The result - he paid with his life, the loss of his boat - and all those who were under his care and guidance paid with their lives! No one survived!
What about you? Are you listening to Holy Spirit? Are you "interpolating" what you think He is saying or are you waiting for and contending with Him to hear what He is saying?
Let me use myself as an example. I was called by God in 1984 through a visitation from Jesus when He stood before me and gave me a choice to follow Him or continue in my old path.
The calling was confirmed several months later through Jeremiah 19:2.
“And go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the Potsherd Gate; and proclaim there the words that I will tell you,"
I was commissioned through a prophet coming up from Argentina 19 years later via Jeremiah 1:4-10
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified1 you; ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
Then said I: “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”
But the LORD said to me: “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’
For you shall go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall speak.
Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you,” says the LORD.
Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me:
“Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations
and over the kingdoms, To root out and to pull down, To destroy and to throw down,
To build and to plant.”
and Jeremiah 1:19.
"They will fight against you, But they shall not prevail against you.
For I am with you,” says the LORD, “to deliver you.”
I was positioned by the Lord a year after that back in my home country. And now I'm waiting ..... and waiting....!
I don't know about you, but one of my biggest problerms all my life has been learning to wait - I have never "waited" very well on anything. I hear and/or perceive something, be it in the natural or in the spirit, ponder and think about whatever it is, then act on whatever I feel or think. Sometimes the outcome is "ok" - other times the outcome is really bad. In either case other people's lives are affected!
Rarely did I take the time to listen, to hear, and to act upon what the Lord had to say. Rarely did I even understand His voice and what He was saying. For afterall - it was all about ME and nothing else! I didn't even consider who might be watching, listening and acting on what they saw me doing or heard me saying!
If any of this fits you and your situation - fell free to say "amen"!
Called in 1984, positioned in 2003 -- and still waiting! Not exactly according to my time schedule or how I think things ought to go. But God's time schedule never has followed ours, has it?
It is very necessary to understand at this point that God sees differently than we do. We operate on a chronological time line - time has a beginning and an end. We move from point A to point B to point C. We can't go backwards or forward in time nor can we remain at the same point in time.
God sees the end from the beginning as it says in Isaiah 46: 9b-10:
“... For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure,’ ..."
What I have learned through the years, and am continuing to learn, is that life is not about ME - never has been nor ever will be. Life is about Jesus Christ, and Him crucified AND risen from the grave and now sits at the right hand of God!
Created by God, called by God, commissioned by God, positioned by God, and destined to do His good pleasure!
What does Acts 26--28 say?
“And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being ..."
That last phrase really says it all - "for in Him we live and move and have our being". It is not about us! Our "job" if you will, is to contend with God until we hear and understand what He is saying and has called us to, then press into Him until He releases and sends us to accomplish what He desires to be done! Our problem is we tend to jump the gun and go off doing what we think God has said - not waiting until He aligns everything and SENDS us!
How do you open a safe, one of those older safes that had the rotary dial?
Click, click, click, Junk.
Click, click, click, Junk.
Click, click, click, Junk - Ching! and the door opens.
Everything must come into alignment. Once it aligns then that that is to happen happens! God has a plan - and He is bringing that plan into existence! The plan is not about us! We have the option to be a part of that plan. His ultimate desire is that all would be saved, that none would be lost.
When we look through our eyes and try to analyze things around us, we become overwhelmed and end up making a mess of things. We try and change things through plans we devise - and either the result is minimal or ends in failure. We see a problem in our marriage or relationship, so we attempt to force a change - rarely understanding the "problem" is us and not the other person!
30 years now I have been waiting, and yet I was called before the foundation of time to do what He called me to do and be. He saw all the ups and downs, all the mistakes, everything before the foundation of time!. I am almost 64 years old - and I will do and be and accomplish EVERYTHING He has called me to do and be. I struggle every day, groping to hear what He says, to be in His presence - and all of it is just "right there"! Through all of it He is changing and molding me to be in His image!
What about you?
Do you want to be a square peg trying to fit in a round hole, or are you willing to submit and allow God to form and mold you into who He says you are and what He called you to be?
Are you willing to wait upon an All Powerful God who sees the end from the beginning, or do you want to try and accomplish things on your own schedule - and hurt and/or destroy lives in the process?
Will you be as the captain of the fishing boat in the Perfect Storm and lose everything and everyone, or will you be patient and allow God to mold and use you?
Will you allow Holy Spirit to mold, sand, and change you into who He says you are? Remember - it is not about you, that other lives are also at stake.
What about you?