WAIT & SEE!
DFO1654
10/83
1. I'M ALWAYS OPEN TO VARIABLES & OPTIONS & I HAVE TO WAIT TO SEE HOW PEOPLE REACT & HOW THINGS WORK OUT & HOW THE LORD LEADS. That's why the Lord says don't worry about the future. We never know what a person is going to do until they've been time-tested & truly tried in the fire! So don't be too sure about things & people! We've been disappointed before, it's not unusual. Some fluked-out because they just had the wrong idea, the wrong conception of what we're all about & what we really do & how we do it, how hard we work & what a tough life it will be.
2. SO DON'T GO JUMPIN' THE GUN & MAKING PREMATURE DECISIONS ABOUT THINGS! I'm just saying that here's a possibility, here's a choice, here's an alternative which might happen.--And you went in & dropped the bomb on some poor unsuspecting soul, saying this is what's going to happen!
3. THE WHOLE IDEA IS THAT YOU FOLKS NEED TO HAVE A LITTLE WISDOM & BE MORE PATIENT & WAIT & SEE, because you can't always make premature judgements & go off half-cocked without waiting patiently to see how people work out or fit in.--And if they don't fit in, they may fluke out! So we need to wait & see. We need to wait & see if we even like them, much less if they like us. This business of making pop judgements prematurely in advance before we know, & dropping bombs on somebody, that we're going to do so-&-so when we don't know what we're going to do, that's very foolish!
4. WE HAVE TO WAIT & SEE HOW THE PERSON REACTS ACCORDING TO THEIR OWN FREE WILL & PERSONAL CHOICE. No matter what the Lord would like for them to do or what we would like for them to be, we have to wait & see just how they react & what their personal choice is. We have to wait & see, just like the Lord does.
5. "MANY ARE CALLED BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN!" (Mt.22:14) In a way, everybody's called, but only a few are chosen, because only a few respond to the call & choose our kind of a life out of free will & choice. It depends on the Lord & their yieldedness & how they react & what they do & how we like them or they like us or not, & how they fit in or not & what the need is.
6. SO WHEN I TELL YOU IT LOOKS LIKE THIS IS THE WAY THE LORD'S GOING, & it looks like this is the way the Lord's leading & I have an idea God is going to do this or that, you can't go jumping the gun &, boom, start telling me who's going to win the race! I just look at it & I say, "Well, it looks like maybe this one's going to be a winner" or "maybe that one's going to be a loser," but we don't know yet until the race is over, we have to wait & see.
7. I'M NOT EXACTLY PREDICTING, I'M JUST SUGGESTING THAT THIS & THAT IS GOING TO POSSIBLY HAPPEN. Only God knows actually what's going to happen & how it's going to happen. God keeps some of those details from us because He either can't trust us with them, or He doesn't want to warn some people who don't deserve it. But He gives us enough of a general warning & general idea & a general hint & the feeling that we had better be prepared for it.
8. MAYBE THAT'S WHY GOD CAN'T TRUST US WITH KNOWING THE EXACT DETAILS OF SOME OF THE FUTURE & ITS TIMES ETC., we'd go jumping the gun & dropping bombs on people's heads like you did the other day with someone! It was premature, there was no preparation, no gradual seeing it for himself, not waiting for the Lord to show him. It's much better sometimes, to let God show people things rather than you telling them flat-out, blunt, bang, & it hits them in the face by surprise & they recoil & it almost knocks'm flat! It's better to let them gradually find it out, let them see how God is leading & which way He's going, & then it's not so hard to take.
9. THE LORD DOESN'T GIVE US TOO MUCH EXACT ACCURATE INFORMATION ON EXACTLY WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN & EXACTLY WHEN IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN. For one reason, I think a lot of it depends on us. He's waiting on us. He leaves a lot of the choice in the tunnel of His will up to us & how far we go this way or that way, or this side or that side, or how fast we move, or whether we even go backward or not. He has this tunnel of His overall will to confine us & restrict us to a certain area of movement & possibility, from which we can't get out of line at all. He keeps us within certain boundaries & limitations & restrictions.
10. SO DON'T GO DOGMATICALLY PREDICTING THE FUTURE when so much of it is dependent on us & what we do & how well we do it, or even whether we do it! He doesn't force us, He doesn't make us, but He can make it pretty hot if we don't. Only what God has specifically predicted & we can read in black-&-white in the Word or by direct revelation we have received from the Lord, only that can we be cocksure of & absolutely dogmatic about!--Such as the general events that are coming.
11. SOME THINGS WE CAN BE DOGMATIC ABOUT. But some things are variables & optionals. But the later the hour becomes, the more specific He becomes in His predictions & His prophecies for our own comfort & encouragement so we'll know exactly what's happening.
12. THERE ARE CERTAIN SPECIFICS TO BIBLE PROPHECY WHICH ARE ABSOLUTELY UNDENIABLE, INCONTROVERTIBLE & UNCHANGEABLE!--But there're certain variables dependent upon the will of man & his actions & his choices which at this present moment are still in flux.
13. IN THE MEANTIME, DON'T JUST SIT THERE TWIDDLING YOUR THUMBS WAITING TO SEE, BUT GET BUSY & DO WHAT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING! Quit worrying about it! Quit trying to figure it out to the hour. But be on the lookout for indications, hints & signs. The Lord has promised to give us signs.
14. WATCH FOR THE SIGNS, WATCH FOR THE HINTS, THE INDICATIONS, THE LITTLE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. Watch for signs in individual cases, in their lives, their minds, their hearts, their actions, their reactions, their diligence, faithfulness & loyalty. Watch for the signs as far as how this person or that person is going to work out or fit in or whether they're going to make it or not.
15. ALL OF US ARE ON PROBATION TO A CERTAIN EXTENT--not regarding Salvation, but regarding our work & its efficacy & its faithfulness, our loyalty, our diligence, effectiveness & efficiency. We're all running a race, but some slower than others.
16. THE RACE IS HIS SERVICE! THE RACE IS FOR REWARDS, FOR CROWNS, NOT SALVATION. God is waiting on the outcome of the race to see what you'll do & how you'll do it before you get your reward. These contests have to be tests, & they're no tests if you know ahead of time what's going to happen or you know the answers beforehand. So God has got to make you wait & make all of us wait to see how things are going to work out & how certain people are going to work out, because that's a part of our test. So we'd better wait & see. Amen?
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family