Reading: John 7
Scripture: John 7: 6-8
6 Therefore Jesus told them, “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. 8 You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.”
Observations:
In the preceding verses, we learn that Jesus' brothers are goading him to go to the Festival of the Tabernacles in Judea. They are taunting Him - "if your such a Big Man, then why aren't you seeking the fame and attention, and showing the world what you can do?"
Even His brothers didn't believe Him.
But He remained calm, and simply told them that there was a plan, and they were not privy to the details. He assured them that when His time came, He would go public.
The most important part of His ministry might just have been the waiting.
Application:
Oh wow.
These verses, these observations are exactly where we are right now.
Over the past two weeks, the Lord has been revealing little pieces of the ministry that He is going to do here. He gave us the name of the future church. He has put contacts in our life for these certain purposes.
And then there have been things that seemed like they were from God, but.... well- let's just say they were from the Lord, but not for the purposes that we thought.
Let's talk about waiting for a second.
Noah received the word to build an ark. He then built the ark for 100 years before the redeeming work was done.
Abraham was given the promise of a son, and then waited for twenty five years --- long enough for a son to grow up and be an adult in the mean-time, before Isaac was born.
Jesus was born to Mary, and then waited thirty-three years before starting to reveal His ministry.
And then there were Randy and Meredith. We received the call less than a year ago. Yes, things are moving forward. Yes, we have a monthly prayer meeting with people that are invested in this church plant. Yes, the Lord has blessed us with a home in the town that he has called us. Yes, the Lord is working (overtime, we sometimes think) in our hearts, minds and lives.
But -- the truth is, we don't have a clue what it means to wait.
This is such new territory for both of us. Randy has experience in short-term missions, and I have no missions experience at all.
Short term missions are about planning, planning, planning, and then BOOM, you act and serve in a very short period of time. There is a sense of urgency because of the short length of the visit.
Full-time or long-term missions are completely different. Much of the work is laying a foundation. Simply living your lives as a person who loves Jesus, and letting the people in the region see that you are trustworthy, honest, kind, compassionate, and most of all, loving.
There is a saying in education that I have heard many times, and it definitely applies here.
"Kids (people) don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care."
Prayer:
Lord,
We have experienced the beautiful way that you reveal Truth to both of us before moving us forward.
Help us to continually seek confirmation, so that we do not do things out of your timeline.
We are grateful for the gentle rebuke. We are grateful that you care enough to put us back in our place.
Thank you so much for not giving up on us, and for stopping us before we went down the wrong path.
Help us to wait. Teach us to listen with discernment.
And thank you. We are truly humbled.
Amen.
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