Most of this post came from a couple of sermons by
my excellent pastor Charles Price, so I take no credit for it. I
thought it was pretty relevant to my waiting series, as it looks at
another aspect of what waiting is and why it can be positive. Please
note, there was a lot more to the sermons than this; I'm just
blogging about what was relevant to the “waiting” theme.
Our church has been going through
Nehemiah. First we looked at Nehemiah 1 and how Nehemiah wept and
mourned over the brokenness of his people. The second sermon focused
on Nehemiah's actions in the first part of chapter 2. Pastor P.
noted that the actions of chapters 1 and 2 took place about four
months apart. That means that Nehemiah was mourning and praying for
his people for several months before he was able to speak to the
King. It seems like a really long time to go on with this burden on
your heart. The pastor pointed out that when we feel an emotional
reaction to something, especially if we perceive it as a call to act,
sometimes the appropriate response is to... wait.
What? Shouldn't we just GO? Not so
fast, said our Pastor. We should take time to pray to God for the
burden to be deepened, or lifted, according to His will. We need to
discern whether this is an emotional response to a need, or a true
call. The truth is, there are so many needs around us that we cannot
respond to them all, so we ought to put careful thought and prayer
into our calling. The Pastor mentioned that out of every 100 people
that step forward at conferences or otherwise express interest to
missions in becoming missionaries, only about one person actually
ends up on the mission field.** That's pretty sobering. Perhaps
some of that is due to other factors such as life changes, but much
of it surely is due to people making emotionally charged decisions
without thinking through or praying about the next steps.
Of course (and I'm adding my own
comments here), we can prepare as we pray. While Nehemiah was
fasting, mourning, and praying, he was likely also thinking about how
he would go forward, what he would need for the journey, etc. We too
can pray with our minds open to HOW God may use use us to serve. We
also may require training before we can go. Perhaps we need to
finish school or to study a new language. This prayer time is not
meant to be an excuse NOT to serve, but rather a time in which our
hearts are prepared for the service.
Pastor P. also mentioned in a later
sermon that we are called to serve where we are. He said this in
reference to the men and women who helped build the wall around
Jerusalem; many of them built sections of the wall that were close to
their homes. Of course, we also are called to be servants of God at
all times, so just because we are waiting on a calling does not mean
that we should give up serving in the meantime!
I hope this is helpful. I found the
message both encouraging and convicting. There is the encouragement
that if you've felt a call to something, but not had the chance to
act, it may just not be the right time yet. I also felt convicted as
there have been many times when I felt a burden, but rather than
prayerfully consider it, I got discouraged when the opportunity to
act didn't open up in the short term.
**I don't know the source for this
information.
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