Faith Needs Action - But Wait!

I know that in yesterdays post I talked about the importance of putting our faith into action in order to see God moving powerfully in our lives but I want to add a caution ~ WAIT!

Most of the time when God is calling us to something it requires us to step out in faith - ACT!  But sometimes God says wait. I have been re-reading a daily devotional book that Mom and Dad gave me for Christmas in 2005.  It's entitled Experiencing God Day-By-Day by Dr. Henry Blackaby and Dr. Richard Blackaby.

In today's reading they talked about how we can be tempted to take shortcuts to God's will for our lives.  Sometimes we think we need to help move things along because God's timing is not our timing.  They referred to 1 Samuel 26 when David and his men had an opportunity to kill Saul.

The background to this is that God had called David to be the next king of Israel.  The only problem is that Saul was still king.  Because Saul knew David had been anointed as the next king by the prophet Samuel, Saul wanted to kill David.  He had been relentlessly pursing David.

In chapter 26 David and his men had entered the kings camp while Saul and his men were sleeping.  David's comrade, Abishai held his spear above the king and begged David to let him kill Davids enemy.  But David refused.  What would have been so wrong for them to kill the enemy when David was chosen by God to be the next king?  David knew it was against Scripture.  You see, God will never call you to do anything contrary to His Word.

So how do we know when to act and when to wait?  We must listen to Gods voice and be in the Word, hide it in your heart, and listen.  God will speak to you.

David could have killed Saul right then and there and become king right away but David wanted to be in Gods will and in Gods time.  Resist the urge to help God out ~ wait on Him.  But when God calls you to step out in faith, act.  

1 Samuel 26:7-11 (The Message)

So David and Abishai entered the encampment by night, and there he was—Saul, stretched out asleep at the center of the camp, his spear stuck in the ground near his head, with Abner and the troops sound asleep on all sides.
 Abishai said, “This is the moment! God has put your enemy in your grasp. Let me nail him to the ground with his spear. One hit will do it, believe me; I won’t need a second!”
 But David said to Abishai, “Don’t you dare hurt him! Who could lay a hand on God’s anointed and even think of getting away with it?”
 He went on, “As God lives, either God will strike him, or his time will come and he’ll die in bed, or he’ll fall in battle, but God forbid that I should lay a finger on God’s anointed. Now, grab the spear at his head and the water jug and let’s get out of here.”