Oct 6, 2010
Did I Do That? The Mystery of God’s Timing
I’ve been waiting for something to happen. I’m not quite sure what, but for a long time I knew it hadn’t happened yet.
A little while back someone was praying for me. He shared a promise from God. I thought it sounded pretty good, so I’ve been on the look out for it. I had some thoughts on what the fulfillment of that promise would look like, but nothing much materialized.
Why didn’t God fulfill this promise yet?
I began to worry and even doubted a little. Then I repented and began to wait… and wait. And then the overanalyzing began—the part in the story where people of faith really are screwed.
When bad things happen or good things are delayed, I usually try to figure out what I did wrong. Clearly God was punishing me. If I could just get my act straight, he’d open up the gates of blessing.
I imagine there’s this huge file of blessings in heaven piled up on the Holy Spirit’s desk, and God storms into the office demanding why the blessings are so far behind, asking why the Holy Spirit hasn’t followed through on his promises, and threatening to take away his tongue of fire privileges.
The Holy Spirit patiently waits for his turn, and then pulls out an official-looking memo with “Ed Cyzewski” across the top and a brief, but damning bullet point list of my flaws that are preventing me from receiving his blessings. God, in a fit of frustration, crumples up the memo, tosses it in the air, and zaps it with a lightning bolt.
“Tell him to get his act together!” he booms as he storms out of the office.
Now before an ultimate-fighting pastor calls this post Satanic because of its depiction of the Trinity, let’s just make it clear that God doesn’t work like that. God or the Holy Spirit would never write a memo.
So here’s the thing…
I think part of that promise I received has started to be fulfilled.
I’m not 100% sure, but it seems that way. I feel blessed and cared for, but I also know that I didn’t do this. I didn’t do anything all that different beyond trusting in God. I was trusting God when things looked bad, trusting him in this time of uncertain progress, and will continue trusting him whether things get better or worse.
Trust and obey our loving God: this is the daily drum-beat of Christianity. Get used to it.
Our actions can alienate us from God, but I don’t think God plays games with us. He’s not withholding treats from us unless we have a certain measure of faith or attain a certain level of Christian awesomeness. Sin can separate us from God, but when it comes to the fulfillment of his promises, waiting patiently in faith is all we can do.
Thankfully, that’s exactly what God wants from us.
Ed…I had a good belly laugh at your wonderful descriptive section about the Holy Spirit’s file, just brilliant, pure genius. I consider the difference between belief and faith as follows: beliefs give you a lot of security, faith is insecurity. You don’t know. As you say “waiting patiently in faith is all we can do.” That is trust in His truth and love for us. Thanks for yet another thoughtful post.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by edcyzewski and edcyzewski, James Cohen. James Cohen said: Very Insightful post – RT @edcyzewski: New blog post: Did I Do That? The Mystery of God’s Timing – http://tinyurl.com/2w4vamc. [...]
amen! love this and haha i have definitely had a similar thought about god. thank goodness He is not like that!
“Trust and obey our loving God: this is the daily drum-beat of Christianity. Get used to it.”–love this line. so true. it’s day in, day out.
[...] I wrote about persevering in faith as the only way forward in Christianity. Part of that process is also trusting that God can use us [...]
Thanks James and Katy. I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one working through all of this stuff!
Some scriptural promises are conditional, if you will do ____ the I will do _____. But many are unconditional. It seems to me when God says something, unless there is an explicit condition, then he pretty much means it.
Good point Justin!