In my yearly read through of the bible (it doesn't start in Jan 😀), I recently got to the end of the Old Testament and reflected a little on the long 400 year gap between the last Prophet and the coming of the Messiah. God's timing is not always ours is it? We are also pretty impatient in our technology focused world, driven by instant messaging, emails and social media. I sometimes wonder how the people who were back in Judea felt at the long gap, had some given up waiting while others tried to tie down behaviour to "ensure " that they were ready and while yet others exploited the situation seeking power and position?
How good are we at waiting? How good are we at jumping the gun a bit and trying to make things happen when we believe God has given us a direction and things seem slow happening? We were reminded in church recently of the story of Abram (Abraham) and Sara (Sarah). Childless they were promised a son by God, but nothing seemed to be happening.
(Gen 12:31) The LORD had said to Abram, "Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you. "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. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
How often do we like Abraham and Sarah try in our own strength to do what God has promised? In my experience that usually leads to problems, wrong directions and even heart-ache. Fortunately for Abraham and Sarah, God did give them the son who would be the root of blessing for all peoples, Isaac, even though they had produced Ishmael from a servant rather than wait.
Nicola and I thought last year that we had the next phase of our lives worked out. Retiring from a church and job that we both loved in Essex and which we knew we would miss, but realising it was time to hand over to a new minister, we prepared. Sold our home in Sussex (4 times in 6 months) and prepared for living near the sea. A few weeks before our retirement the buyer pulled out leaving us with no choice but to return to our house in mid-Sussex and see what the future held. We are trying one more time to see if the move to the sea is on this year.
While I am convinced that retirement was to right thing and we are loving spending more time with family and grand-children we have questioned our plans for where to live. Does God want us where we have now returned to or is the move to the sea-side and a different adventure still the plan just not in our timing? We are enjoying being in the church here but continue to seek God's direction for what is next, here or the sea-side. His timing and plans are good and perfect, ours are often impatient and flawed.
I have just read Luke chapters 1-5 and the account of Jesus' the Messiahs birth. God did do as he had promised his people, just not in their timing and not in a way that they expected. Perhaps we need to learn patience and listening to God more than we have?
