Prayer: Father, help me to allow You to move in Your timing and not my own. Amen.
Reading: 1 Samuel 13 key: vs. 8- 11a “So he waited seven days—the time set by Samuel—but Samuel had not come to Gilgal so the people began to scatter from him. Then Saul said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings,” so he offered the burnt offering. But as soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet and greet him. But Samuel asked, “What have you done?” TLV
Attention: Have you ever been anxious to hear from God and gone ahead and made the decision on your own? This is exactly what Saul did. He admitted to Samuel that he had waited the prescribed time of seven days and he couldn’t wait any longer. Instead of waiting for Samuel to fulfill his anointed role as the high priest of Bnei-Yisrael, he took on a role which was not appointed to him.
Saul’s defense was “I forced myself” to administer the “burnt offering and the fellowship offering.” He only got as far as the “burnt offering” and Samuel showed up. If he had only been willing to wait another few moments, God would have shown up in the person of Samuel, His prophet and priest.
How many times do we get anxious and decide on our own. We have asked God in prayer, but not been willing to wait. We get anxious. It is important to know that God is not bound by time. He owns time. Time is in His control. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
Remember that many of God’s anointed servants lived in obscurity for years and they were older when God began to use them. God may have you in a season of preparation. He has had me in a season of preparation for years. Remember the advice of the apostle Paul to the Philippians, “Do not be anxious about anything—but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God (4:6).”
I know it is easy to say and tough to be patient. My experience is God is never early, never late, but always on His time.
Action: I choose today to allow God to work in His timing and not mine.
Yield: I choose today to wait on God and not to get ahead of His process.
Engage: I choose today to engage with the Holy Spirit in allowing His timing to prevail.
Relationship: Father, I reminded of the hymn which says, “Oh what pain we often forfeit…, all because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer.” I forfeit Your timing and wisdom by getting anxious too. May I understand that worry is sin. Worry is taking control of what does not belong to me. My life is Yours to guide. Amen.
Memory Verse: Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything—but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” TLV
Video Music: Phillips, Craig, & Dean—You Are God Alone https://youtu.be/ZOargNFiDd4
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”