Frantic or Faithful. What Your Actions Say About You.

In the last post I shared how I’m a DOER, not a WAITER.

I like ACTION. 

So when God says, “Wait.”, I often ask “Why?” 

Sorge says, “God was saying that a person of faith will not act hastily or out of desperation when the crisis is on. Faith means:  no frantic decisions in the face of crisis.”

Good advice.

It’s always better to sleep on something than to reply rashly. 

Time allows our emotions to cool off and new evidence to emerge.

It also gives God time to talk…and us to listen.

YET…

All too often, I rush full steam ahead, asking God to keep up.

It’s no wonder I’m usually frustrated. I’m acting completely contrary to how a Christian should.

Faith means I trust God when He says to “WAIT”.

Faith means I’m NOT God. I’m not even a little god.

I BELONG to God. I was purchased at a high price and I’m not my own. I’m HIS ambassador. (1 Cor 6:19-20, 2 Cor 5:20)

He didn’t save me just to watch me be tossed carelessly by the storms of life.

God cares about me (YOU).  He wants to see me (YOU) succeed. (Phil 1:6)

So when the crisis comes and I want to move quickly for resolution, God says, “CHILL OUT”.

I say, “But what about…”

God says, “I don’t care about XYZ, I care about YOU.”

“God can out-wait anybody. He just waits and waits, while the crisis looms larger and larger, and He waits some more. And then He waits until the crisis becomes an impossible predicament. And then He waits some more! Finally, when the remotest chance of escape is completely gone, God intervenes suddenly and miraculously.” 

God waits because He cares more about us than our current situation.

That’s not saying God doesn’t sometimes instantly answer our prayers and deliver us from whatever is coming against us. It does mean that God is STILL loving when He doesn’t immediately respond to our plight. 

He wants to make us more like Him and fire is the best way to purify us. Fire drives us to our knees. It brings us to the end of ourselves, and helps us to seek Him in new ways. It also shows how inadequate we are to meet life’s demands. No plans we have, no security we think we possess, no talents, or relationships outside of Christ, can do what He can.  

Only He is God.

He loves us.

He sent His son for us. (John 3:16-17)

Think about it this way:  IF we trust Him with our eternal salvation, why not trust Him with our current predicaments? (please tweet)

Various Assyrians (trials) will come against you in this life, no one is immune.

It’s tempting to rush ahead, to meet the enemy head on and ask God to bless our efforts.

But it’s smarter, it’s FAITH, to wait for God’s command to “GO”. 

“The nation of Judah couldn’t see that God was for them: all they could see was that Assyria was against them.” 

Keep your eyes focused on God. It makes it easier to see the Assyrians (challenges) for what they are, opportunities for God’s name to be praised among the world (testimonies).

Join the Book club discussing, “The Fire of Delayed Answers” by Bob Sorge, by either grabbing a copy of the book and joining the weekly discussions and/or leaving a comment below. You can read more about this chapter from: Jason, Sarah, Dusty, Kari, Glynn,  and Joell.