SELF INFLICTED DELAYS
“Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions.”
In our theme scripture, we hear about a term ‘devoted things’. Many a time we tend to attribute delay to God, but truly while there is no such thing as divine delay, there is such a thing as divine speed. God is the author of time, and to be so He must be outside of time yet able to step in time and control it. In other words, He desires to satisfy you early (
) and the only possible hindrance to this already existing desire in His heart toward you is disobedience.In our theme scripture, a story is given of Israelites under Joshua’s leadership being given victory against their enemies, until one of the children of Israel took and hid things destined for destruction. God had given clear instructions that when they attack Ai, they were to not take anything as plunder, but Achan did, and lied about it. His greedy mistake cost Israel 3000 warriors. Child of God, when God has consecrated you for Himself, He will sometimes require of you not to take things or people in the next season of your life because He may perceive these things and people to be a weight or snare unto you that hinders you from fulfilling the assignment tied to your life.
While It doesn’t mean these things or people are inherently harmful or bad at the moment, it is best to trust the judgement of the one that knows ALL THINGS. Many times it gets hard for individuals to let go, could be of a job, a career, a position, a relationship, a belonging, a friendship revealing the lack of trust in God’s ability to do far better than you could as man.
A wonderful minister once said ‘you won’t believe what you see so that you can believe what you hear’. He has been tested on this, and found faithful — when you put your trust in the Lord, you will never be put to shame. The opposite is true, when you trust in anything else that is not Him, in due time it will fail as everything outside of Him does (
).Prayer: Father I thank you for this truth. When I trust you, I don’t need to understand. As the psalmist said it well, there is nowhere I can go from your spirit, therefore I yield my self to it. Your secret abides upon my heart because I have made you my delight that you may be glorified through my life. My end is good and all things happen in the appointed times for me in Jesus name!
CI.