In God's timing

I like being efficient and do things fast. I dont like to waste time and what i dislike the most is waiting, whether it is as small as  waiting for someone when I pick them up, or waiting for things to happen for eg in my case right now that is meeting my future partner. You can see from my life , as soon as I finish year 2 uni, i straight away looked for internship, and i hopped from one work to another very fast. I talk fast, eat fast, even walk fast. And with today's world, it makes things worse. 

I copied this from one of the websites i stumbled across as i prepared this sharing:

Some of us have very busy lives and feel as though we are always in a hurry. Others may have had to slow down for reasons outside their control and may feel some resentment, or at least a slight sadness, at not being able to do as much or do it as fast as was possible in the past.

One of the reasons we find it difficult to slow down is that we have not become convinced of the need for things to occur “in the fullness of time.” We feel there is so much to accomplish and so few years in which to do it all that we've become addicted to instant everything. It probably started with instant mashed potatoes! Now there's instant food at drive-through windows, instant cash from an ATM, instant credit from all manner of stores, and instant information available online. We have lost the ability to let life unfold in its own time.

Actually i write this entry because I am preparing for sharing in my cell group this friday. I have been wondering what I should share and somehow Holy Spirit led me to this topic. Probably it was also because this is my biggest weakness. 

I remembered the story of Abraham, which i remember quite vividly because we learnt it at BSF.

Abraham , who is He?

His father is Terah, who was the descendant of Shem, Shem was one of the sons of Noah (Gen 11). 

Abraham was called Abram , which 10 years after he had Ishmael, God changed his name to Abraham - meaning father of many nations (Gen 17).

He was 75 Yo when God called him out. 

Abram was called out of where he stayed by God. one important point that we notice from the beginning about Abram's character is his obedience. The fact that he was willing to move to a place where God didnt even tell where it is was amazing because  he was living in a nice place called Ur, and he has got his servants, cattles and flocks, basically he was quite wealthy. He was called out by God without God but after he was called out, he never lived in proper place anymore (always in tent).

When Abram was called, he  moved with his Nephew Lot. 

Read Gen 13.

After he was out of Egypt, he got lots of possessions that their land couldnt support their livestocks , which caused the separation of Lot and Abram. 

Abram let Lot chose the land he wants (see Gen 13:8-9) ; even though he has every right to choose the better portion of the land because he was Lot's uncle. Obviously Lot chose the better portion, 

Gen 13:10  Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt.

, but look what the Lord did for Abram because of his humility 

14 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring[a] forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”

Even thou Lot may look like he has chosen something better, God's reward is bigger than what human can imagine. 

We need to trust in God, what we may see as good may not necessarily be good for us. in this case, and when we learn to do the right thing( that is not to be greedy like Abram) but value relationship over possession, we can be sure that God will take care of our need , like how Abram was disadvantaged but in the end he was blessed even more than what Lot has. And if you read further, you will notice that Sodom was full of wicked people and in the end the whole land was destroyed. Human will never be able to know this but God can see everything. Learn to rely on God.

Moving on... 

we see how similar Abram  is with us.  Even though he was the father of many nations, he is just another human like us. From the beginning when God called him out, he has received multiple promises of descendants he was still worried (unbelieving).

When he was first called out 

Gen 12:2-3 “I will make you into a great nation,

    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.[a]
3 I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you

When he reaches Canaan

Gen 12: 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring[c] I will give this land.

When he let Lot chose the land

Gen 13:16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 

Even after multiple promises he still doubted,

Gen 15:2  But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit[c] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

Abram actually asked this question right after God said this: 

Gen 15: After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

“Do not be afraid, Abram.
    I am your shield,[a]
    your very great reward.

If i were God, i would have been so annoyed, instead, God answered him by telling him that he will have son from his own flesh and ask him to look at the sky cos they will be as many as stars and finally he believed (verse 6).

How similar are we to him?

it is natural for us to waver in our waiting just like Abraham but we need to remember to fix our eyes on God. in this case we see that Abram told God his worries and God helped him.

On the other hand, look at what happen when he started to use his own head (strength) to solve his problem.

16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”

Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaanten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived

Maybe Abram was thinking probably he could help God a bit in the process of having descendants, and since God did say that he will have descendant from his own flesh so he compromised and justify himself that he is doing the right thing. Remember this, when we start to compromise, we are opening a small hole for Satan to come into our lives. 

Often we behave the way Abram did. Yes we know God promised us something but sometimes we just go ahead and do it our way instead of trusting Him. 

It scares me to learn about the consequences of one single act/decision made. Ishmael (the son of Abram and Hagar) was the start of Muslim religion and even till now Muslim and Christians are still at war.

Yes in the end God still gave Abram the promised descendants but there is always consequence for every decision we made.

So how do we stay in God's timing and plan?

Honestly speaking, it is never easy and we will always be wondering when it will be fulfilled. However as we wait the only way to make sure we stay on the right track is asking yourself this question, am I glorifying God when I do this?

1 Corinthians 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

This applies to any situation,

 for eg:

when you decide whether to join your friends in the club,

when you decide whether to take that job (considering what you have to sacrifice in return)

when you decide whether to start a business

or even when you decide what you eat, what you wear, your daily routine like how you spend your time. 

whatever it is that you are doing, if you can always ask yourself that question,does this glorify God? I am sure we can all avoid taking the wrong steps or at least we get some precaution. 

However do not let this question backstabs you. This question is to help you to be more and more like Jesus instead of condemning you of not being able to do this or that or havent reached the standard of what a Christian should be. We are all work in progress, even father of faith like Abraham can make mistake, but we shouldnt take it as an excuse for us to make mistake. Instead we take the examples from the lives of people in the bible, study it, gain wisdom and not make the same mistake. 

God wants to bless you and me. When we take matters on our own hand, we are declaring that we do not want  his blessing and because He has given us freewill He will let us walk the path we choose. However, He will always open His hands when we are willing to go back to Him. 

The question is, are you willing to sacrifice your comfort zone, the things that the world think good, what you think is good, to glorify God?

All glory to God

Orange girl ^^