Why Now?
Judges 11:7-9 (Amplified Bible)
7But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Did you not hate me and drive me out of my father's house? Why have you come to me now when you are in trouble?8And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, This is why we have turned to you now, that you may go with us and fight the Ammonites and be our head over all the citizens of Gilead. 9Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, If you bring me home again to fight against the Ammonites and the Lord gives them over to me, [understand that] I will be your head.
Micah 4:9 (Amplified Bible)
9Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king among you? Has your counselor perished, that pains have taken you like a woman in labor?
I was asked a very important question last night concerning my future, as I pondered the question I had to ask, why now? Over the past two to three months I have been watching God move in a very specific way and the words that he has been unpacking from the middle of last year to present have been so on the mark, and this is the first time in my adult life that I have not “officially been in ministry.” So of course as I have been praying and I have been asking God why now? As I have watched some things unfold, around me, I have asked Lord why now, allow this? But moreover I have watched people and I have seen that as people get into a place and they need something or someone they will make a change or a transition that should have been made before and has been long overdue, but because they did not feel like they needed anyone to have their back or to be on their side they did not move to allow change to come, or align themselves with God or man.
If we have been out there doing our do and making a mess of our lives why now are we really having a come to Jesus meeting? For me I must be honest, I knew my spiritual legacy and birthright for years and had one foot in and one foot out of the church, until at age 29 I had a mild stroke and I had two small children and was trying to recover because there was marital infidelity and I knew I was going to need to be able to raise my children and provide for them, possibly all by myself. You see it was in those moments of lying in a room for four days, not eating, drinking or doing much sleeping just talking to God that I was aware that I needed Him, I needed Him to stand guard over my life and I needed Him, more than I had known all along, and that I needed to fulfill the mandate to minister in whatever way God saw fit in my life. But for many of us we are not aligning ourselves with God when He is the one trying to get our attention, we are aligning ourselves with man, thinking that man has the power, the authority, the clout and the influence to keep us out of trouble, but it is not man, it is God, and only God that can do that! We all too often think that doing what is right in the eyes of man and making a show of ourselves in a public forum, will save us from God wanting us to repent, and come full circle into His will. We even think that it will circumvent our being exposed or having to reap what we have sown; I am sorry to inform some of you, that you have never been so wrong. God’s law will always prevail. We have to sometimes walk the full length of the Via Dolorosa and become the sacrifice to find the truth of our joy and peace, our obedience and our true salvation and deliverance. You see there is a saying that says you can fool some of the people all of the time, you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool God any of the time. An outward show does not a changed life make. True conversion comes from the inside, it is a matter of the heart, and spirit not the mouth or the actions of the body.
Many of us have known that God is calling us out of certain things, certain lifestyles, certain behaviors, certain mindsets, but we are not moving, don’t let God have to put you in a place where people are asking why now, because it is so evident that you need people to have your back, and to be on your side to validate us and to vouch for us. People can never do what God can do, especially when we yield to Him on our own, without, having to be pushed or have our back up against the wall. For some of us, that are in a place where God has been standing there waiting on us for a while and we are now all up in His face, the question is why now? Are you there for the right reasons? Are you there for Him to get you out of a jam or to deliver you from a tight or are you there because you know and realize what needs to be done in your life and you need a true relationship with Him, not just a God that is there when we allow Him, but a God that is truly Lord and Master of our lives? For the Bible reminds us, we can never serve two Masters for one we will love and the other we will hate. It also says that one who is double minded will be unstable in ALL their ways! So the question is if you are coming to man or to God WHY NOW?
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