Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Patience”
Our Bible verse for today: “There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “We must patiently wait on the Lord’s timing.”
There seems to be two equal and opposite mistakes people make when it comes to waiting on the Lord’s perfect timing. Some people procrastinate to the point of inertia. They are so unsure of themselves, and they are so afraid of getting out of step with God, that their fear and uncertainty immobilize them and as a result they end up doing nothing. They endlessly wait for a burning bush experience, or for God’s handwritten instructions in twenty foot letters emblazoned across the sky. And in the meantime they do nothing. These folks are patient to a fault. In fact they use the illusion of patience – the premise of waiting on God, as an excuse for their inaction.
On the other end of the spectrum are those who are so eager to do something that they get way ahead of God. These people have no patience. They can’t sit still long enough for God to speak to them. “Wait” is a four letter word to them. And so while the people in the other group are out of step with God because they won’t do anything, these people are out of step with God because of their lack of patience and the fact that they are running so far ahead of Him. They may be doing the right thing, but they’re doing it at the wrong time.
As Solomon points out in Ecclesiastes 3:1, there is an occasion, a right time, for everything. That “right” time is “God’s” time. The key to our success as faithful and obedient followers of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be so in-tune with the leading and guiding of His Holy Spirit, that we are walking and working according God’s plan, in God’s way, and in His timing. This takes discernment and spiritual maturity. It is something we learn how to do over time as we submit ourselves daily to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
One of the most important benefits we gain from good habits of practicing the spiritual disciplines is that we learn how to be patient and to wait on the Lord when that is appropriate, but also how to boldly go forward with Him when the timing is right. There is an occasion for everything, and the Lord’s timing is always perfect.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 