8-22-13 “God’s Schedule”
Romans 8:32
Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?
I think it’s funny that I, as a Believer, need to remind myself of this truth. The One who would give me the BEST thing, his only Son, certainly isn’t holding back from giving me every good thing.
At church Pastor Dean was teaching from Ezekiel chapter one last Sunday. It starts out with Ezekiel giving this description:
On July 31 of my thirtieth year, while I was with the Judean exiles beside the Kebar River in Babylon, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. This happened during the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity. (The Lord gave this message to Ezekiel son of Buzi, a priest, beside the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians, and he felt the hand of the Lord take hold of him).
So the background is this. Ezekiel is 30 years old, son of a priest, and has been in captivity with his people for the last five years. Pastor Dean pointed out that priests began their time of temple service at age 30. So, had they been back at home it would have been time for Ezekiel to enter his time for temple service as a priest.
But what must of Ezekiel been thinking 5 years ago, as a 25 year old, when the Babylonians came and took them all away? “Dang. I was so close. I’m going to miss my time of ministry.”
And 5 years later, when Ezekiel is 30, God, indeed, begins Ezekiel’s ministry. = God’s Schedule.
This little introductory passage from Ezekiel has been speaking volumes to me lately. God’s got a schedule. What do I do when, from my point of view, it looks like I’ve missed the boat for some thing? Complain? Get Discouraged? Why not just wait for another boat? God’s boat.
Just because things don’t happen in a timeframe that is sensible and logical to me doesn’t mean those things are not going to happen. But they are going to happen on God’s schedule for the person who decides to trust in him.
And God describes his schedule in Jeremiah 29:11...
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Well, when is that? What will that be? I don’t know. But I know that God didn’t even “spare his own Son but gave him up for us ALL,” so he certainly wouldn’t do all that and then hold something else that’s good from me.
So I pray for his schedule in my life. And I truly can look back from time to time and say, “Oh my! God didn’t forget about that!” Just like Ezekiel may have realized at age 30 he did, in fact, enter the ministry and right on schedule!
Dear God,
Help me to live in hope every day. It is so easy for circumstances to make me anxious and forgetful. But you say that your plans are good and I believe you because I can look back and see so many wonderful good things that you have brought about in YOUR TIMING. Help me not to try and make things happen for myself; it’s never the same! I love you and I thank you for who you are and what you’ve done, and I pray in your Son’s name, amen.
Romans 8:32
Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?
I think it’s funny that I, as a Believer, need to remind myself of this truth. The One who would give me the BEST thing, his only Son, certainly isn’t holding back from giving me every good thing.
At church Pastor Dean was teaching from Ezekiel chapter one last Sunday. It starts out with Ezekiel giving this description:
On July 31 of my thirtieth year, while I was with the Judean exiles beside the Kebar River in Babylon, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. This happened during the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity. (The Lord gave this message to Ezekiel son of Buzi, a priest, beside the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians, and he felt the hand of the Lord take hold of him).
So the background is this. Ezekiel is 30 years old, son of a priest, and has been in captivity with his people for the last five years. Pastor Dean pointed out that priests began their time of temple service at age 30. So, had they been back at home it would have been time for Ezekiel to enter his time for temple service as a priest.
But what must of Ezekiel been thinking 5 years ago, as a 25 year old, when the Babylonians came and took them all away? “Dang. I was so close. I’m going to miss my time of ministry.”
And 5 years later, when Ezekiel is 30, God, indeed, begins Ezekiel’s ministry. = God’s Schedule.
This little introductory passage from Ezekiel has been speaking volumes to me lately. God’s got a schedule. What do I do when, from my point of view, it looks like I’ve missed the boat for some thing? Complain? Get Discouraged? Why not just wait for another boat? God’s boat.
Just because things don’t happen in a timeframe that is sensible and logical to me doesn’t mean those things are not going to happen. But they are going to happen on God’s schedule for the person who decides to trust in him.
And God describes his schedule in Jeremiah 29:11...
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Well, when is that? What will that be? I don’t know. But I know that God didn’t even “spare his own Son but gave him up for us ALL,” so he certainly wouldn’t do all that and then hold something else that’s good from me.
So I pray for his schedule in my life. And I truly can look back from time to time and say, “Oh my! God didn’t forget about that!” Just like Ezekiel may have realized at age 30 he did, in fact, enter the ministry and right on schedule!
Dear God,
Help me to live in hope every day. It is so easy for circumstances to make me anxious and forgetful. But you say that your plans are good and I believe you because I can look back and see so many wonderful good things that you have brought about in YOUR TIMING. Help me not to try and make things happen for myself; it’s never the same! I love you and I thank you for who you are and what you’ve done, and I pray in your Son’s name, amen.
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