Summertime StoriesSample

Acts 1:4-7 

4 Once when He was eating with them, He commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift He promised, as I told you before.

 5 John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

6 So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking Him, “Lord, has the time come for You to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”

7 He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. 

Each year, my wife and I take our three daughters to Florida for vacation. Driving from Baton Rouge, getting to Florida seems to take no time. But once we are in Florida, it seems as though time itself begins to slow. The excitement of being in Florida quickly fades, and we are met with the question all parents loathe - “are we there yet?” 

In today’s text, the disciples felt like my kids do - ready for whatever was supposed to happen actually to happen. Their whole lives they had heard that God’s Kingdom was coming and that the Messiah would usher in that Kingdom. Jesus comes on the scene, performs miraculous signs, dies on the cross, and then is raised from the dead. If there were any better time for the Kingdom to show up - it would be now. His highly anxious disciples ask the question, “has the time come?” And like a good dad, Jesus answers, “it’s not for you to know!” 

If you’ve been a Christian for more than a minute, you know that God works according to His own timetable. One of the hardest things to do is just to wait. The promise is coming, and it’s sure to pass. But there is a gap of time. Jesus tells the disciples to wait in Jerusalem, and something supernatural was going to happen. As believers, we are called to wait in patience, in trust, and in hopeful expectation that God is going to do what He said He would do!

Are you waiting on God today? Don’t worry, God does amazing work in the waiting!