The Patient "Long Game" - Day 129 Month 5-9 Week 19-3
Today's Reading (Bible in 1 year)
Deuteronomy 12, Psalm 105, John 4:7-4:38
The Patient “Long Game”
Time and Patience. I always feel short of time and I struggle with patience.
Moses talks to the Israelites in Deuteronomy about their history. He takes them all the way back to God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob followed by Jacob’s son Joseph taken as a slave in Egypt. Then after about 20 years of being a slave and wrongful imprisonment, he gains great power and all of Jacob’s family (Israel) settles in Egypt. After many years, the new pharaoh starts to fear them because they became so numerous, and he forces them into slavery. They miraculously leave Egypt but end up spending 40 years in the wilderness. The time between Abraham being given the promise and entering the “promised land” was 470 years. It’s a remarkable, long journey filled with sadness and joy.
God was not in a hurry. All the experiences of life in the desert were in preparation for entering the promised land. Abraham was promised that the number of his offspring would be as many as the “sand on the seashore”. Clearly that would not be Isaac alone. We calculated earlier the number of men who left Egypt was 600,000 so the population would have been approximately 2M people. Time was required for that. The people also needed to learn how to be God’s chosen people and even that was a tough lesson.
I mentioned Joseph. Joseph was sold as a slave to Egypt . There was 20 years of preparation before Joseph was used by God to bring the rest of his family (Israel) to settle in Egypt.
Moses was away from Egypt 40 years before he returned to Egypt to be used by God to rescue the people of Israel.
When I was 18, I thought I’d be pretty established as an adult by the time I was 25. When I was 25 I realized I was not there yet so maybe by the time I was 40. I got to 40 and the cycle continued. I’m 65 now and I still feel unprepared for God’s purposes.
God is not concerned with time and He is very patient. His plan will be fulfilled but when He’s ready. Within God’s long term plan there are smaller lessons to be learned and things needing to be fulfilled in God’s time and with patience. So as we live in the now enjoying God’s amazing creation, we fulfill God’s short term plans in order to fulfill His long term plan.
The nation of Israel waited for God’s plan to bring the Messiah. It was 2000 years between Abraham receiving the promise of the “promised land” and Jesus, the Messiah, being born in Bethlehem. It’s now been over 2000 years since Jesus' death and resurrection and the long term plan has not yet been fulfilled.
Jesus Christ, spent 3 years training the disciples and they were hearing it straight from the Messiah Himself. Maybe you feel that you’ve learned enough to be used by God, or maybe not. Possibly, you are still in training. You are now reading something that took 65 years of preparation for me to do … and I suspect I’m not there yet. This is just a start.
I want to encourage you that wherever you are on the timeline of your faith and God’s timeline of His work to be completed, you are part of His long term storyline. You can choose to be a Jesus follower right now. He’s patiently waiting for you to say yes. God’s time is endless but each of us has very limited time to make that decision. Make the decision today!
Have a great day!
Steve
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