One of my perplexities is knowing whether to act or to wait on God. When I see something that is not right, I pray about it, but am I supposed to do something? Or am I supposed to wait and see what God is going to do?
Feelings can be confusing. I might feel great consternation about the thing that bothers me, or have a deep sense of pity or concern. Yet I’ve learned not to let feelings govern my decisions. They may alert me to the depth of someone’s need, but are these feelings an expression of the Holy Spirit who feels the same way, or do they reflect mere human pity?
Feelings can be strong and unpleasant. I know myself well enough that I could act simply to alleviate my own discomfort rather than out of a loving motivation to help the person in need. That is selfish, and certainly not the way God wants me to respond.
My own reasoning can be confusing too. I can see people in need and assume they must be rescued, yet have no idea what God is doing in their life. Perhaps they sinned repeatedly and He is using their current distress to get their attention and bring them to repentance. Rescuing them from God’s chastening could be counterproductive from His perspective.
Also, I might see people in need and know enough about them to start thinking they are getting what they deserve, that their stress is a result of their own foolish choices. Helping them might be enablement, at least in my thinking. While God gave me a brain and wants me to use it, using it must bring His will into the equation. Otherwise I am certain of making colossal blunders.
As I look at the Bible for guidance, I find general principles. One is from James 2:15-18. This is in the middle of a section that says Christian faith is proven by the actions that we take. (That is, genuine faith is demonstrated by doing, but we don’t earn our salvation by doing.)
Nevertheless, these verses are helpful for my perplexity. They say, “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
God doesn’t want me to see a need and just wish good things for the people in need and not do something about. The Bible adds the idea that whenever I am able, I should help those in need. Maybe that is the issue—am I able?
I’ve a huge prayer list and almost all of my requests involve things that I cannot do. I cannot open the eyes of those spiritually blind, nor heal the hurts of the abused. I cannot bring forgiveness to a bitter heart, or restore the faith of the disillusioned. I cannot give safe travel to those on the road, nor can I heal the sick, or give joy to those in sorrow. Only God can do those things.
What can I do? I can speak His words of comfort or encouragement—as He gives them to me. I can teach truth to those overcome by lies—as He offers teachable moments. I can organize the disorganized—at His leading. I can give of my resources—to those He puts on my heart. I can lend a helping hand—when He puts situations in my path.
My heart knows that whatever I do it must be motivated by Him. In a quick search for verses using the word “wait” I found the following verses.
“Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day. . . . Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You” (Psalm 25:5, 21).
“Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!” (Psalm 27:14)
“Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.” (Psalm 33:20)
“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.” (Psalm 37:7)
“My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense” (Psalm 62:5-6).
“The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (Lamentations 3:25-26).
Yet I know procrastination can disguise itself as waiting on God, so I did a search for verses using the words “do this.” This one yielded fewer verses than “wait” and they were either negative (don’t do this) or in context of “do this” because God says so, but the last one gave me the balance I was hoping to find.
It too is from James, this time in the context of making plans to do what seems to be a good thing, but without consulting God. James 4:15-17 say, “Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’ But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”
I cannot plan to do anything without the Lord’s input on the matter, but if something comes up and I know He wants me to do it, then waiting around for more input from Him and not doing it is pure disobedience.
No comments:
Post a Comment