That's quite a spread of scripture and quotes I know, but there's a method to my madness. I think a struggle common to all who say they are His is in the realm of our faith and expectations. Our faith in Him, and our expectations of what we believe He will do....or not do. These struggles can so easily lead us into the realm of assuming and presuming. We believe we know when He's going to act, and how. We set the timetable, and we control the means of His moving. We rarely put this into words, but more often than not, it's what's in our hearts. When the Lord doesn't go along with these assumptions and presumptions, we can find it easy to wander into the realm of unbelief, and dare I say, rebellion?
Watchman Nee asked, "Are we living in rebellion, presumption, or submission?" I think we can often find ourselves in the first two, far less often in the third. In Mark 4, Jesus told the disciples plainly that they were getting into the boat and going on to the other side of the lake. They presumed that it would be a safe, quick journey. A life threatening storm had no place in their thinking. As the winds and waves rose, they said to the sleeping Jesus, "Teacher, don't You even care that we are going to drown." Teacher. Not Lord. At that point, they fell far short in knowing who He truly was, and because of that, their faith was feeble and weak. They acted, spoke, far too quickly, and believed much too slowly. How like them are we?
God told Joseph that he was to be a man of greatness both in his family and nation. Then He allowed him to be sold into slavery, and eventually unjustly sent to prison. Psalm 105 says that He used this time to test Joseph's character. Surely the results of God's work in Joseph's life fell far short of his expectations of what that work would look like. We love to get the promises. We can do without His testing of our character in seeing the fullness of them come about. Faith and expectations. They can be quicksand for all of us.
Matthew 20 details Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. A triumphal entry was predicted for the Messiah by the prophets, but so many Jews expected the Messiah to come as conquering King, which meant He would enter upon a warhorse. Yet Jesus came upon a donkey. Indeed, not even a full grown one. He didn't meet the expectations of many. It was a triumphal entry, but it was missed by most because He didn't come to them (or through for them) as they expected. Quicksand. How much like that is it for us as concerns our expectations of how He should come, work, be?
Here are some things we can be sure of here. He is true. He will keep His Word. He will come. And, in the meantime, He will, as He did with Joseph, test our character until the fullness of His time. How are we doing in the test? Rebelling? Presuming? Submitting? The answer I think will lie on how deeply and well we know Him. Like the disciples, our lack of knowledge will show in the storm. In the storm we'll be exposed. What will we be exposed as?
Blessings,
Pastor O
Watchman Nee asked, "Are we living in rebellion, presumption, or submission?" I think we can often find ourselves in the first two, far less often in the third. In Mark 4, Jesus told the disciples plainly that they were getting into the boat and going on to the other side of the lake. They presumed that it would be a safe, quick journey. A life threatening storm had no place in their thinking. As the winds and waves rose, they said to the sleeping Jesus, "Teacher, don't You even care that we are going to drown." Teacher. Not Lord. At that point, they fell far short in knowing who He truly was, and because of that, their faith was feeble and weak. They acted, spoke, far too quickly, and believed much too slowly. How like them are we?
God told Joseph that he was to be a man of greatness both in his family and nation. Then He allowed him to be sold into slavery, and eventually unjustly sent to prison. Psalm 105 says that He used this time to test Joseph's character. Surely the results of God's work in Joseph's life fell far short of his expectations of what that work would look like. We love to get the promises. We can do without His testing of our character in seeing the fullness of them come about. Faith and expectations. They can be quicksand for all of us.
Matthew 20 details Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. A triumphal entry was predicted for the Messiah by the prophets, but so many Jews expected the Messiah to come as conquering King, which meant He would enter upon a warhorse. Yet Jesus came upon a donkey. Indeed, not even a full grown one. He didn't meet the expectations of many. It was a triumphal entry, but it was missed by most because He didn't come to them (or through for them) as they expected. Quicksand. How much like that is it for us as concerns our expectations of how He should come, work, be?
Here are some things we can be sure of here. He is true. He will keep His Word. He will come. And, in the meantime, He will, as He did with Joseph, test our character until the fullness of His time. How are we doing in the test? Rebelling? Presuming? Submitting? The answer I think will lie on how deeply and well we know Him. Like the disciples, our lack of knowledge will show in the storm. In the storm we'll be exposed. What will we be exposed as?
Blessings,
Pastor O
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