Last night I was reading in "Deep-Rooted in Christ" (previously referenced) and I ran across the following statement.
"Every spiritual leader needs discernment about God's time. ... In Issachar, one of the twelve tribes of Israel, there were 'those who had understanding of the times'..." (p. 77)
This struck me as one of those, "does it really say that" moments so I looked up the reference. Referring to David's army at Hebron it says:
Of Issachar, those who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, two hundred chiefs, and all their kindred under their command. 1 Chronicles 12:32
There it is. One of those little bits of information barried within scripture.
Reading on in "Deep-Rooted" Kang observes:
One distinguishing characteristic of those who are spiritually trained in the desert is their willingness to move only on God's timeline, to respond only God's voice (p.78)
True enough. As previously noted, we need to learn to wait on the Lord. God's people are not always good at waiting. I know I'm not. Yet we need to learn to wait. As we learn this, I have found that I enter the period of waiting with a sense of expectancy, knowing that God will respond.
It strikes me that there is also another side of the "waiting coin." Sometimes we are given an opportunity, and God's people are not ready, or willing, to respond. When Israel sent the twelve scounts into the promised land, ten came back saying "no way" and two came back saying, "let's go!" The ten prevailed, and Israel spent 40 years more wandering in the desert while God waited for those stubborn people to die off (Numbers 13 &14). Yet, this is what the Lord said of Caleb, of of the two.
But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me wholeheartedly, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it. Numbers 14:24
We need to be willing to follow the Lord wholeheartedly.
While there are times when we need to wait on God, there are many other times God seems to have to wait for us. Many times when this happens, God just finds someone else to do the work, or the work goes undone.
I was reflecting on what causes God's people to not do what the Lord asks of them. All kinds of things came to mind: sin, pride, gossip, desentions, resentment, unforgiveness, fear, unbelief, etc. Then I realized all these things can be summed up as a lack of surrender.
We need to learn the way of surrender, the way of the cross. We need to learn to walk humbly and wholeheartedly with the Lord (cf. Micah 6:8). Then we will see God do the things we long for in our lives, churches, and current situation.
When we learn to surrender, then we will learn to know what time it is.
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