Anticipating God or following him?

Last gasp of beauty: hostas

The Old Testament is full of God's promises.

As I've been reading, I'm struck by two choices people make, believing God's provisions in the present and the future:
1) Bible characters get impatient and try to make the promises come true. Then they blame others for their mistakes:

• Adam and Eve try to gain wisdom by eating the apple. They blame each other and the serpent. They get thrown out of paradise and have to forage for food. They know more, but at what cost!
• Sarai tries to perpetuate Abram's lineage by having Abraham impregnate her maid, Hagar. Sarah blames Abraham for Hagar's pride and mockery and forces Ishmael and his mother into the wilderness. Arab tribes come from Ishmael's 12 sons: the boys and their descendents have been at war with everyone from the very start, yet they became "princes" because Abraham loved Ishmael prayed a blessing over him and his tribe.
• King Saul sacrifices because he gets restless, waiting for Samuel to appear. He claims that he has done what God asked and blames the soldiers for keeping the spoils. Saul loses his trusted mentor Samuel: he never sees him again. God abandons Saul and gives his kingdom to another family.

The patience of God's creation: tall and strong

2) Bible characters work and wait for God to make the promises come true. When they make mistakes, they confess their shortcoming and ask God's forgiveness.

• Noah builds the ark for over a century; finally God gives him the go-ahead and he and his family are spared the floodwaters. If he'd gone in and shut the door before God told him to, the food would have been eaten, most animals wouldn't have been rescued, and Noah would have been confined for nothing. Instead, he and his family become the foundation of human families.
•  Abraham hears God say that he and Sarah would have a son when he's nearly 100; he gives it another go and Isaac is conceived. He lives for 75 more years, long enough to see Isaac marry and begin his own family. (Oh yeah: after Sarah's death, Abraham has 6 more sons by his Keturah and perhaps a few more concubines. Not such a great idea to start the Midianites and create other enemies for Isaac's line. Sigh.)
• David refuses to usurp the kingdom from Saul even when Samuel has told him he's the next king. Even when "God-given opportunities" put Saul into harm's way. Even when everyone's advising him not to waste time. After Saul's death, David waits 7 more years for Saul's family to relinquish control before ruling all the tribes. God says David is a man after his own heart, and that his family's rule will never end.

Our driveway in fall: the leaves
are beautiful even in death

Sometimes it seems like God is waiting for us to seize the moment. To make things happen. To move ahead and MAKE God's promises come true. Yet in doing so, we ruin the opportunities where God intends to do the miraculous, beyond our own abilities or imagination.

Noah is saved. Abraham becomes a great nation. The Messiah comes from "the root of Jesse:" David.

Our driveway in autumn, glorious color
before the grey wait for spring's new growth

What does your future hold? Did God whisper a dream into your heart? You can anticipate it, force it to life, and perhaps spoil its fulfillment. Or you can trust God to make the vision come true in his own time, with his perfect timing, wisdom, and power.

It's your choice. What are you waiting for?

Read more:
*Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:6

*It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:26

*Stand firm, and you will win life. Luke 21:19 (NIV)

Moravian Prayer: God, we are still and silent and know that you are God. Strong in your assurance, we loudly rejoice your unyielding presence. Be our firm and guiding light. Amen.

She's a-comin'

Sometime in the next week or two, we hope to meet our first grandchild. Melissa's doctor predicts a girl and we're looking forward to saying hello to her.

"Have you looked at all the cute things for baby girls?" my friends kept asking. "Such fantastic things! You can spend your whole afternoon in the little girl section of a store!"

Until this week, I've resisted gathering baby stuff. Melissa's friends and family rallied at a huge baby shower last weekend, and we had no idea what gifts Baby would receive. This week I found a Britax stroller/carseat on CL, and Rebekah passed along a Graco play-set with "the works" for traveling and infant comfort. Along with newborn disposable diapers, our purchases are done for now.

While I puzzle together the baby stuff, W's busy nesting elsewhere. He's finished the top tread of bamboo on the stairs this morning. Now he is sanding the conservatory. When I moved the furniture out earlier, the sun-darkened wood outlined the edges of the rugs. The raw fir floor, installed at Christmas, has shifted as it absorbed heat, cold, and humidity. Over the past months, a few canine guests added their yellow inspirations in a few places.

I remember my impatience and obsession with our babies' development during pregnancy. Every day stretched into endless hours and minutes of waiting. I'd wake up thinking, "23 weeks, 2 days. Morning." At noon, I'd remember, "23 weeks, 2 days. Lunch.) In the evening, it would still be, "23 weeks, 2 days. Ah, it's finally evening." 

The next day I'd wake with, "23 weeks, 3 days. Oh no, I still have the whole day to get through." In a mean twist of fate, I delivered our first child 15 days "late," the second 8 days "late," and the third and fourth nearer their due dates. (Where we live now, gynecologists push for quicker arrivals. Our Canadian family doctor said, "That baby will come when it's ready." Right, Doc!)

Watching W work, I am grateful for lessons learned by previous delays. Years ago, the unfinished floor and waiting for this grandchild's birth-day would have buzzed through my mind from morning to night, nearly every day. Mental blocking techniques and absorbing energy into other projects help. However, learned reluctance to dwell on events and unfinished chores beyond my control has become the biggest stress-reliever.

Sometimes people waited a long time for good things from God's hand, like those ill for decades before Jesus healed them. I'm content with the drone of the sander. Relieved we can step down or up the steps without watching our feet. And I'm very glad that we'll soon greet Timothy and Melissa's baby.

I guess patience pays off. Eventually. 

Read more:

*Then Jesus went over to their synagogue, where he noticed a man with a deformed hand. The Pharisees asked Jesus, 'Does the law permit a person to work by healing on the Sabbath?' (They were hoping he would say yes, so they could bring charges against him.)

And he answered, 'If you had a sheep that fell into a well on the Sabbath, wouldn't you work to pull it out? Of course you would. And how much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Yes, the law permits a person to do good on the Sabbath.'

Then he said to the man, 'Hold out your hand.' So the man held out his hand, and it was restored, just like the other one! Matthew 12:9-13 NLT

*(Jesus) "I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” 

When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them.  While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God. Luke 24:49-53 NIV