1st pigeon: "Wait for it..."
2nd pigeon: "Aliens"
1st pigeon: "Oh, snap!"
If you haven't seen the movie, you won't find this as humorous as my kids do. I tried to find a clip on YouTube, but the only one was a bootleg taping off of ABC Family Channel. But if you've seen the movie, then you get the gist.
Why all of this pedantic (Yes, that is a word) backstory to my post? Because this scene immediately came to mind today when Holy Spirit was teaching me about patience. I'm not going to reveal all the details as to why this is so significant. Suffice it to say, I really needed this lesson today! Honestly, I had a poopy attitude and it needed adjusting. (yes, I'm a parent...so I can say poopy!)
When I opened up my Bible study today, this was the first thing I read: "Have you ever known a serene person who never passed judgment on others? How often do the failures, emotions, or outright sins of someone else ruin your peace of mind? What would it be like if you refused to allow the behavior of others to spoil your day?" (Beth Moore, Living Beyond Yourself)
Great questions! And just exactly what I needed to read today! I sat weepy most of the lesson thinking over a conversation I'd just had with Dale an hour before. A perfectly timed e-mail from a friend today was used by the Holy Spirit to convict me of my pride, arrogance and doubt that God would provide HIS way...not mine. And then Beth Moore starts talking about hope. Hope is not just wishful thinking..."Biblical hope is not focused on what might happen, but what must happen." (emphasis mine)
God must provide for us and this ministry He has laid on our hearts. How dare I say He must, right? Well, He's commanded us in James 1:27 to take care of widows and orphans. There are multitudes of other commands in His Scriptures that tell us to take care of the poor and defend the helpless. So if I'm going to follow His commands, one of them also being Matthew 6:25-34 that tells me not to worry about food, drink and clothing as long as I "seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness"...then is it that BIG of a leap when we're not making very much money to assume that He must provide for us and His ministry to single moms that He's called us to? So, yes...I have hope that "He will do what He says He will do" (That's in another Beth Moore study, Believing God).
One of the Scriptures for the lesson was Hebrews 10:35. In parentheses, I'm going to insert the cross-reference my Bible had for the word "confidence". "Therefore, do not throw away your confidence ("to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus"- Hebrews 10:19) which has a great reward." I wept as I recalled my same e-mail friend sending me a message about 1 1/2 weeks ago telling me that she would "approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (Hebrews 4:16) This was in regard to a prayer request for our family.
At this point I'm already duly chastised, yet thankful for God's patience with me in this lesson of trust and confidence in Him. Then in my cross-references, I found another verse. Turns out I was looking in the "wrong" place...but not really...God's words leapt out of His Word and into my heart as I read:
"For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
It hastens* toward the goal and it will not fail.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
For it will certainly come, it will not delay." --Habakkuk 2:3
(*another word for hastens in my side notes is "pants". Great word picture! The vision "pants" toward the goal!)
I'm still teary, three hours later. There it was. I don't know the context of this verse, but today...it was written for me. He has given me a vision for the appointed time. It will not fail as the vision hastens toward the goal, even when I think it is slow (or different than how I believed it would happen!)...the vision will certainly come...the vision will not delay, it will be in His perfect timing. What did I think when I read this? You guessed it..."wait for it...Oh snap!"
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