Patience

Impatient! Suddenly it came to mind that what I was experiencing was impatience.  I was out with my youngest daughter, doing some shopping for her mother’s birthday and Mother’s Day.  It was our best opportunity of the week to get this task done.  We left on our errands right after I came home from work and I hoped to get them done in an hour, when we would arrive back at home for supper.

On my way home from work I had had what I thought was a brilliant idea for a birthday gift, so that was our first stop.  The planned gift turned out to be at the store I had guessed might have it but in completing the purchase things began to go.  My credit card wouldn’t go through.

So I called the number on the back of the card and waited.  And waited.  About the time I had decided on “Plan B” someone picked up the phone and we worked out the problem.  Bad news and good news. There appeared to be fraudulent activity so they were going to cancel my card, but they would allow our transaction to go through.  We made the purchase and activated Plan B anyway, which was a side trip to the credit union to get some cash.

Off to the second stop of our trip, taking more time than was planned for.  We had a bit of a roundabout trip due to all the traffic, as people drove home from work.  After that stop I called home and told Robin we’d need another half hour.  About the time I made that call the traffic got worse.  Bumper to bumper through town.  We moved over to let a fire engine through and when we got to the corner and made the turn we saw the fire engine a half mile down the road, at the location of our next turn.

Another roundabout path to our next destination, which was when it occurred to me that I was suffering from impatience, large and small.  To end the story, we did get the errands done and home for an absolutely delicious dinner.  But back to impatience.

It occurred to me that not only was I impatient due to relatively little things, such as getting these errands done and the obstacles that were appearing, but also due to several larger things, things that are really out of my hands and where I’m are waiting on the decisions of other people.  And what occurred to me as soon as I realized I was being driven by impatience was the application of a sermon I read last week based on the Heidelberg Catechism.  (I’ve written about the Catechism before, here and here.)

In describing God’s providence question-and-answer 28 of the Catechism says this:

Q. How does the knowledge of God's creation and providence help us?
A. We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing in creation will separate us from his love. For all creatures are so completely in God's hand that without his will they can neither move nor be moved.

In discussing this question-and-answer G.H. Kersten wrote:

“All things happen according to God’s counsel, but it is a comfort for God’s children that the Lord will guide them with His counsel, and afterward receive them to glory.  May the Lord comfort you with that thought.  Endure the oppression and scorn of the world for a short season.  Let men despise, exclude, and trample upon you; soon it will all be ended.  Before the throne of God you will sing, more than anything else, of the deepest ways – singing unto Him who led you and redeemed you to praise and glorify Him forever.  Amen.”

As I  considered the Catechism and Kersten’s thoughts on it I came to the conclusion that what I needed to do was to lay my impatience before God, for I know and trust that all of creation, from the first day to the last, and all of my life, from conception to my last breath, is fully in His hands.

Neither the little things nor the big things that try my patience right now can compare to the eternal security I possess in the love of Christ, a love that holds me now and will never let go.  A love that, as Kersten writes, has redeemed me to praise and glorify Him forever.

May you too know the providence of God's love, so that you can let go of your anxiety and impatience and live in His providence and peace, a peace as described by Paul in Philippians 4:7,

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

(Here is a link to a different translation of the Catechism, including the scripture references that underscore each answer.)   

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Waiting on God

Last December I started on a schedule that was designed to have me read through the entire Bible in one year.  If you look online you can find a number of different ways to do this.  The one that I am using divides the Bible into seven sections, roughly according to major type of writing within each book.  On Mondays I read from the Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy), Tuesdays is History, Wednesday is Psalms, Thursday is Poetry, Friday is Prophecy, Saturday is Gospels and Acts, and Sunday is Epistles. 

As I am reading through the Bible some things I read are very familiar, while others are not.  Like most Christians, I presume, I am much more fond of and familiar with the writing of the New Testament than the Old.  And while there are many parts of the Old Testament that are familiar, such as most of Genesis and many Psalms, there are other parts of it that I have likely read, at most, only once or twice before, such as Numbers and 1 and 2 Chronicles. 

One of the strengths of a one-year reading plan is that I become better acquainted with the entire Bible, rather than just reading the parts I enjoy the most.  Some of this is challenging, because when I read it I have little understanding of the context a specific part arose from and what God’s intent was in both the initial writing and preserving it for us today.  I have had those challenging moments repeatedly in some portions of the Old Testament, particularly lately, as I have read Leviticus and started Numbers.    

Yesterday I read Numbers 9, 10, 11 and 12.  It had a mixture of things that seemed clear and others that would need closer study and prayer for me to understand more fully.  And I was pleasantly surprised to read something that spoke directly to the circumstances of me and my family at this time and place in our life.  That was Numbers 9:15-23.

The setting is relatively early in the Exodus.  The Hebrew people have left Egypt and Moses is leading them through the desert.  According to the instructions given in Leviticus they have constructed the Tabernacle, which is to be their place of worship as they journey, the place where God has told them he will be present among them.

Since the first moment when they have fled from Egypt, after the Passover, God has physically shown his presence among the Hebrews through a cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night.  Day or night, the Hebrews can look to the sky and see the symbol of God’s presence with them.

The passage from Numbers 9:15-23 tells how the Hebrews are to know when to break their camp and where they are to go next.  If God’s cloud is over the Tabernacle they are to stay put, and if the cloud lifts and moves they are to pack up and follow it.  Verse 21 notes that a stay could be for as brief a time as one night and verse 22 notes they could be in camp for a month or longer.  Verse 23 sums up their following of God’s cloud like this:

“At the command of the Lord they camped and at the command of the Lord they set out.  They kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by Moses.”

This passage speaks to me because our family feels as if we are under the cloud of the Lord, watching and waiting to see when it lifts and where it will lead us. 

Looking back over the past few years we can see that God has been at work preparing and leading us by steps.  We have made some choices in the belief that God is leading us to a place which at present is known only to Him.

At times we get a bit antsy and wish that God used clearer signals with us, perhaps like the cloud leading the Hebrews through the desert.  But that doesn’t seem to be the case.  We have to remind ourselves that, to paraphrase Isaiah, “God’s ways are not our ways.” And that is a very good thing. 

And we know that waiting for God to move the cloud isn’t a passive activity.  We aren’t sitting like bumps on a log.  We continue to do all of the things as people and a family that we did before we embarked on this part of our journey through life with God.  But we do so with our eyes open, scanning the horizon to see if the cloud is moving and where we may be headed to next.

How does God show his presence in your life, and where is He leading you to? 

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.