Psalm 27: 14 NKJV
It's no secret that I don't like to fly. Whether it's a just a short hop or a long flight, I can usually be found taking the train or driving. I have heard far too many stories of air crashes and air disasters to persuade me that being grounded is one of the safest things that I can do for myself. For those who say that flying is one of the safest ways of travel, well, everyone is entitled to their own opinions. The funny thing is is that I LOVE aircraft and have from a early age. Yes, I can like everything about the airplane but just not fly on them. On one of the few times that I was dumb enough to take a flight somewhere, I was stuck in Seattle on a layover waiting for a flight to Las Vegas. After waiting for three hours I came to the realization that my dislike for flying was indeed well founded. Another thing that those who know me have long known is that I don't like to wait..for anything. My patience level seems to be a few pegs below the normal person. I don't see this as a bad thing, however. Just let me have what I need right now and we're good. Unfortunately, life usually doesn't work out quite like that. There may indeed be those times when we will feel as if we are spinning our wheels or slogging through mud in our own lives. Has God placed our lives on hold? Definately not, but at times it may seem that way. We pray, we fast and we tithe all in the hopes of somehow encouraging our heavenly Father to act on our behalf. It isn't long before we began to ask ourselves that ages old question, where are you God? For some reason, in times like these I used to feel as if I was infringing upon Gods time when I would come before Him with my requests. I felt guilty that perhaps I had asked too much of Him and that this was His way of telling me no. Well, our minds can lead us down many wrong turns when we don't understand something.
30Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, 31But those who wait on 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: 30 - 31 NKJV
Despite my own lack of patience, there are more than a few places in scripture where we are told that waiting...is a good thing. So, all of those times where I felt guilty for wasting Gods time with my requests were wrong? Well, yes, but only because I did not yet understand that I did not need to look very far to find my heavenly Father. Not only that, His love for me guaranteed that He would always be as close to me as my next breath {Psalm 34:6}. There is nowhere that I can go where my Lord is not with me. Not near me...WITH me. Before my own understanding was deepened unto the truth of Jesus which the apostle Paul tells us about in Galations 2, I really believed that there was a seperation between myself and God. Of course, those in the church did their best to stoke this belief for their own reasons. If only I would pray more or spend just a bit more time in scripture, then God would surely give in and answer my requests. Well, this is performance based religion, and it's CRAP! We are told that it is by our Lords own mercies and desires that we owe our salvation, and nothing to what we have done to earn it {Ephesians 2: 8-9}. God does not base His approval of His son (me) on my ability to appease Him or on just how much I can do to earn His favor. So many christians get stuck on this spinning wheel of performance christianity only to get burned out on church in the end. I should know, I was one of them. The truth of Jesus that we need to shout from the rooftops is that Christ Jesus is not seperated from Gods children, waiting on us to perform our own way into His good graces. No, the truth of Jesus is that His Spirit is in us today. Each and every day we live...as Christ. Although this may not mean that I'll have more patience, I am assured that if I am waiting on God, then Jesus is right there with me.
"So no, I'm not too big on religion...and not very fond of politics or economics either...and why should I be? They are the man-created trinity of terrors that ravages th earth and deceives those I care about. What mental turmoil and anxiety does any human face that is not related to one of those three?"
~William Paul Young The Shack~
~Scott~
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