waiting, waiting, and...yes, more waiting

Mars Hill started up tonight...so wonderful!!! And so we studied Acts 17 which is where the name Mars Hill came from. We started reading the passage, and I was struck by something in the first verse we read...verse 16: "While Paul was waiting for them in Athens..."

The passage continues on to talk about how Paul witnesses to the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers about Jesus and His death and resurrection. The end result of his speech is summed up in verse 34: "But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them."

This is what really hit me. All of this happened while Paul was waiting. He was waiting for some of his friends to join him, but he wasn't about to let this time go to waste. Instead what did he do? He wandered around Athens, he learned about the people and their culture, and he allowed God to use him in that place to spread His word.

Here's the other thing. If Paul's friends had been there at the same time he was, none of that would have happened. People were saved because Paul was required to wait, and he allowed himself to be used in that waiting time.

Why can't my attitude and my approach to waiting be like that?! Needless to say...I was quite challenged by this passage...and I will be trying harder to use my waiting time to glorify God instead of twiddle my thumbs...figuratively speaking.

Also this morning at church, I was convicted once again that I need to trust God more. That I need to seek Him as my refuge no matter what the circumstances are and that I should seek Him as a refuge just because of who He is, not because of anything I could ever get from Him. So just one more verse to leave you with before I sign off...

"Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah" Psalm 62:8

So I'm off to do just that...peace out yo!

Comments

  1. Hannah Elizabeth24 January, 2010

    MWAH!

    1 Corinthians 5:2

    *wink*

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lore25 January, 2010

    Oh..so good. I always tend to think that the times I am "waiting" are times used only to grow patience in me...and tend to not allow God to actually DO something in that time.

    ReplyDelete

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