"By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs
and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus."
Acts 4:30
So often we find ourselves making plans, and then asking God to bless it; when what we should be doing is getting God's plan first, beforehand, because it is already blessed. I think the problem that arises with so many of us, and why this is so, stems from the fact that we often struggle waiting on God. We want instant results. We want things to happen, right now! But we fail to realize that God doesn't move just when we think he should move. He moves when he knows it is according to his plan.
Proverbs 19:21 says, "Many plans are in a man's mind; but it is the Lord's purpose for him that will stand" (Amplified Bible). We have no guarantee that any of our plans will stand, unless we are certain that they came from God. The Bible tells us that if we will, "Humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, he will exalt us in due time" (1 Pet. 5:6). Sometimes our due time doesn't line up with his due time, and that is why our natural inclination is to forego waiting on him, and to go out and try to make things happen on our own. The Greek defines these two words, "due time" as a divinely appointed time.For Joseph, it took thirteen years. For David, it was upwards of twenty years. We never really know how or when things will come to pass, but if we know we have heard from heaven, it shouldn't matter.
Recently, the Lord made me aware of how many times we go about doing what we want to do and then ask God to bless the works of our hands. I mean after all, isn't it a promise in his Word that he will establish the works of our hands (Psa. 90:17)? But why should we think that this is how everything we do should be done? I am quite certain this is why many ministers get themselves in trouble, and why they overextend, overbuild, overestimate, and end up overboard doing what they want done, to later find themselves having to pressure people to help pay for their impatience.
Why not wait on God's hand to touch what you need done instead of rushing ahead of him and hoping that somehow he will touch it? It amazes me how folks get caught up in the machinery of ministry. They build their own plans and fuel it on the backs of those who they can manipulate and control. Listen friend, if it takes that to build your church or your ministry, then you have given yourselves over to the machinery of man, and I can promise you, that track has derailment written all over it! God wants to build the church, he wants to build the ministry, he wants to build our lives, but he has his own way of doing it, and if it is going to be propelled by his mighty hand, it has to be in his divinely appointed time, and after his own plan and purpose. That's what the early church did! They prayed and said, "Lord behold their threatening, and grant unto thy servants that will all boldness they may speak thy word, by stretching for THY HAND TO HEAL..." (Acts 4:29-30). They didn't ask God to bless the works of their hands. They sought his hand!
How many of us remember Moses trying to avenge one of his brethren who was being oppressed by an Egyptian? The Bible says, "For he (Moses) supposed his brethren would have understood how that God BY HIS HAND would deliver them; but they understood not" (Acts 7:24-25). As a result, Moses fled into the wilderness. Forty years later, God appeared to him in a burning bush and said, "I have seen the affliction of my people...now come, I will send thee into Egypt" (Acts 7:34). Here is the interesting part. Verse thirty-five says, "This Moses whom they refused, saying, `who made thee a ruler and a judge?' The same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer, BY THE HAND OF THE ANGEL, which appeared to him in the bush." How is it that you have sought to do God's will for your life? Whose hand controls your destiny? Make sure you have sought to humble yourself under his mighty hand, and then wait on him to make everything work out according to his plan, and after his purpose.
