Want to listen to this post instead of reading? Play the audio recording below.
How we react to delay reveals the posture of our heart towards God. A wonderful example to explore this is in the way the Israelites reacted when they felt that Moses was taking too long to return from Mount Sinai.
Exodus 32:1-4 (NIV) states:
1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.”
3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron.
4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
Reading the above scriptures, it is hard to imagine that these were the same people who had been led by Moses to meet God. What they witnessed from the foot of the mountain is recorded in Exodus 19:18-19 (NIV). It states: Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.
Now faced with delay in Exodus 32, these same people were quick to put their trust in, and offer their worship to, a ‘god’ made by the hands of Aaron.
The actions of the Israelites may seem extreme. But perhaps we should consider our own actions when we faced delay. Moments when days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years and we were still waiting to hear from God. Did we continue to trust in and worship God?
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) states: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Trusting in the Lord as in Proverbs 3:5-6 is not a trust based on head knowledge. This kind of trust is developed in us when we submit to the help and leading of the Holy Spirit. And when this trust is developed in us, no matter what we face, our heart remains devoted to God. Our trust remains entirely in God.
As believers, the posture of our heart should be bowed in submission to God.
When our hearts are bowed in submission to God, despite delay, we will wait patiently knowing that God loves us. That God is faithful. And that God has a plan for our lives.
When our hearts are bowed in submission to God, no matter how hopeless the situation we face may seem, our thoughts and actions will honor and glorify God. The Lord God, creator of the heavens and the earth, deserves no less from us!
Romans 11:36 (NIV) states: For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Except where indicated, scripture references are from the American Standard Version (ASV), Darby Translation (DARBY), or King James Version (KJV) – all public domain.
