The long game

We were studying Psalm 35 last Wednesday night at Bible study and one of the things that struck me was that when we're wronged, sometimes we want that vengeance that God promises to happen right away. I used to be like that, but sometime in my late 30s, I began to see a principle at work in life and it changed my mind about such things.  I began to realize that I never needed to get even.  I just needed to live long enough for someone to get what they deserved.

Some call that karma.  It's nonsense to call it anything but what it really is, which is a Biblical principle found in Galatians 6:7-9.  I didn't know it at the time, but that's God's view of things. Vengeance is His, and His alone.  He will repay.  And in far greater ways than our little minds could ever come up with.  We reap what we sow.  And God is a just God.  Even when we're forgiven, God is just in that He has us go through the consequences of some of the sins we committed.  I started typing stuff we've done, but I'm way past the point of trying to downplay sin instead of calling it what it is.

Living long enough is playing the long game.  I mentioned at Bible study that sometimes we, as Christians lose sight of the long game.  I know I do.  Partly why I'm writing this post today is to try and reinforce that idea in my own head.  Believers are living life with eternity in mind.  We're mindful that earthly actions and choices have heavenly and eternal consequences.  We have assurance that heaven and hell are real and because of what Christ did for us on the cross, heaven is our home.  

And yet, we still fight with that sin nature that wants us to right wrongs...especially those wrongs done to us.  It's not a pretty thing because in addition to railing against those who hurt or persecute us, we're fighting against ourselves to "let go and let God", only to pick whatever that "It" was that we let go of back up, for whatever reasons we do that.

Again, I'm speaking as the guilty to the guilty.  We all do it.  I'm trying to be better at not doing it.  I suspect that  internal battles and struggles are some of the hardest we, as believers, fight.  But we do fight them because of our love for Christ and our wanting to obey His commands in response to that love He first showed us.  Part of our problems with these types of things, I think, is where we're placing our focus.  When we're looking at our problems or picking those things we put at the foot of the cross back up, we're not playing the long game.

We are here but a short time.  Eternity is for ALL time and our part in eternity here on earth is preparing us for the long time.  I've found that, through some practical application, playing the long game sometimes means we're going to have to wait for a hot minute for something to come to pass.  But that hot minute in our time (pardon the slang, but love the expression) is but a spit second to a great, big God who is neither bound by time nor space.  His timing is always perfect.  Mine is  not. 

Waiting is part of God's plan.  I got reminded of that this morning and I have this story to share.  

Church is kind of hard for a single man of middle age.  You really kinda don't fit anywhere.  I learned this when I first started attending church, but much like Ogden First Baptist, the pastor has kinda been looking out for me.  There's a thing here called Pray Oregon Coast and he put out an invitation to the whole church to attend the last meeting, which was Friday.  I showed up.  And because I did, he thought to invite me to the church's Sunday morning prayer meeting.  I accepted.  Because I did, I made a few more friends and was invited to a smaller Bible study on Thursday evening.  I accepted that invitation and we'll see what happens from there.

My theory was that if I just kept showing up, eventually people would realize I kinda belonged there and I would just kind of fit in.  That all happened over the course of from Wednesday to this morning.  Because it was God's time for me and I'm grateful for those open doors.  That's a great opportunity for me to make some new friends, too.  I'm very excited about those things.

If I'd been discouraged, gone somewhere else because I wasn't fitting in fast enough, or tried to run ahead of God, who knows what would have happened.  I don't because i felt God telling me I was in the right place for me.  And that, in His Providence, that things were working out the way He wants them to.

I'm getting better at playing the long game.  I don't like waiting, but in this season, I know God has shown me some areas that needed some work some new things I needed to give over to Him, and to come into agreement with Him about some others.  I dislike waiting.  Most of us do, because we're living in a place and time where right now is what we're used to.  I think having moved here has been good about changing me from a right now person.

Nothing happens in a hurry here and I'm getting used to that being ok.  They may not happen in a hurry, but they do, in fact, happen.  It took 16 weeks to get the Tahoe registration and title, but it finally happened.  My DMV appointment is Friday.  A new Driver's License will happen, too.  In the mean time, I'm learning to go with the flow, to play the long  game, and just enjoy my life each day.  

It's not a bad place to be.