Not even one thing

I try to keep my blog very eclectic, as I hope you have noticed. This week, I have been inspired by a verse from John 3.

"John answered them and said, 'A person is not able to receive even one thing, unless it has been given to him from heaven.'"     -John 3:27

John the Baptist was famous. Everyone knew who he was, and almost everyone went out to be baptized by him. But after Jesus came on the scene, everyone was going to Jesus instead of John. And this angered a few people. These people asked John what was up with everyone going to Jesus instead of him, and this is what he said, "A person is not able to receive even one thing, unless it has been given to him from heaven."

How hard it is to digest this. To take it in, break it down, and make it part of my very DNA. God is Provider. This is the building block of life; nothing comes to us except by his hand. We get nothing except what God gives us.
So then, we are waiters. We wait for God to provide. We wait to receive the blessings and the curses. We wait to make war and peace. We wait on heaven.

And we pray. "Your kingdom come, Your will be done..."

But there is more. Even as John the Baptist stood there telling people that he could only receive what God gave him, he was not only waiting. He was doing- John the Baptist was still baptizing (John 3:23). Why? Why would he do such a thing when he wasn't getting results? "The Baptizer" should be baptizing, but someone else was doing that now.

He was called to baptize, so he did it. In the midst of waiting on heaven, he wasn't passive. He did what God appointed him to do. Whether he failed or succeeded, whether he saw growth or loss, he would baptize and preach.

I like to wait. It's nice waiting sometimes, because when you're waiting, you don't have to do anything. You just... wait. It's all God anyway.
Other times, I like to do. I get tired of waiting, and I start to think, "I need to get things done, because if I don't, it's not going to happen."

My wife and I recently had to move apartments, because we were on the third floor (an issue if you're pregnant), we had a really bad landlord, and we had a serious roach infestation. And I was waiting for God to act. I was waiting to see him do something amazing in our situation- get us into a new apartment and not have to worry about these stresses anymore. I was waiting. And nothing was happening. Telling my landlord we wished to move and having our place up for rent again was not enough. Especially not for my wife...

At the prodding of my wife, I was finally moved to take up the cause and be more active. I did something. I started to do some searching, do some calling and visiting, and do some talking with my landlord. After a couple nasty exchanges with the man and a visit to another apartment, we were on our way out and into a new apartment. We had to forfeit our security deposit, unless he could get someone to rent it by the end of the month we moved (after 2 months of being available already...).

I am thankful for a wife who pushed me to action, otherwise we might still be in that crappy old Ramled apartment! But in the midst of my doing, I forgot to wait on God. However, God was still ready to give. The day before we would have had to forfeit our security deposit, someone moved into our old apartment! While we did something, God was always at work providing for us.

This is just an example, but it has highlighted for me the reality that God provides in the midst of us doing as well as waiting. It is up to God when he will give, what he will give, and how he will give it. And for that, I am hesitantly thankful. Sometimes I want what I do to count, and other times I want to get without doing anything. But it is up to God.

We have received so much from God already. Not to mention life, family, food, etc., this weekend we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus. God has granted us pardon and has promised us resurrection and eternal life through this very man.While we wait to receive so much- a baby, a spouse, a new job, healing, even eternal life!- God has things for us to do. So, if you've gotten lazy from waiting or self-reliant from doing, go out and do, even as you wait to receive even just one thing from our Father in heaven.