There are times when you can’t understand why you cannot do what
you want to do. When God brings a time of waiting, and appears to be
unresponsive, don’t fill it with busyness, just wait. The time of
waiting may come to teach you the meaning of sanctification— to be set
apart from sin and made holy— or it may come after the process of
sanctification has begun to teach you what service means. Never run
before God gives you His direction. If you have the slightest doubt,
then He is not guiding. Whenever there is doubt— wait.
At first you may see clearly what God’s will is— the severance of a
friendship, the breaking off of a business relationship, or something
else you feel is distinctly God’s will for you to do. But never act on
the impulse of that feeling. If you do, you will cause difficult
situations to arise which will take years to untangle. Wait for God’s
timing and He will do it without any heartache or disappointment. When
it is a question of the providential will of God, wait for God to move.
Peter did not wait for God. He predicted in his own mind where the
test would come, and it came where he did not expect it. “I will lay
down my life for Your sake.” Peter’s statement was honest but ignorant.
“Jesus answered him, ’ . . . the rooster shall not crow till you have
denied Me three times’ ” (John 13:38).
This was said with a deeper knowledge of Peter than Peter had of
himself. He could not follow Jesus because he did not know himself or
his own capabilities well enough. Natural devotion may be enough to
attract us to Jesus, to make us feel His irresistible charm, but it will
never make us disciples. Natural devotion will deny Jesus, always
falling short of what it means to truly follow Him.
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