Waiting Upon the Lord

This morning I was reading from 1 Samuel. In the latter part of this book we read how David is fleeing from Saul. David has been anointed as the new king of Israel because Saul has turned his back against God. In contrast to Saul, David is a man after God's own heart. So God continually blesses everything that David does. This makes Saul jealous to the point that he wants David dead.

So David flees from Saul, but God continues to bless David and provide for him. On several occasions David could have easily killed Saul but he does not. Instead David says, "The Lord forbid that I should do this to my lord the king and attack the Lord's anointed one, for the Lord Himself has chosen him" (1 Samuel 24:6).

David could have easily said, "I have been faithful to the Lord and the Lord has protected me. Surely the Lord is the one who delivered my enemy into my hands, therefore I will kill him." But instead David is patient to wait upon the Lord and he is not eager to take matters into his own hands.

I find this fascinating and challenging. I wonder how often I see what God is doing and take matters into my own hands, instead of being patient and waiting upon the Lord for His timing. Clearly God calls us to action, but how often do we act too soon? May we learn to be patient and wait upon the Lord for His timing and His way, in our lives and in our churches.

Love of God

As I've been reading through the Old Testament the last couple of months I've noticed some things. One of the things that I've noticed is how desperately God longs for His people to be Holy. I reflected on this the other week, but it continues to strike me as I read.

Yesterday I was reading the second half of Joshua and came across the following verse, "He was not the only one who died because of his sin" (22:20b). As we read Scripture I think it's pretty clear that sin is not just personal. Sin always affects others, even when it might not seem so obvious to us. That is why God takes sin so seriously. Our sins do not only affect us! So, in the Old Testament we see this structure where laws are given in order to protect people from sin and to keep them holy so that they can truly live as God intends.

However, the laws didn't help to keep people free from sin. Instead, they had the opposite effect, and people became enslaved to sin. Then, in the book of Jeremiah we see that God is going to make a new covenant. No longer is the covenant going to be written on stone (the law), it is now going to be written on the heart.

God still longs for His people to know Him and follow Him. God longs for us to be free from the power of sin and to live life as it was intended to live. God desperately wants us to be holy, and will go to great lengths to make that possible. He even sent His one and only Son. Praise the Lord!

Choices

We make a lot of choices in life - what to eat, what to wear, what radio station to listen to ... Most of the choices we make are trivial and not of that much importance. That's not to say that we don't make more significant choices - whom to date, whom to marry, where to go to college, where to live, what job to take.

Life is full of choices, but the greatest choice we could ever make is whom we will serve. In Deuteronomy 28:47-48, God tells his people that if they do not serve God they will serve their enemies. Just a couple of chapters later God says, "Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses... Oh, that you would choose life, that you and your descendants might live! Choose to love the Lord your God and obey him and commit yourself to him, for he is your life" (Deut. 30:19-20).

As I read those verses this morning I was overwhelmed with the incredible love of God. God wants to bless us, and God desires to work in our lives because of His incredible love. However, God does not force himself upon us and He allows us to choose what we will do with our lives even if it leads to death.

I am thankful that we have a God who loves us so dearly. I choose life.