Good Wine

There are many times God will withhold a blessing from you because you aren’t quite ready for it.  These are the times when patience (the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without acting on annoyance/anger in a negative way; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. Patience is the level of endurance one can take before negativity. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast) is stretched to the point of breaking.   

There are many times when we want something so badly that it actually seems to control our minds and emotions.  If we had the power to bring the thing we are hoping for forth by ourselves we would do so in an instance.  These are the times that God can use to change you. 

God knows what the desires of your heart are and if you are praying to him he knows how strong the desire runs, he not only sees your heart but he hears your confession.   I think there are a couple reasons why God doesn’t always give us what we are praying for or hoping for.  I think that God knows that he can use you to grow in his ways and stretch your faith and patience.  I think that he knows he can use this as a way to grow your faith in him and I think he will use your desire to check how important he is to you. 

As I’ve said before God is a jealous God and he doesn’t just want your first fruit he wants your best fruit.  Just like Cain and Able.  Able delivered his best fruit, because God was in his heart and in his desires, so he wanted to please God by bringing him the best of what he had.  Cain was jealous of the admiration shown to Able by God; in a jealous, angry fit of rage he killed his brother.  What Cain failed to realize is that all he needed to do was give God the overflow of his heart, as Able did.  

Able wasn’t trying to one up his brother, but Cain had insecurities in himself and always compared himself to his brother Able.   When we compare ourselves to each other we will always fall short.  You were created to be unique, to be an individual.  God had purposed for there to be something different about you so that you can add that to the world.   Able was trying to do his best and show the abundance of love he had for God, because of Cain’s insecurity, and need to be in competition, he committed the first murder,  that murder being of his younger brother.   

I am sure that the rest of his days were spent in torment over his behavior and missing his brother so.  I am sure his heart longed for repentance and forgiveness from God, his brother and from his parents.   I wonder though if a person who is so focused on self can ever truly receive the grace that we have all been given. 

There are many times we will be told to wait on the Lord and the waiting is just brutal.  It sometimes can actually hurt.  If we do in fact, wait on the Lord, and receive his best wine for us how much happier would we be.     Don’t you think the time you spent in sadness or torment waiting to receive your breakthrough would seem petty and small. 

Wouldn’t we feel a little bit foolish that we lost so much of our time on something that God had planned for us anyway? 

God will always deliver, the real test is, and do we want to wait on his timing or go around and around the same mountain trying to learn the same lesson.   In John 2:10 after Jesus had turned the water into wine; the “manager” went to the bridegroom and said you have saved the best wine for the last.   Normally, they would serve the best wine first, I am guessing to impress everyone, but as the party would be going along and people would begin to feel the effects of the wine, they would no longer care that the quality of the wine had deteriorated.

The manager was so impressed that the Bridegroom saved the best for last.  What they all don’t know is that they in fact ran out of wine and Jesus had turned the water into wine, which also happens to be his first sign of who he is.   When I was reading this verse this one line kept jumping out to me and I began to think does God in fact save the best for the person who waits?  The person who is patient, steadfast and preservers over every fleshly thought, emotion and desire.   Wouldn’t you think this person should be rewarded because they passed the test?

Now, I am not saying this is true for everyone.  Some people do not struggle with their faith or patience, but for the people that do, like me, wouldn’t you think this would be the ultimate reward.  

If God would come to you right now and say you have 365 days to wait and I am going to deliver you, the man above all men to your door, assuming you are single, wouldn’t you say OK!  Sign me up!! I’ll wait 365 days to have that!  You would be marking off your calendar, in marker, counting down the days for God to appear with your Husband.  Your dream Husband.  We wouldn’t have a problem waiting for that because we know an end date.  We know that this is going to be the outcome. 

But you see here is the problem… It doesn’t seem to happen like that.  What seems to happen is, God will put a desire in your heart that desire will grow and grow, and as it grows we become more impatient with every day.  And with that our Faith begins to get shaky and our confession starts to change.   This is about the time that we start to wonder if we did in fact hear from God, or is this actually possible to happen for me.

Now, what’s the difference in these two situations?  One, you are guaranteed a specific end and an end date.  With scenario two, all you know is that you think God gave you the desire that’s in your heart.   

With scenario one, we are confident, we are sure, we know this is going to happen.  Just like we know when we walk into a room and turn on the light switch the light is going to turn on, there is no doubt. 

With scenario two, we have an opening for interpretation, and a possibility for doubt, but what we also have is a place for the enemy to steal your mind.  

When you are not confident in something, such as Cain was not confident in himself, the enemy will take the opportunity to grow that thought and you now become overwrought by that thought.  This is why when we desire something so much we actually can feel the pain and torment of waiting, because we are in fact being tormented.   The enemy is spinning lies in your head, that we think are our thoughts, and growing the seed of doubt in God in our flesh.   

This is how many of us choose to handle waiting.  I know I have!   Our minds are like an open door for Satan to move in and set up camp.   The more time that goes by, the more we start to listen to the words that Satan is giving to us, and drown out the words we are hearing from God. 

Usually what happens is we give up.  We throw our hands in the air and say I guess this isn’t meant for me and walk away, now what just happened, is that Satan has blocked you from a blessing and a breakthrough.    We now get the opportunity to go around this mountain again because we didn’t learn the lesson the first time.

Do we realize there is another way we can turn?  Do we realize there is another option?  Instead of looking at ourselves and what we lack, what we can do about the situation that we are in, why don’t we look at God and what he has to bring to the situation?  When you look at God you see the fullness of who he is and what he can do for you, and your situation.  When you focus on God you stop focusing on yourself.  This doesn’t mean that you don’t still feel the desire and still want the Husband, this just means you won’t have to feel the pressure of waiting on your shoulders. 

When you spend time reading God’s word, meditating on God’s word and spending time in God’s presence you aren’t looking at what you lack.   When we have confidence, in what we should have confidence in, like Able, we will no longer be worried about what we lack, our faith and confidence will grow in God.

When we bring God our best fruit, we are saying to God I have confidence that what I am giving you, you are going to use to bring blessings back to me.   When we remember that our confidence is not in ourselves, but in the one who created us, then we no longer need to be worried about giving up, being let down or patience, because all of those things are in the hands of the Lord. 

As we begin to give God our best fruit, it is going to be a learning process, don’t think, because you set your mind for this to happen, that it’s going to happen overnight.  No, you need to bring this to God in prayer.  You need to ask God to strengthen you and prepare you for the battle that lies ahead.  You need to stay in God’s word and his presence and keep that life line of communication open between you and God, at all times.   This will be a struggle, for some people, but just imagine at the end, when the breakthrough comes, when the doorbell rings and there God is standing with “good wine” for you.   

God is saving the Good Wine for you.  He is saving the best for the ones who pass the test.  Instead of letting the mountain defeat you, you will say to the mountain move… 

God is saving the best for the person who delights in him.  Who casts their care on him, knowing that he is able and willing to bare the load of your pain?   He is waiting once again to be the one you choose first.  

Once we do this and we receive growth and change this will be under our feet.  We will not have to struggle with this, like you have in the past, because you will know where to go in a time of struggle or waiting.  You will no longer try to take that problem on by yourself, you will run to the arms of your Father, and say here Father, here are my worries, my fears, my doubts and my burdens, take them… take them all.  Your trust and confidence will be fully in the Lord, he will be glorified by your testimony and your worship for him, and you will now have received his “Good Wine”.