God Behind the Scenes


“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their wicked ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes” —Psalm 37:7, NIV.

Ahhh, patience, what I have so little of.

I was intrigued by a piece of a verse I read recently that reminded me of how limited my knowledge is about God’s working. The Lord was explaining to Abraham what would happen to the nation that God was going to form from Abraham’s descendents. He told his servant that this people would end up in Egypt, be held there for four hundred years and then be brought back to the land of Canaan when the “sin of the Amorites” had gone as far as God was willing to allow it to go (Genesis 15:12-16).

While the Hebrews were literally slaving away in Egypt, things were happening in Canaan of which they were unaware. We don’t know all the history, but God was there among the Amorites.

The Amorites were descendents of Canaan, Noah’s grandson. At some point in their history they had been God-conscious. They were in the land when Abraham resided there, bringing with him the savor of the God who had called him. Abraham could not help but be some kind of godly influence with the wealth and reputation that he had as he moved about the land.

Was this long wait a sign of God’s patience in allowing these people opportunity to return to their righteous roots before destruction came upon them for their sin?

The Hebrews in Egypt would have no way of knowing why God held back the Promised Land from them, except for this short phrase appearing in the promise given to Abraham. God was waiting until he could wait no longer. Then the Hebrews would become God’s instrument of punishment on the sins of the Amorites as they returned to the land of promise.

We fret, as the psalmist says, when evil succeeds. But we have no idea what God is doing in the lives of those who generate that evil. He is not a helpless bystander in their history any more than he is a helpless bystander in ours. He asks us to be patient while he is working out his purposes because life isn’t all about us—it’s also about the other guy, as evil as he might be. God loves him too, and only God knows what might be going on in his life that the Lord is seeking to use to bring him to repentance.

Comments

  1. Laury22 February 2011 at 12:09

    So true, Lynda. We don't know the inner workings. We don't know what's going on behind the scenes. We have to trust that God is in control. Thank you for these words today.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Marijo (Mary Jo) Phelps22 February 2011 at 14:29

    Good thoughts - the spotlight might be on someone else but because we are close to them we "go through it" too. It might be their trial or learning experience but we learn too. I might be going through something and my hubby gets into the process too because he is, well, my hubby... hum.

    Your cats look wonderful (we have four, now how did that happen?)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Vicky23 February 2011 at 05:32

    I've been asking to "see the reward of the wicked" when I see them inflating the mind of others and drawing people away from the Truth....

    Pero sí, orar por su salvación estaría más acorde con el corazón del Padre.....


    PS: thanks for the historic understanding! no había caido en el link entre the sin of the Amorites and taking over the Land!!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Case of the Pilfering Peacock

Image
Such little things under ordinary circumstances: a few pots of lettuce and a little spinach. But in a country like Pakistan, and in the heart of the Sindh, anything resembling salad is as hard to find as hen’s teeth; well, in this case, peacock’s teeth. My friend, Hannah, is a retired missionary nurse. Actually she became a retreaded missionary nurse, having returned to Pakistan several times several times after retirement to fill a desperate need for nursing staff at the hospital she first went to serve in back in the 1960s.   A wall surrounds the hospital. On the grounds are the homes of the medical staff and some of the Pakistani people who work at the facility. It also seems to be the favourite place for the peacocks from the local Temple to hang out.    It had to be the lettuce and the spinach that attracted them. When she first noticed the peacocks, Hannah admired their beauty—until she noticed that they were lunching on the spinach. She tried to shoo them away. “Pe...
Read more

Advocate

Image
Welcome to Word-Filled Wednesday hosted by Christy at Critty Joy . Check out the pictures inspired by the Word of God. At the end of chapter 16, Job makes a statement that eludes to an advocate in heaven who intercedes for him. What did he believe? Or did he simply say what he was inspired to say without an understanding of its implications? “ Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend ” —Job 16:19-20. What a beautiful picture of the advocate we have with our Father—Jesus Christ who intercedes on our behalf as the One who paid for our release with his own blood. “ My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sin of the whole world ” —1 ...
Read more

Going the Long Way Around

Image
I could use a pillar of fire or a cloud of smoke. It’s not that I’m making some huge, life-changing decision to go somewhere or do something. It’s just that I’d like to know that the direction I am going in is the right one—especially on those days when I'm not so sure. Have you ever had times like that? The vision gets clouded, the path gets cluttered, the journey seems more circular (a.k.a. running around in circles) than anything else. Genesis 13 describes the beginning of the journey the Hebrews embarked upon as God took them out of Egypt. They began by marking the day with a ceremony that they were to observe for the rest of time—a means of remembering all that God had done, and a jumping off point in the lessons they were to teach their children about God (13:1-16). The chapter ends with this: “ By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or nig...
Read more