Waiting for Perfect Conditions?

He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap. ." Ecclesiastes 11:4 (NASB)

If you are waiting for all the right conditions before you do what you know the Lord has called you to do, you may be waiting a long time. How many times have you said something to the effect... I'll do it when my children are grown so I'll have more time; or I'll do it when I get a promotion because I'll be in a better position to give; or when I get a better education I'll be better equipped to handle the task; etc? Too often we put off the important things ( the things of God in our lives) because everything is not just perfect around us- we want things to be just "so-so" before we'll make a move.

When God told Joshua that it was time to enter into the promised land, He told him to send the priests out first. The priests were supposed to step in the water of the Jordan River to cross over. What if they had waited for the conditions to be just right? What if their attitude had been, "We'll go into the river when God rolls it back, or removes the water, or builds a bridge, that way we won't get our shoes wet." As we look in the Bible we see that many of God's servants did not always have all the perfect conditions to work in, but they did it anyway... they took a step of faith. The right condition for Gideon would have been to have a big army with him, but the Lord cut it back to 300.... not the right conditions to win a battle. Remember the Red Sea sermon we had Sunday? What would have happened to the Israelite nation if Moses would have waited for the right conditions to lead them and take them across the sea? Obviously, they would have either been recaptured or would have lost their lives.

Waiting for the right conditions means we are waiting on the conditions that we have chosen- we want to do it our own way, in our own time. God chooses the conditions and they may not always seem favorable. Look at the conditions that Paul went through in order to get the gospel out-- he was beaten, bitten by a snake, chased out of town, shipwrecked, flogged, etc. We need to stop waiting for all the right conditions- conditions of our own choosing. Because even if the conditions did change and they became exactly like we wanted them chances are we would still wind up finding another "reason" (excuse) as to why we can't. Don't wait for everything to be perfect; don't wait for things to change; because in both cases... it just may not happen. Get busy and be in ministry--heed the call no matter what the conditions are.