I’ve been thinking…

Why Does God Make Us Wait?

In my first book I said that the word “wait” was the worst four-letter word in the entire Bible.  I still think it is the hardest word to put into practice.  Isaiah 30:18 tells us that God waits to be gracious to us and shows mercy to us in the meantime.  The verse then ends with the fact that those who wait for Him are indeed blessed.   [Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore He exalts Himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him.] (ESV)

So, I’ve been thinking… Why does God wait?  Why does He make us wait?  He is God!  He could just have a thought and it would instantly happen.  Miracles take no effort on His part.  Like the universe, He just speaks and it comes into being. 

I had a pastor years ago who was talking about the trials and suffering we face in life.  He said, “It takes crushed grapes to make sweet wine.”  He was right.  But you know, it also takes something else to make sweet wine.  It also takes time.  Time to mature, time to sweeten, time to give God the glory for everything we learn along the way. 

Is God making you wait?  Have you been praying for something for a long, long time?  When I’m waiting I run through a mental checklist of faith.  It goes like this:

Is God, God?  Yes! 

Can He do anything He wants to? Yes!
Can He make miracles happen?  Yes!
Have I prayed and surrendered to His will on this?  Yes!
Could He do it?  Yes!
Has He done it?  No!
Why?  It’s none of my business!  God knows what He’s doing!

Now there are lots of reasons why God doesn’t answer prayers.  In Matthew 7:7-11 Jesus says that a good father doesn’t give a snake when the son asks for a fish.   

But I’ve been thinking… what if the son, in his ignorance, asks for a poisonous snake?  A good father will say, “NO – but wait – I’ve got something coming that will be even better for you.” 

Because we live in an “instant” world of fast food and microwave cooking, when we pray, we want the answers to be “what we want – and when we want them.”  God often answers our prayers with, “NO – but wait – I’ve got something coming that will be even better for you.” 

If we search the scriptures we find that God often makes people wait for blessings.  Even his “special” people have to wait.  I’ve been thinking about Abraham who waits many years for the promised son, Joseph who had to wait in jail for God’s plan to come about, Moses who waits 40 years tending sheep in Moab before God gives him the call to ministry, David who waits years between being anointed king and actually being king, Daniel who had to wait for his dream to be explained, Paul who waited about 14 years before he went on his very first missionary journey.  These were not spiritual lightweights yet God put them on hold for significant periods to produce the “sweet wine” we each can learn from today. 

Even Jesus waited 18 years to start His earthly ministry.  He was 12 in the temple with the wise men when He showed He was fully equipped to begin teaching and ministering.  But God had Him wait until He was 30 to start His public ministry of building His church.  Why did God make even Jesus wait?  Luke 2:52 gives us the clue.  It says, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” 

Perhaps God is giving each of us an opportunity in our waiting – an opportunity to give Him all the glory and praise for the process.  Through the process of waiting and learning how to submit to God’s will in our waiting, God is increasing our wisdom, and our stature, and our favor with people around us, and our favor with God himself.  That’s a growing process.  If we can graciously wait on God, it can be a real testimony to those who haven’t yet learned to.  And… 

That is why God gives us the growing experiences of making us wait.   He’s waiting until we are “sweet enough” for His purposes.  So, while you’re waiting on God be the best “waiter” ever, giving Him all the praise and glory along the way. 

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.    Isaiah 40:31 (ESV)

Think about it…

Being a Christian is Counter Intuitive

I’ve been thinking…

Being a Christian is counter intuitive!

First a definition of what I mean when I say counter intuitive.  Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines “intuitive” as, “quick and ready insight.”  And I’ve been thinking that, after all these years of being a Christian, there is nothing intuitive about living the life of a believer in Jesus.

Take for example the fact that a Christian is born again into a brand new life.  But, to live that life every believer must die to themselves.  (Galatians 2:19,20)

To gain increase, we must give sacrificially. (Luke 6:38)  To lead, we’re called upon to serve. (Luke 22:25,26 ) To win the victory, we’re told to stand and watch God win the battle on our behalf. (2 Chronicles 20:15,17)  When we suffer, we need to rejoice.  When our enemies hate us, we are to love them. (Luke 6:27,35)  None of these actions make “common sense”... They are counter, or in the opposite direction from, what makes a “quick and ready insight.”  You could say that the Christian life makes “uncommon sense.”  This only figures since God is such an uncommon person. 

Think about that.  There is nothing at all common about Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit isn’t a common individual.  And the Father?  Well, try using common sense when figuring out the Trinity, His creation, or, for that matter, why He loved us even while we were His enemy. (Romans 5:8-10)  He just doesn’t make sense.  He is counter intuitive.

When God has a plan for Abraham to build a great nation, He doesn’t tell Abraham to start having as many kids as possible.  No!  He tells Abraham to wait for one child.  Then, after years of waiting, Isaac is born and God instructs Abraham to go up on a mountain and offer him as a sacrifice.  Now that is counter intuitive.  Yet, Abraham doesn’t use common sense.  Abraham says to his servants, “We are going up to the mountain and we will return.” (Genesis 22:1-5)  In his faith in God’s promise Abraham goes against his common sense and knows that if God asks him to kill the child of that promise, God will cause some miracle to bring that child back to life.  Counter intuitive?  That’s a giant, Yes!

In this time of empirical reason when man only wants to believe what he can see, touch, and measure, for us to turn over the control of our dreams, thoughts, and actions to this unseen, untouchable, and completely immeasurable Savior? (John 20:28,29) It’s counter intuitive for sure.  But that’s exactly what a counter intuitive God wants from you and me.  To walk in a lifestyle pleasing to Him, we’ve got to follow His will and instructions not our own understanding or “quick and ready insights”…

We need a “renewing of our mind.” (Romans 12:1,2  Ephesians 4:22-24)  Depending on my “old-life” thought processes will run me into an intuitive dead end.  We’ve got to breakout and by faith obey all these things mentioned above and trust that God will prove himself faithful. (1 Thessalonians 5:24)  He is fully capable of defending His own instructions for living.  And that’s even counter intuitive!

Think about it.

Link to Len's website:     lenmallen.com

Failing the Job Interview Before You Even Start

The job seeker can find and even be overwhelmed with lots of resources to help build a good resume, how to write a great cover letter, how to dress for success, even how to present yourself in networks and interviews. But, there are very few resources to help us correctly deal with our attitude issues and be ready to successfully interview for our next career opportunity.

This is precisely why I wrote the book, Unemployed: Life in the Wilderness – A Practical Guide for Living with Unemployment. In today’s job search, if we don’t learn to deal with issues of mind and heart we will not be able to achieve our goals of getting a productive job.

My book is not about “how to get a new job” it is about “how to be mentally and spiritually ready to get a new job.”

The interview is a spiritual battleground. We’ve got to overcome things within ourselves before we can overcome unemployment. Human Resource Managers across the board agree that unless you deal with issues of attitude you are failing the interview before you even start.

To get a copy of my book use the link to Amazon.com or purchase a signed copy through the PayPal link on this site. You'll be glad you did.