Roller Coaster Favorite Ride

3/15/2012

Acts 1:7- “He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”

Interpretation: We always want to know when God is going to do something for us. We sit and pout and as our eyes remain focused on the not yet filled promise we sigh at our empty hands. Although our hands aren’t usually empty at all, just filled with all these other things we try and hold on to for comfort or contentment, which if we would only let go of, could make room for the things God is waiting to give us. Maybe it’s not that were waiting on God as much as he waits on us. He waited 20 years for me to stop messing around and start living for him and within the first month I had a list of requests I wanted God to do for me, or I at least wanted to know the times or dates, set by his own authority, that they would happen. I still do. God keeps reminding about Psalm 37:4, to “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” I think about waiting in line for a roller coaster. The line is long and when I keep looking at the roller coaster day dreaming myself on it I become anxious and excited, and the waiting becomes uneasy because I am looking ahead to things I shouldn’t even be trying to imagine because I am not yet there. It’s funny that even when I do, it’s never quite like I pictured it. Mostly because we don’t actually de-rail and go flying into the ground crashing and burning after all. If I take my eyes off, however, and focus on the friends who I’m standing with in the line, not only do I feel more comfortable, but the line goes faster! I also think of Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God.” I think about the fall of man, the first lie Satan ever told to Eve was crafted to make her feel as if she was missing out on something, that God was withholding something good from her. I don’t want to fall for that lie. There are things I want in life but I need to continue to delight myself in the Lord, and before I know it I’ll be on that ride.

Application: Today I will write in my journal to God in the morning and throughout the day read the Bible and Out of the Comfort Zone. If I catch myself over thinking about when something I want is going to happen, I’ll read the word instead knowing it’s not for me to know. And that is not a bad thing.