I have watched/listened to two recent events that have led me to realize we sometimes can try to force God’s promises to happen. We can know God’s promises, and instead of trusting that he will keep his promises, we instead believe we need to somehow do the work that only he can do. Neither one of these moments have been my life experience, so I can easily start looking at character’s choices as wrong and bad. However, I soon came to realize that I can do the exact same thing.
The first one is me watching the show, the bachelorette. Yes, I love that show. Is it the most Christ-centered show, absolutely not. Why do I like it? I don’t know. However, there are moments where I can get so frustrated with the people on the show. One of the bachelorettes of this season (this season there were two bachelorettes-never been done before for those who have never watched the show) was a woman who was so focused on getting married and particularly getting engaged by the end of the season. She became so focused that she broke it off with a wonderful man because he wasn’t ready to propose at the end of the show.
This made me realize how much some people will put into marriage and that it is somehow needed to be there in order for others to feel accepted into the world. Why does she feel the only way to be complete is to have a man promised to her forever? Why couldn’t she be content with a boyfriend till the timing was right? She gave away a chance with a guy she could love forever and really have it work out, but she decided she had to be engaged at that moment. She couldn’t wait a month longer. This bachelorette did end up getting engaged to a different guy, and she would end up having a broken engagement.
The second event happened when I met with my discipler. We are reading a book about women of the Bible. The two women that we focused on this week were Sarah and Hagar. These two women were very flawed. Rachel wanted a baby, with a dying passion. She wanted to be a mother, and culturally at the time, she wanted to be away from the shame of being barren. Even though she was promised that she would be a mother, she decided to take matters into her own hands and decide to have her slave bare her a child through her husband instead. What a choice! That is surely a way to take matters into your own hands.
Believe it or not, this did not end well. Jealousy, anger, and insecurity reared their ugly head. Sarah believed Hagar was hoarding her pregnancy over her. Because of this, Sarah became very harsh with Hagar even while she was pregnant. Hagar would run away from the home, and only the love of God brought her back home to Sarah and Abraham. God had promised Sarah a baby, and she would receive her promise. Fourteen years later, Sarah’s dreams came true when she, in her very old age, would become a mother. She would have a baby, and like she agreed with God, she would name him Isaac.
It can be easy to look at these two examples as complete extremes. We are not in these usual life experiences. We are not on a reality show, and we most likely don’t have a woman we would choose to have a child with our husbands. However, we can all get so tired of waiting for God’s promises or waiting for God’s timing, that we start to stress over how we can achieve certain things on our own. I know my particular struggle is whether or not God will really use me in the place of work that he has set aside for me. The Lord has promised to use me to advance his word. I need to remember to lean into the areas where he is leading me and know he is helping make ways for me to be a light for him.
One verse that really highlights waiting for the Lord is found in Psalms 27:13-14, “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” This was a psalm that was written by David. David, while he was a king, did not necessarily always have a good life. He had many enemies, and he had many who were after him, wanting to kill him. He made mistakes, but he never lost faith in the Lord. He alway stayed close to the Lord, which is why he was considered a man after God’s own heart. This Psalm is a good reminder for all of us, to continually look for the good in the world, even when there are dark moments and there are dark people, to look for God. There is also a song by Hope Durst called “Promise Keeper” that references the verses of Psalm 27:13-14. Some of the lyrics to this song are “My eyes are gonna see, miracles and victories. You are a promise keeper, and your word will never fail.” How beautiful!
God has never changed. He is the same God who was with Sarah when she believed there was no way she could be a mother at such an old age. He is the same God who promised her a child and provided. He is the same God who provided a Messiah that was prophesied all through the Old Testament in order to save you and me. He will also be the same God who will keep all of his promises that he makes to his people. My challenge for you this week is to think about something that you are struggling to wait for God in. Leave it at the altar and the hands of Jesus. Bring him your concerns and the promises that you do not believe are going to be achieved. Then, as challenging, as it can be, wait for God to fulfill his promises.
Colossians 3:23 Blog 