God Works in the Now --Where We Are

Some of us are tempted to despise the present because we are unhappy with our circumstances...anywhere else is better than here. (I am not directing these remarks to victims of abuse. May God and we help those who are in such situations! And if you find yourself in such a situation, may you flee to safety at the closest opportunity ... seek help. And I do pray that Christ is with you and protects you and gives you strength and that he uses others to help you).

For those of us who are discontented because we are not where we want to be and thus despising where we are, let us remember that God works in the now. Here are the words of Dallas Willard:

"We must accept the circumstances we constantly find ourselves in as the place of God's kingdom and blessing. God has yet to bless anyone except where they actually are, and if we faithlessly discard situation after situation, moment after moment, as not being 'right' we will simply have no place to receive this kingdom into our life. For those situations and moments are our life." The Divine Conspiracy pp. 348-349.

God's Timing

"There is a time for everything  under the sun." Ecclesiastes 3

I can mentally assent to the truth that God does everything in his proper time but I don't always appreciate that truth experientially. Many times, I'd like God to expedite my prayer request and desires. I want them now! Why can't he understand that? When I don't get my way, I sometimes behave like my just-turned-three-year-old Iliana. I throw a tantrum. I moan and groan to God. I mope around--at least internally. But when I step back, I think about how distasteful unripe fruits and vegetables are. Or really anything that we eat uncooked or half-baked. There is a natural rhythm on the earth, seasons. There are seasons of life. There are natural rhythms and seasons in the spiritual life, too.

God is not a "shove-it-through-half-baked-sloppily-done" God. He does all things well and everything happens in its time. While we're in the process of bearing fruit, really we shouldn't be self-concious of it, that is unhealthy, but if we think of it for this particular metaphor, we must think about the fact that God wishes us to bear healthy, ripe fruit. He does not wish it to be plucked or offered until it is ripe.

All throughout the book of John we hear Jesus say, "My time has not yet come" or hear the disciples report "his time had not yet come." Jesus did not do anything out of turn. He didn't try to make a puzzle piece fit where it didn't go. We often do that. And then we wonder why we are having trouble or why there is chaos in our lives.

If we would just submit to God's timing, to the natural rhythm of his universe and kingdom, then we'd be filled with peace and see that he does make everything beautiful in his time.

Perception of Time/Waiting - Kathleen Norris

Our perception of time is subject to technological revision, and increased speed has generally translated into subtle diminishment of our capacity to appreciate our immediate surroundings. In his 1849 essay, "The English Mail Coach," Thomas DeQuincey noted that while the new, high-speed coaches of his day offered much faster travel than had been thought possible a few years before, they also distanced passengers from the countryside. The simple pleasures available to the stroller or wanderer on horseback--the scent of wild roses, a glimpse of a fox with her kits, an exchange of greetings with other travelers or laborers resting from their labors in a field of sweet smelling, newly-mown hay, -- had been traded for increased efficiency . . . .

Waiting seems at odds with progress, and we seldom ask whether it might have a purpose in and of itself. Etymology helps us here, for when we look up the word wait  we are instructed to see vigor. Waiting, then, is not passive but a vigilant and watchful activity designed to keep us aware of what is really going on. Isaiah evokes this radical waiting as a source of vitality: "Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,/they shall mount up with wings like eagles" (Isaiah 40:31). Such waiting is meant to engender a lively hope rooted in the physical as well as the psyche. It is in an action "hop" contained within the word. To hope is to make a leap, to jump from where you are to someplace better. If you can imagine it, and dare to take that leap, you can go there--no matter how hopeless your situation may appear.

From Acedia and Me: A Marriage, Monks, and A Writer's Life pp. 220-221.

Running Ahead of God

“Give me my inheritance . . . .” (Luke 15:12)

Are you contemplating taking your inheritance and running off? Like the prodigal (Luke 15:12), you think, “My Father is just taking too long to give me the desires of my heart (Psalm 37:4). He is robbing me of enjoyment now.” You've prayed, searched the depths of your soul and have concluded that your desires are not sinful. So why is your Heavenly Father delaying? Thoughts like, “If I do not do this now it is not going to happen,” and “Maybe I just need to get the ball rolling” enter your mind. You have grown impatient. Don't do it! Don't snatch your inheritance and run off to the far country(Luke 15:13)! Perhaps you don't believe that taking action now would take you to the far country. But be warned! If the Father has not given you permission to go ahead, or if you are in the midst of doubt, by running ahead you would be acting out of unbelief and will not receive his blessing. Living in unbelief without his blessing is the far country away from your Father.

Do not be like the Israelites who tried to prematurely take their inheritance. After Moses warned them, “Do not go up, because the Lord is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies . . . ” they disobeyed (Numbers 14:42). “Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the high hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the Lord’s covenant moved from the camp. Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah” (Numbers 14:43-45).

Again, if you're contemplating making a decision and know that you don't have the Lord’s blessing, stop! Do not presume upon the Lord. He wants you to wait on him and trust him to give you the inheritance he has for you at the proper time, lest you be beaten down. If he has not answered yet, he wants you to learn about him in the wilderness. Thereafter, you will be able to enjoy the land that flows with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27).