Through the Wilderness

Many times in our lives we have heard the quintessential phrase: Wait on the Lord and you will never go wrong. Which is true, of course. Time after time we have stumbled into a nasty situation because of Sara's syndrome, you know, the one in Genesis... Aw come on! Don't you know that one? OK, let me give you a little Sunday school lesson:

Genesis 15 tells the pact between Abram and God: Abram's descendants will outnumber the stars in the sky. But, there is a little problem. Abram does not have kids and he is getting older. Sarai, knowing that it will be impossible for her to bear children (after all she is not a spring chicken anymore and her looks are not exactly as a beauty pageant contestant) decides to "help" God and gives her slave Hagar to Abram. Thus, in time, Ishmael is born. The consequences of not waiting on the promise are still among our mist today (Middle East crisis anyone?). So what happened that Sarai decided to play God instead of letting Him do the work? Her circumstances became the reality and the force that moved her.

Today the same lesson applies to each and every one of us. The circumstances around us become greater than the Word that was spoken to us many eons ago. And instead of trusting on the One that is the WORD (for a reminder of this read John 1:1-4 (NIV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men) we go along biting the nails that are left on our fingers, trying new ways to "help" God. Listen, when we don't STEP ASIDE and LET GOD BE GOD, we are headed for trouble. How many times we have done the will of our hearts when it comes to our professional life, our dreams, our vision, our emotional life? Every time we do this on our own we end up hurting God, the people we love and ourselves. Then we go into prayer and have the audacity to say "God why did You let this happen?" Is est simplex... Because you went into the situation hook, line and sinker without God. What happened to the instruction WAIT ON THE LORD?

Just a final thought before I go and fix my Thanksgiving lunch. Beloved, waiting on the Lord might be difficult and hard (It ain't a walk on the beach, trust me), but if we have decided to walk with God as Noah did, then cultivate a relationship with the I AM. Get to know Him, after all, don't people say that to know Him is to love Him? I bet that after that happens, your trust in God goes up. He may not do what you expect, but He will do what is needed in your life. Wait on the Lord, and trust me, you will never go wrong.