From our last blog, we discovered that our Father, Makes Everything Beautiful in His Time. My question use to be, “Why Lord are you taking so long?” Have you ever asked that question before?

 

Your body is in pain, your marriage is in trouble, your children are not walking with the Lord anymore, you are having problems at work, you are deep in debt, or you are in some deep emotional distress. It can be a million and one things. You prayed and asked the Lord for help but nothing appears to change. Then, discouragement and frustration call your name and say, “Let’s just figure this problem out ourselves; the Lord is taking too long to answer.” This reminds me of several stories I read in the Bible but can I just share one with you from https://www.gotquestions.org/Saul-sacrifice.html.

 

The Impatience of King Saul

 

In 1 Samuel 13, Saul and his army were waiting for Samuel to arrive to offer a sacrifice before going to war. Samuel had not yet come, and the soldiers were preparing to flee rather than fight the Philistines. Growing impatient, Saul chose to offer a sacrifice on his own.

 

Just as Saul finished the sacrifice, Samuel arrived and said, “You have done a foolish thing. . . . You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you” (1 Samuel 13:13). Why was offering a sacrifice foolish? Because Saul had disobeyed a direct command from the prophet Samuel given in 1Samuel 10:8: “Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do.”

These seven days were evidently to teach Saul patience and dependence upon God. He waited the seven days, but just barely. As soon as the week was up, he offered the sacrifice on his own, refusing to wait any longer for Samuel. In this presumptuous act, Saul showed a variety of weaknesses that made him unfit to be king, including impatience and flesh-reliance. His offering showed that he did not want to work together with Samuel or obey God; rather, he wanted to take control of the situation himself. The king was to follow the Lord’s commands, yet Saul felt he could do as he chose and thus made a foolish mistake.

Another, indirect reason that Saul’s action was wrong is that Saul was not a priest or Levite. Thus, he could not legally offer a burnt offering or peace offering. Saul was of the tribe of Benjamin and was not to do the work of a priest. However, the biblical text notes that the direct reason why Saul’s sacrifice was sinful was that Saul disobeyed Samuel’s command. Samuel was a prophet and person of authority, and the word of the Lord had been spoken through him to Saul.

 

Impatience is Fear in Control

 

One of the most important lessons I have learned over the years is to “Wait on the Lord.” I have gotten in trouble millions of times like King Saul because of fear speaking through the flesh taunted me to “Do Something!” But, I have learned those days, weeks, months, and years serve a purpose in God’s School of Life; they teach me to lean on and depend upon the Lord. I have learned over the years, fear has a way of overwhelming and pushing us in a corner to make us doubt our Lord. Its voice sounds so logical and believable that we forget to turn to the Lord within us who is “The Answer,” instead we focus our eyes and emotions on the circumstances we are in. Whenever we follow the voice of fear, we end up in a worst condition than before.

 

Our Father’s Purpose in Trials

 

We can learn some very valuable lessons from our brother, James in Chapter 1 of the Amplified Bible.

 

² My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. ⁴ But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect (mature) and complete, lacking nothing. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. ⁶ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For let, not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸ he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

 

Does this scripture sound familiar? Yes, James reminds us, the trials we face, no matter how they come into our lives, through others or other ways, our Father is teaching us how to turn inwardly to Him and depend wholly on Him to direct our paths and to draw from Christ our Life within us during our trials.

 

Many of us remain little babies in the Kingdom of God because we have not learned the wonderful lessons of patience and dependence upon our Lord. Without drawing life and grace from our Lord Jesus within us, we will be like little children tossed to and fro by the winds and turbulence of life facing us. We don’t have to!  All we have to do is:

• Acknowledge to the Lord, “Lord I am not sure how we are going to handle this situation, but my eyes are upon you.”
• Lord, you are my wisdom, I trust You to guide us through this challenge before us.
• Lord, I choose to wait until You give us clarity and direction on what to do. Amen