Standing At The Oven
I always find myself standing in front of the oven waiting for my food to bake
Reference: v.13 As the Lord had declared, Nebuchadnezzar removed the treasures from the temple of the Lord and from the royal palace, and cut up the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made for the temple of the Lord. (TNIV Bible)
Explore: Outside daily meals, I don’t cook very often. I know how to bake cakes, slices and biscuits and I quite enjoy it when I get all the ingredients together, it’s just that I don’t often take the time to do it. I’m good at following instructions and I always feel very proud of myself when I display the final product – particularly if it tastes good! The one thing I don’t like about cooking is waiting for things to bake. Although I try to busy myself while my master piece is in the oven by washing the dishes, putting all the left-over ingredients away and wiping down the benches, I always find myself standing in front of the oven waiting for my food to bake. Even when the instructions say that it will take 35 minutes to bake I still get out a skewer at 25 minutes and stick it in to see if it has finished cooking early! I think we’re all confident enough to say that I’m a little impatient!
Application: From the Bible we learn that God always fulfills what he says he is going to. He promised to never flood the world again, and He has kept that promise. He said that He would send a messiah to save the world from it’s sin, and He certainly did that. And there were a number of things God said along the way that He would do – like how He would deal with the nations of Israel and Judah if they did not obey Him – and they come about as well. The thing that surprises me about God’s movements is that He often takes a long period of time to make them happen. There were many generations of kings before Israel and Judah were completely annihilated and there was even 500 years of silence from God’s prophets before Jesus was born. I guess God doesn’t stand outside the oven with a skewer waiting for something to happen before it’s due time. And maybe I should be the same. I need to trust that God knows the correct times for things to happen and, although I am impatient, I need to have faith that He knows what time is best for me.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for having all things in Your hands. May I have the faith to trust in Your timing. Amen.
What are you waiting for? Can you see God start to move?
This article was written by Linda Bailey
Linda started theological studies in 1999 in Australia. After working for ten years in various church ministries, she now works as the breakfast producer at 89.9 LightFM - the Christian radio station in Melbourne, Australia. She writes blogs every day about passages she is currently reading in the Bible. Follow her on Google Plus +Linda Bailey or Facebook by clicking the like button on the right of this page.
3 comments:
Hi Linda.
Great devotions. I’m loving them!!! I am on the train each morning waiting for my email to arrive letting me know your devotion is ready to read. So do you write them the night before or have you written a stack of them in advance?
In this one I did notice a spelling mistake though (over instead of oven). But I do enjoy knowing this is coming from someone I actually know. Well. I don’t think I have actually met you but I know your husband very well.
Anyway, good job Linda. Keep up the good work.
Adrian
Cam here, fixed the spelling mistake, thanks. Glad you like them, we are really happy with the new design. Linda generally writes one a day as a discipline for herself, but is usually a few days ahead to ensure if she misses a day it wont affect the flow. Therefore she sometimes does a few days at once to catch up but mostly its as you read them, one a day.
Thanks Adrian and tell your friends we would love as many people as possible reading them.
I loved the way you ended your comment on faith, patience, time. It applies to me too as I’m getting impatient with the Lord about my situation at this moment. Thank you for inspiring me to have faith to trust in His timing.