace and not by obedience to the laws of Moses.

Followers of Christ still had to obey God, but they were not saved by following the laws. Everyone who believes in Christ is saved by grace. I think the bigger argument is here from Peter is what is your intention for obeying God’s laws. Are you obeying God’s law to be saved? Or are you in obedience to God’s laws because you love God and Jesus so much? If you loved Christ and God so much and with all of your heart, wouldn’t you naturally want to follow his laws? For me, Peter’s argument is demanding of each believer in Christ that they examine deeply their love for God and the reasons they would obey his laws. If we aren’t saved by obeying God’s laws, then why would we need to follow God’s laws and commandments? Each believer needs to answer this question for themselves and when they do, they will I think develop a closer relationship with God because of love and not because of obedience.