The Waiting Room - 7/24/2007

1 Samuel 13:8-14, "He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul's men began to scatter. 9 So he said, "Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings." And Saul offered up the burnt offering. 10 Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him.
11 "What have you done?" asked Samuel. Saul replied, "When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, 12 I thought, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the LORD's favor.' So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering."
13 "You acted foolishly," Samuel said. "You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. 14 But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD's command."

I am in a waiting room right now, so to speak. I am waiting on the interviews and job offers to start at the beginning of August. Teaching is a seasonal job, and consequently so is the hiring. Anxiety has set in, and I've found myself planning an imaginary move to nearby cities to "set up shop" and create the illusion of progress for myself. Although, I have pending applictions in several cities and the one I choose to move to doesn't necessarily mean that's the city in which I will be hired. Only God knows which one that is.

Waiting on God is an important part of following God. We may look around, as Saul's soldiers did, and feel anxious - pressuring ourselves into making a move. But if we move on our own timing instead of His, we probably will miss out on the incredible blessing He's arranging behind the scenes. God is perfect, so is His timing. We are imperfect, and so is our timing.

I have been reading the book Intercessory Prayer by Dutch Sheets off and on. Today I picked it up, and the author alluded to this part of 1 Samuel to emphasize the importance of waiting on God. God, through the prophet Samuel, commanded Saul to wait for Samuel's arrival before making an offering, winning the Lord's favor before battle.

Saul was the king of Israel, and he saw that the men in his command had become anxious. Instead of doing as he was told, ceding his authority to God's, he took it upon himself to make the offering and rally the men for battle. Samuel described this as a foolish act. It showed a rebellious streak in the king's heart; a refusal to wait on God's timing. The consequence: God replaced him with David, "a man after God's own heart."

I must continue to wait on God. He has a job lined up for me, this I know. He's made this clear. I would rather be known as a man after God's own heart than one who is known to make a foolish act in a panic. So I wait. There's no reason not to - He's provided me with everything I need in the interim, and then some. Everything, that is, except the patience to wait. No, He's only provided the opportunity to use patience. So I will. I will patiently wait, because I love God and can trust Him. And I'm thankful that God used this scripture today to remind me of the bigger picture and set my focus back on Him. God's so cool!