IT TAKES TIME

WAIT I SAY ON THE LORD (Micah 6:1-16) He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you. But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?(Micah 6:8) As I share this morning, I pray that you can relate and be encouraged to learn to wait on the Lord and move in step and in timing with Him, that you may recieve God's blessings from the heart of your God that is able to say well done. My walk with God, has been a cake walk compared to some. But still in my human state I have found my walk not to be a race. Although at times, I tend to want to run ahead of God, and at other times I am sure I lagged behind. But over the years I have found that the race of life is not a matter of finishing first, but I am learning every day, it is a day to day walk, at times I need to run but very seldom. Instead, I have had to set goals of staying close and coming into His presence on a daily bases and learn from the word of God as He speaks to me through it. It is important to walk, step by step with Him. Sometimes this world feels like you are a hampster on a wheel in a cage, and other times, it feels like life has slowed to the pace of a turtle and you seem to be going no where. I must say though those times for me have been few and far between over the years. These last 5-6 years have been likely the slowest I have gone for many many years. But it has been good. Its a long story, kind of staring in 2018, so actually longer that 5-6 years, 2028 would be 10 years already. Time flies when your having fun, they say. In 2020 over in Rwanda, our pace came to a grinding hault and we went to our compound for self icelation during CIVID, and was basically there just me and my wife for 90 days. I went out once a week and got food, beyond that we either stared at the four walls of our home or we walked the court yard of our compound. When life slows down like that and almost stops, I have learned there is a reason. God, is deliberatly making time for reflection. It is not a delay as it may feel like, but rather a preparation for something in the near future that God is prpeparing you for. God knows how to set the roots of your character just a little bit deeper, so that you will stay grounded in the next steps in your walk with Him. God wants to build His character within you, stablizing you and building up your trust, in those slow moments of life,before that hidden season just ahead is revealed. Then as it becomes visable, you are able to look basck at that slowness and see why God allowed that slow time, or the trial you were facing at that time. During that slow time in 2020, we had much time to talk, to study the word, to pray, oh man did I pray. I could not understand why it was happening, but in that time God brought to me, things that had happened over the past 7.5 years as to how He fulfills the things He has told us before. And in that time I began to see how God was preparing me for things happening today. A slower time but a deeper time of contimplation of what it looks like just before Christ returns. I try and stop myself from running ahead of God, out of pure impatience, if I lag behind, it is usually because things are not happen fast enough and I get discouraged. I find myself getting pulled too and fro, and out of harmony with His guidance. Thats why these mornings of coming into His presence is so very imortant. I have found it very, very important for me, to start my day in the Word of God and in an attitudwe of prayer. It is an intentional time when I study the word of God, and during this time God brings many peoples names before me, and my prayers go up/out for them, from my mind and heart. It is also a time where I share or bring my honest thoughts, my worries/concerns, because sometimes I don't worry, but rather am simply concerned about someone or some thing, and I can bring it to God and leave it in His hands and move on. Then there are other things, I question and linger on, seeking His will and His moves in dealing with a situation. For instance right now, He knows where my mind is, and the confusion that is swirlling in my heart and mind. Do I push it, or do I let it go. Either way, what is my part in it? These are qustions I am asking myself right now, and Lord, I confess, I am struggling with it. I need to present my concerns to God and invite Him into these moments, to me they are not ordinary but to Him,they for sure are, in all of the world He has likely dealt with them over and over again, because He is God and He rules the world. I try to invite Him is into my life as I am driving, during my work time, and now even as I face this tough situation, I need to remain faithful, seek His direction, so I do not make things worse rather than better, so I need to do things in His way not mine. Whatever I do, I need to walk humbly before my God. I need to align my daily choices with His as it is spelt out in (Micah 6:8) in whatever I do I need to act justly, be loving and show grace and mercy, while yielding my plans to His guidance. The easy way out would be to do nothing, and that may be His will, or it may be the difficult challenge of dealing with it, and face the trials that I may have to face doing so. Either way, I need to bring it all before the throne of God. Jesus said “to always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1). In this I see it is learning to trust God and waiting patiently for Him to act in giving me guidance in the situations I seem to have myself facing or that He has brought before me. Lord this morning as I bring the struggles of my mind and heart to You, please comfort me as I wait in your presents in my day to day. In your name I pray AMEN.