God – Can you Hear me now?

I’m sure it’s happened to you before. You show up at the designated restaurant. You’re a couple of minutes early, but that’s ok. You can relax until your friend shows up. You order your drink. And you wait. And wait.

Only your friend never shows up.

I hate being stood up. It’s a waste of my time and energy. It’s disappointing. It’s frustrating. And sometimes it can even be humiliating.

I fluctuate between wanting to tell the whole world about it in an effort to get some sympathy and not wanting even the mouse on the wall to know about it.

So you can imagine how hard it must be when God stands me up. Or at least it feels like He does.

I get up early. I’ve got a great plan. The coffee is brewing. I can see the sun rise through the horizon. It’s a beautiful day. I’ve been looking forward to getting back on track. I sit at my desk. I open the Bible. And I wait. And wait.

I stare at my prayer list. Nothing has changed.

I look at my reading plan. The numbers blur.

I don’t know what to say. Is anybody there? God, can you hear me now?

I adjust my posture. I try to kneel on the rug. I speak, but it feels like I’m talking to myself.

What do you do when you feel like you’ve been stood up by God?

My mind wanders back to King Saul. He was chosen by God to be the first king of Israel. He’s good looking, he’s strong, he’s the guy. He’s got some fear issues, but everyone believes he’s the king, and pretty soon he does too.

In I Samuel 13 we get to the good stuff. With only 3000 men Saul defeats the Philistines. Only the Philistines won’t go down quietly. They gather 30,000 chariots and 6000 horsemen and troops and get ready for a real battle.

Now Saul freaks out. He’s supposed to wait for Samuel the prophet to begin the prayer meeting. He gets up on the mountain and waits 7 days (I Samuel 13:8). Only Samuel doesn’t show up. The people around start to doubt Saul. He can’t stand that. So he does the unthinkable. He takes things in his own hands and offers the sacrifice himself – without waiting for Samuel to show up, without waiting for God to show up.

Of course as soon as the offering is given Samuel shows up and the rest is history. In Saul’s haste and impatience he loses it all.

Samuel tells Saul these awful words: “you have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the lord commanded you.” I Samuel 13:13-14.

The end. At least for Saul. The rest of his life would go so far south it hurts to even think about it. But we learn some valuable lessons. We learn what to do when God doesn’t seem to show up:

1. Keep on Waiting. We are on his time table, not the other way around. He is God. The waiting may simply be his way to stretch your faith and grow you. Be patient. He will surely come.

2. Don’t take matters in your own hands. It’s never right to do things your way, no matter how long you’ve been waiting. Do things God’s way always.

3. Get rid of anything that may be keeping him away. Isaiah 59:2 is a great reminder of how sin comes in the way of hearing God. Start by confessing that sin.

4. Determine to walk by faith not by sight. In the darkest hour when you feel the most alone, God is right there beside you. In Saul’s case, God had just shown himself faithful a few verses before by granting him victory over the philistines. Oh, how quick we forget God’s hand at work in our lives. How quick we accuse him of forgetting us and abandoning us in our time of need. In Habakkuk 2:3-4 talking about God’s promises, it says “if it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay…the righteous shall live by faith.”

We are living in difficult days. We could have a competition of who has the greatest needs in their life right now. It’s never been more important for the Christian to hold on to God’s promises and wait.

No matter how long it takes.

No matter how grim things seem.

No matter how you feel.

Oh, and I almost forgot – I’m not talking to you anymore.

I’m simply talking to me.

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