Daily Wisdom 04-24-2003 Waiting on God

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Waiting on God

The story of Job contains a lot of lessons. We hear people talk about the patience of Job, but what about the patience of God?Job is a lot better saint than I am. But, even he finally gave it up. He'd had it up to his ears. After all, he was good. After all, he had tried. He stood before God and in effect said, "I will question You, and You will answer me."

And God said, "NO, I will question you and you will answer me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?"

And the questions then come one after another after another until finally Job says, "In Hebrew with great profundity 'Oops.'"

One of my dearest friends passed away not long ago. It was our German Shepherd. I loved that old dog, a lot. I loved him for a lot of reasons, because he didn't care whether I preached good, or whether I was spiritual, or whether I got the theology right. I loved him because he just didn't care. He was unconditional. That ol' dog was a good ol' dog. But, one of the things I loved most about him was what he taught me about God.

Sometimes in the morning, and I get up early, I would leave and find that Quincy the Wonder Dog was simply standing by his empty water bowl. He didn't jump up and down. He didn't bark. He didn't growl. He never tried to run between the water spigot and the water bowl, or the kitchen where we keep the real water in the refrigerator and back to his water bowl. He just stood there by the water bowl, because he knew that if he needed water I would provide it.

Sometimes we want to manipulate God so much.

"Lord? Lord? Lord? Aunt Gertrude has a lot of money and I'm in trouble and I'm serving you in seminary. Do you think you could put it on her heart just to send me a little?"

We don't just make a request, or as it were, stand by the water bowl. We've got to tell Him exactly the kind of water we want, and how to get it, and where to place it. Seems to me that it is great joy and great growth to stand by the water bowl.

Have you ever thought that God wants us to be as patient with Him as he is with us?

Copyright 2002 Key Life Network. Today's Daily Wisdom is from Steve Brown. His Bible teaching is heard daily on hundreds of radio stations through the Key Life Network. For the frequency of a station near you go to www.keylife.org

Today's Daily Wisdom post was edited by Keith Todd, moderator of theSermon Fodder list which offers Christian humor and modern day parables forenjoyment and for use as sermon illustration material. To subscribe go to http://www.sermonfodder.com or drop an email note to Sermon_Fodder-subscribe@yahoogroups.com