Our Diary Vs. His Agenda

Robert Moffat, a Scottish missionary to Africa, came back to London to recruit young men for the African missionary field. Upon his arrival, he was greeted by the fury of a cold British winter. Arriving at the church where he was to speak he found that only a small group of woman had braved the elements to hear his appeal. What disturbed him even more was that he had prepared his sermon on Proverbs 8:4, "Unto you, O men, I call,” and only ladies had shown up.

I’m sure that Dr. Moffat felt like his preparation was senseless in light of the fact that few women could be expected to undergo the rigorous experiences of the African Mission field. But God had a different agenda. A boy in the organ loft that was pumping the organ out of sight was thrilled and challenged by the message. Deciding to follow in the footsteps of the veteran missionary, he went to school, became a doctor, and spent the rest of his life ministering to the unreached tribes of Africa. His name: David Livingstone!

How often we assume to know exactly what God is doing in our lives and we selfishly assume we have control of things.

“I want God to help me out when I need Him to help me. God must sort this issue out before the end of the week or I just don’t know what I am going to do. I prayed and prayed and He just ignored what I wanted. How much longer must I wait to see God’s blessings?” - Sound familiar…?

In a world such as the one we live in, it is very easy to begin to blame God for not keeping to our schedules. With so many things going wrong, we constantly see Godlessness instead of Godliness. And with all the pressures of live in our face daily how exactly can we be expected to find God at every bend and rely on his schedule? A busy life is in fact not an excuse but a reason to allow God to manage it all for us. He has a birds eye view.

It’s easy for me to stand up here and say that “You should not worry my brother God will provide, all in His time….” I mean how many times do we hear those words. When it comes to timing, I personally on occasion wished that God would help out a little earlier than later. Why doesn’t he step in at the beginning of the problem? But one thing I have learned in my relatively short walk with the Lord is that even though you think he should have helped out already, he is never ever late. He never allows the righteous to falter.

God has shown a history of knowing exactly when to step in and ensure that his will prevails. Let’s look at that scripture we just read in 2 Kings again. Did you notice that it was that widows last resort? The sons were about to be taken into slavery. The creditors were on their way. God did not solve the woman’s problems when her husband died, no he waited and when the time was right he stepped in and ensured that she would be looked after.

You see, we are all like eve. We are all looking for the quick fix. Pray brother and you will be healed. Pray about your sons unemployment and he will get a job, This quick fix thing is probably the main reason so many Christians loose hope.

We know what we should be doing. The Christian way of life is a difficult one, but however difficult, the rules are easy to understand. Its often while we are on the walk with Christ that we loose site of his timetable, and its often when we are busy in the church and working hard at the Lords work that this issue of loosing site of Gods will comes into play. This happens simply because when we are doing what we think the Lord wants, we often expect a bed of roses. When the thorns prick though we turn and say but Lord am I not doing what you want me to do…

Matt 9:29 – According to your faith it shall be done to you. According to your faith…not prayer, not the right words, not working in the church. These are righteous things, don’t get me wrong, But pray in faith, work in faith. And trust me when I say this, faith is hard work.

I am not going to try and give you a quick fix, because we know quick fixes don’t really work, but what I would like to do, is discuss for a moment as to how we can begin to find God in our daily lives and therefore begin to understand his agenda for us.