January 6 - Finishing Sentences

 Read today’s texts first: Genesis 15-17; Luke 6

 MAXIMize YOUR DAY

God may be slower than we think He should be,
but He’s always right on time! 

While attending a Leadership Conference in Bend, Oregon, I stayed with a fascinating retired surgeon named Carl.  He told me the story of when he went to pick up his Swiss Mountain Dog in Switzerland. The dog’s breeder, who had no knowledge of Carl’s last name, guessed he was related to the Swiss “Berner” family because he was a slow talker.  Apparently, it was a long-term family trait, and sure enough, Carl’s last name is Berner.  He told us that people typically tend to finish his sentences, and, to my chagrin, I realized that’s exactly what I had been doing the whole time he was talking.

I do the same thing with God.  Sometimes I think God doesn’t talk to me as often or as fast as He should.  So, I finish His sentences or guess what He might say to me next, just to keep things moving. 

Abe had the same problem, but he had better reason than I ever have.  God had lapses of ten, then fourteen years between His promises to Abe of a future family.  Abe and Sarai were old already and getting older every day.  The Winnie-the-pooh wallpaper in their nursery was peeling off the walls.  No wonder Abe tried to help God out by suggesting that his servant Eliezer could be his heir (15:2,3).  When God reminded him that his son would be biological, he tried to speed things up with Sarai’s handmaid, Hagar (16:3&4).  What disasters happen when we finish God’s sentences!

Fast forward to Luke and we read Christ’s Sermon on the Mount.  The bottom line for getting this incredible message is found in the last three verses (47-49).  If we hear and act on His words, our lives will be rock solid.  No storms we face in the future can shake us off that solid foundation.  But if we give up on His promises, try to renegotiate or rewrite them, we will have a bad fall.  Our winter, spring and summer won’t be that great either, until we climb back on that rock.  God may be slower than we think he should be, but He’s always right on time (test His prophetic knowledge of future events – 15:13). 

“Lord, build in me the kind of patient faith that settles on Your word and Your will, before, after and between Your promises. You don’t need me to finish Your sentences.”