Clock Watchers

"A watched pot never boils." At least that's what the cliche says. We are not a patient people. We are constantly moving faster and faster. Often when I talk with friends and they ask how things are going for me, my new response is it's going in "Fast-Forward." We use flash drives, microwave dinners have mostly replaced home-cooked meals, and the pace seems to quicken the longer I live. And yet, God doesn't move at our pace. He is above our time... he created it!

I began reading the book of Exodus this past week. This book begins its account of the Hebrew people some 400 years after Joseph and his brothers settled in the Egyptian land of Goshen, and even longer since God's initial promise to Abraham regarding the promised land. From this point, they are still a generation away from it. God's people are in bondage and have been for a long time. God has a plan for His people. He made a promise to His people, at yet, it takes hundreds of years to come to fruition. I have to imagine that had they had clocks back then, would they be watching them saying, "Um, hello God? We are a little uncomfortable here. You mentioned something about a promised land?"

God kept his promise, but it wasn't on their schedule, rather it was on His. The Hebrews struggled a lot with this attitude while they wandered in the desert and longed for the onions and leeks they used to have in Egyptian slavery. In the process of wandering, God refines and purifies his people. History tells us that right in his own timing, God answers His people's cry and fulfills His promises. Always has, always will.

In my own ways, I often begin whining and complaining longing for "onions and leeks" of yesteryear, and yet God is refining and purifying me. I must learn to wait patiently for the Lord. When I read the Bible, so often, for me the action that God takes is but a page turn. But to those in the situation, often times it is years in the making, sometimes, generations.

Lord, Your timing is always perfect. Teach me to trust you, and wait on You. I know that Your "apparent delay" always has a bigger picture in mind and is but a page turn away.

"The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." (2 Pet. 3:9)

Big Change from Little Words

Sorry for the change in title and picture but apparently, all I did was either offend or confuse. Perhaps this will suffice. If you have heard me teach, you have likely heard me state that my favorite word in the Bible is the word "but." Grammatically speaking, the word "but" is a conjunction, which describes a contrast from one phrase or clause to another, and in my reading this morning, I ran across one BIG "BUT!" I was reading Paul's letter to Titus when I ran across it.

Paul is writing to Titus, the pastor of the church on the island of Crete and one of Paul's converts. The book's outline and message is simple and straightforward. First, Paul speaks about church leadership, then he addresses how a diverse church should interact with one another, and in the third and last chapter, he instructs on how the church should interact with the world. He reminds them of who they (we) once were: "For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another." (3:3) I don't know about you, but I usually don't have much trouble remembering my past. So, why would Paul bring up the past? However, the thought doesn't stop there...

BUT...

"...when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." (vs. 3:4-7)

Can you see why I like the word "but?" And this is a big one! This describes a transformation of identity. This, folks, is the Great Exchange! We go from rebels to being heirs! The awesome thing that this verse declares is that we can do NONE of it! God does it all himself, because He is the only one who can do anything about our plight (go back and look at all the times the words "He" and "His" is used)! The verb forms used here state that this is a done deal! And since it is God who is doing this, it is sealed! (cf. 2 Cor. 1:22, Eph. 1:13)