Don't Panic; Just Wait

Reading: Acts 24

"But after two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, and wishing to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul imprisoned." Acts 24:27

Examination:

Though God had promised that Paul would preach the gospel in Rome (23:11), the great apostle had to endure more than two years of Felix's refusal to decide his fate. In addition to this custody, Paul was subjected to other long stretches of time during which he could do little but trust God and wait for him to act. Few things test our patience and faith like being forced to wait.

Application:

I am always pressing towards something. If a plan stalls, I adjust my strategy and get it started again. I earn a living based on my ability to keep things moving and get them done. It is who I am wired to be. Talking about something, thinking about something, or patiently waiting on something to happen on its own all screech inside my soul like fingernails on a white board.

Don't panic, just wait. That is a simple message but it is so hard to carry out. Seasons of waiting on God have a tendency to press me into a state of desperation- which perhaps explains why God often puts me in situations where I have no other choice.

While I am waiting I examine everything about my life. I look under rocks I would normally never turn over. I see the ugliness of my sin, the beauty of my faith, and control of my God more clearly during times of waiting than during any other season of life.

Prayer:

Calling on Your glory and holding firm in my faith is quite a simple process when everything is going my way. It is, however, an entirely different matter when the circumstances of my life seem to defy the power of Your promise.

There are things in my life that You have promised to be which have yet to be. There are truths in Your Word that seem to exist outside the reality of my life. There are unanswered questions in my heart that desperately long for Your response. There are broken places of pain in me that still cry out to You for relief.

The longer I live with You to more I come to realize the brevity of life on this earth. It is absolutely insane that I would allow any season of earthly pain to rip my focus away from the eternal life of blessing that awaits those who are Yours through Christ. Father, I do not want my pursuit of You to be tied to my desire for things, answers, or blessings. I want my only desire to be that You receive the glory that You deserve.

I pray that You allow the promise of the life to come to be a present reality in my life today. I ask that my hunger for Your glory be the only fuel of my pursuit of You. I beg that the beauty, strength, and majesty of Your Son radiate from the life I live today.