Football season is quickly approaching and one of our grandsons is getting ready to play Pop Warner football again. We love to watch Stevie play and cheer him and the team on to victory. However, a couple years ago when Stevie was playing, something else happened.
The other team already had 7 points and our team was at the 1 yard line, ready and eager to get into the end zone to score a touchdown. But, the eagerness of one player caused him to jump the play and move. You know what that means. Yep, our team was moved back 5 yards for the penalty. The same player did this not just once, but four times in a row, causing our team to not get the touchdown.
It is sort of like us, isn't it? We are doing good and moving down the field; everything is in place. Our jobs are going well, our families are healthy and happy, we have extra money to do things with - we are on top of the world. We decide we're doing so well that we can do something or make a big purchase without asking God if it is in His plan. We just jump in and go for it, thinking that God is in it and won't let us make the wrong move.
Perhaps we have prayed about it, but God hasn't given us a direct answer yet (or the one we want to hear). We decide that since God hasn't answered as quickly as we think He should have, the answer must be 'yes' and He is waiting on us. So we move ahead with that job change, with that big purchase. After all, it had to be His will for the salesman knocked the price down for us without us asking for it, or everything just fell into place so easily, it just had to be God. And then we quickly find that God's answer was for us to 'wait'. Or it may have been 'no'. Dreams may have fallen into place, but there were a lot of hidden things that have made things very costly at this time. When we bring the play onto God's field, and wait for His answer - and we wait, regardless of how long it is - we find that sometimes His answer to what we want is 'no' because He has something much better in mind for us. Sometimes the answer is just to 'wait' because all the pieces are not lined up yet.
Sometimes, we find ourselves being moved back 5 yards because of our eagerness to make the move into the end zone. We don't learn the first time to wait for His answer, and we keep getting moved back. We tell ourselves that even though things are rough because we 'jumped the play', we just know that God is going to bless our next move. Only nothing happens. We keep trying to get ahead of God, when He just wants us to be patient and 'wait' for Him to tell us to move.
What would you rather do - jump the play and get moved back 5 yards - or pray and ask God to set the timetable and wait upon Him to show you when to make the touchdown? I know that when I choose to wait on His timing, He will make something beautiful happen. When I jump ahead, my life is chaos. My dreams may never come true the way I want them, but it is more important that I be obedient and wait upon the Lord. His timing and His dreams for me are much better than mine will ever be.
Psalm 25:21
Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,For I wait for You.
Psalm 27:14
Wait on the LORD;Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!
Psalm 130:5
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,And in His word I do hope.
Blessings!
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