Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from the “Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide”, is titled “Wait on the Lord”. An interesting title. The Bible is rife with accounts of people who “act” when God would have them “wait”. And people who “wait” when God would have them “act”. How to know which to do? Do you wait until you “see” the right way to go? Wouldn’t that be acting on sight and not faith? Or do you just act on faith because you are convinced you are right, even without any evidence? How to know?
It reminds me of the age-old question posited by Seventh-Day Adventists… often over pot-luck after church. The question? “You are ship-wrecked and stranded on a desert island. The only food is a pig, stranded with you. Would you eat the pig?” A fanciful question. But one to make you think. Think about yourself; about God; about the “rules”; about conflicting priorities including preserving your own life; about vegetarianism versus traditional meat-eating; about clean and unclean meat and all that means. Across the pot-luck table, the debate can rage. Perhaps you have heard these debates. Perhaps you have been part of these debates. With no real definitive answer. “Opinions are like noses. Everyone has one”, so the famous quote goes.
However, the best answer I ever heard, went like this. “You don’t know if God means for you to eat the pig or not. Perhaps the pig is there for the next person ship-wrecked on that island, after you are dead and gone. Why not ask God what to do?” My, my. What a simple answer. But maybe the only right answer. I like this answer because it posits an answer that can apply to so many situations. Including our question of “waiting” versus “acting”. The answer to “should I wait, or should I act? “Why not ask God what to do?”
We may scoff at this answer. It is fraught with so many pitfalls. That is why we scoff a little. We each know what it is like to use our best judgement… and to be wrong. And we fear being wrong. That fear can immobilize you so that you never make a decision. Were there any Bible characters that made wrong decisions? Yes!! A thousand times yes!! Over and over the Bible characters make wrong decisions. Adam and Eve eat the apple. Cain kills able. The antediluvians (all but eight) refuse to go into the ark. Moses strikes the rock… again… and misrepresents God. David lusts-after and then lays-with Bathsheba. The Pharisees (and Judas) plot to kill Christ. Peter denies his Lord. Paul decides to acquiesce to the leaders in Jerusalem’s demands… and his ministry is cut short as a result. And the list goes on and on. Was each choice by each individual a total failure? No. Not really. God actually made good out of these bad decisions. Which may underscore two things.
First, God is Emmanuel = God with us. Is He only Emmanuel when we make right decisions? Or is He always Emmanuel, God with us? Answer = He is always with us, so says Paul. Nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39), so says Paul. Can we make bad decisions that obscure our seeing Him, being with Him, knowing Him? Of course. And truly, that is the danger of our bad decisions. It isn’t that our bad decisions change God. It does not, for He is love. Our bad decisions can change us.
But this is not what we are talking about here. We are talking about Christians who know God and desire to follow God. And who are uncertain whether to wait or to act. So be assured, God is with you… in the good decision and the bad decision. Either way. He “will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). If you look to Him in your indecision, God might say, “Why don’t you decide? I am with you, will never leave you, and I will make ‘all things work together for good to those who love [Me], to those who are the called according to [My] purpose’.” (Romans 8:29). Therefore, He may say, “prayerfully make your best decision and then act upon it. I am with you.”
Secondly, God has told us (in effect) that any thinking we have that is not motivated by love, is thinking that is sinful, destructive, against His will, and thwarts His intent for us all. This, too, is a way of knowing whether to wait or to act. Letting love lead will tell you. “Is it love to act, to do for another? Or is it love to not act? Is it love to be patient and wait? Or would love act in order to avert a present danger”? Love for the other will lead you to do what is right for the other. To wait or to act. Based on the situation, either can be true love.
Again, if you are one who has responded to God, who is “called according to His purpose” (ibid), then letting love lead and using your best decision may be the best way of determining whether to wait or to act. Prayerfully, you decide…
With brotherly love,
Jim