Waiting is better than impatience

Genesis 18–21

Devotions are not the same as Bible study. Study is more academic, and while I am open to the Holy Spirit, study collects and correlates information, sometimes for teaching or preaching (which I do not do).
 
Devotions are more like a conversation, a bit one-sided because God is speaking and I am listening for His voice. What does God want me to know or remember for my life of faith? How can I more closely walk with Him?
 
This year’s devotional book combines both, but the study is long and the devotional part is what the author of the study heard from God for his life. While that is truth I need too, it is not as specific or personal as when I read and study the passages myself, listening for what God says to my particular situation.
 
However, a summary of these four chapters helps me focus my thoughts. First, angelic visitors come to Abraham and announce Sarah would give birth within a year. She laughed. These angels also revealed God was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah where Lot was living. Abraham didn’t laugh but interceded, asking God not to destroy the righteous with the wicked. God destroyed those cities, but delivered Lot.
 
Abraham seemed to be more mature in his faith, but fear again motivated him to lie about his relationship with Sarah causing her to be taken by Abimelech king of Gerar. However, this king did not touch her because he was warned by God in a dream. Abimelech said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people? Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.”
 
God replied in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.” (Genesis 20:4–7)
 
When I read that part, “It was I who kept you from sinning against me,” my eyes filled with tears as I recalled a few times that temptation was so strong that I could not understand at the time why I had not given in to it. But it was God who kept me from sinning against Him. This is a precious truth. It causes me to often pray, “Lord, I am powerless and weak. You are my Savior; please save me!”
 
Later, Isaac the child God promised, was born and Ishmael, Abraham’s son by Hagar, was sent away. Of course this was not the end of it. God told Abraham, “I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” (Genesis 21:13) This nation that came from Abraham and Sarah’s effort to make God’s promise come true was, and still is, the enemy of Isaac’s offspring.
 
In the New Testament, these two sons are compared to the fruit of faith which is the work of God, and the fruit of flesh, or human effort. Waiting on God and trusting Him to keep His promises results in great reward. Whereas giving in to my own ideas of how to make good things happen very often brings results that trouble me for the rest of my life.
 
Abraham made many mistakes, but is still called the father of faith and is the example throughout Scripture of how I should trust God and wait; He will do what He promises to do!

Daily Manna

As I review some of my forty years of recorded devotional thoughts, I’m blessed all over again in the reading of them, but somewhat dismayed at the repetition. God teaches me something and I am determined to live by it, but in a few days, weeks, or months, I am given the same lesson. Often, my written response is as if I’d never heard this truth before.
 

However, God takes my mind to the experience of Israel when He took them out of Egypt. They wandered in the wilderness for forty years, relying on manna for their daily food. This God-sent sustenance needed to be gathered each day. They could not keep the previous day’s supply or gather enough for two days (except the day before the Sabbath). 

Their experience, and my own, reassures me that learning from God is a daily thing. It is much like eating. Many meals are different from the day before, yet repeating a recipe is not uncommon. The goal is daily nourishment, gleaning what I need for that day. Duplicating a meal from God’s Word can mean that I need to hear and remember the lesson of it again, not that I’ve been a poor learner, but that life’s challenges are also often repeated.

This morning, God tells me to keep on in this process, reminding me that the goal is my own growth, but also His glory:

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (2 Peter 3:18)

This process will be my portion the rest of my days. The Apostle Paul, when well into his ministry and seemingly mature in his faith, thought that he had not yet made it:

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13–14)

Paul knew he was not there yet. He had to press on, growing in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and giving Him glory. If Paul felt that way about his progress, I surely must think the same about my growth. Keep on keeping on, eyes on the Lord and feasting on whatever He gives me as my portion for each day.

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Lord, many times You reveal truth I’d never noticed before, even from familiar verses. Sometimes You repeat a previous understanding, putting it deeper into my heart. Forgive me for my dismay at the repetition. I must need it or You would give me something else. Today, may I focus on pressing on, learning of You and Your grace and giving You glory for all that You do.

Getting an Early Start

When my to-do list is long, I’ve learned that if I want to accomplish most of it, I need to do first the most important or challenging item. With that out of the way, the rest seem easy and gets finished more readily. 

Not that spending time with God is always challenging, but I’ve also learned that this needs to be first thing in the day because it is the most important. Hearing from God and getting my spiritual life in order sets the tone for the rest of the day. If I skip that or even procrastinate by doing other things, my attitude suffers. Being out of sorts can even make my family suffer.

There is plenty of evidence in the Bible that meeting God in the morning is a solid principle. Many vital events happened at that time of day, including the first mention of morning: “God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” (Genesis 1:5) 

A quick word search showed more than 230 repeats of just the word “morning” and most of them involved profound events, or commands, or obedience to commands. For instance, when Abraham was told to sacrifice his son, he “rose early in the morning” in obedience to this test of faith. (God stopped the act and this man passed the test.) Other passages include this one from the experience of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments. God told him to,

Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. (Exodus 34:2)

Other examples abound throughout the Old Testament and into the New. Perhaps the most significant concerns the example of Jesus Christ. Before a busy day of ministry, He rose “very early in the morning, while it was still dark” and left the others, going “to a desolate place, and there He prayed.” (Mark 1:35) 

As I’ve been rereading my spiritual journals, I’ve noted that I put the time of day on some of them. It was early in the morning, much earlier than I now get up for the day. While I can use the excuses that I’m older, or that I’ve had health problems, in reality, I could go to bed earlier and rise “very early in the morning.” Certainly, the days that does happen are marked. Meeting God and giving Him full attention before all else is an expression of an attitude toward His importance in my life and makes a significant impact on my day.

The last place “morning” is mentioned in the Bible is in Revelation. It isn’t about a time of day though, but give a name to the Person that I meet with each day.

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” (Revelation 22:16)

Perhaps this last use of the word “morning” suggests why this is the best part of the day to meet with God.

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Lord, I’ve been thinking about setting my alarm a little earlier for a few reasons, but this is the best reason. I know that meeting with You can happen later and You are certainly available to talk with any time of the day. However, if I have made sleeping or doing anything else more important than You, then I need to rise up earlier as a spiritual discipline. It is a great way to make sure that my priorities are right and also to let You rightly set the tone for the rest of the day.