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Friday, December 9, 2016

Family Friday: I’m Patiently Waiting for an Answer, But Give it to Me, Now!




It seems like the longer I have been a Christian, the Lord teaches me in different ways in comparison to when I was a baby Christian and first began walking with Christ. When I first started reading my Bible on a daily basis, I remember the Lord speaking to me right away. He would give me counsel quickly on problems I was having. Now, when I come to bumps in the road, I go to the Bible for counsel, and it seems as if God is silent to me on certain issues that I need answers to right away! I pray and then read my Bible, nothing… God has promised us that He will never leave us nor forsake us. He has promised that if we hunger and thirst for righteousness we shall be filled. He promised that if we seek Him early we will find Him. He promised that whatsoever thing we ask in His name that He will hear us. So, if I have claimed all these promises, and God promises to hear our prayers, why do I grow impatient waiting on Him to answer me? As the children of Israel were wandering around in the wilderness, they grew impatient with God and His promises to lead them to the Promised Land. The children of Israel grew weary with what God had already provided for them. Psalm 106:13b. says, “they waited not for his counsel:” When we are going through a storm in our lives or a dark time when we don’t hear God’s voice or desperately need an answer from God’s Word, wait for God’s counsel. Do not make a plan until it’s clearly 100% God’s will. Psalm 91:11 says that God will give His angels charge over us to protect us from making the wrong decisions during the dark times if we are walking with Him. Am I relying on the Holy Spirit and God’s Word to lead me all of the time or just when I think I’m making a “big” decision?
1. Be thankful and content. Psalm 106:24 says about the children of Israel that they despised the pleasant land. God was meeting their basic needs (which according to the Bible, our needs are food and clothes, I Timothy 6:8), but they wanted more. Psalm 106:14, “But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness…” How many times have I been guilty of becoming unthankful for what God has provided and wanted more? Has God put food on the table and clothes in my closet, and I want more?
2. Do not pray with a complaining spirit, but, rather with a joyful spirit. Psalm 106:25, “But murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord.” Instead of looking at all the good things God has done for us, we complain about what prayers we think He “isn’t” hearing at that time. Psalm 106:32, “Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.” In the wilderness, Moses lost his temper. While we are waiting for God’s counsel, learn to control our spirit, so that we do not do anything or say anything that we will regret. Proverbs 25:28, “He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and with no walls.” Learning to control our spirit is learning to be joyful no matter what life throws at us. Whether it be a serious sickness, to every day mundane chores, to changing dirty diapers, to pay cuts, we can learn to be joyful in all things.
3. Pray, realizing that it is not just about you! Future generations are affected by our decisions and even our prayers. Psalm 106:27, “To overthrow their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands.” When we don’t wait for God’s counsel, and take problems into our own hands, we curse our own children. Our decisions do not just affect us but our children and generations to come. Psalm 106:37, 38 says, “Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters…” The children of Israel grew impatient, and sacrificed the well-being and God’s perfect will for their own children just to get what they wanted. Once they got what they wanted, they still weren’t happy and wanted more. Psalm 106:15. “Lord, please help us to learn to depend on you, and wait for your counsel!”

Used with permission by Jackie Carr

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