Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Sinful Disobedience by Peter in Acts 1?

Here's an interesting twist to the Bible. In Acts 1, Jesus commands the 11 disciples (Judas is dead) to wait and pray until the Spirit was sent to them. They started out great...sitting, praying, waiting. Then, like many churches today, they decided to hold an adminstrative meeting. Jesus wasn't there and neither was the Spirit. Peter wanted to fill the void left by Judas' betrayal and suicide. They rolled dice to see who would win. Matthias wins the 12th spot and is never heard from again in the scriptures.

What if they would have listened to Jesus and waited for the Spirit to come? Perhaps God had a 12th in the works...Perhaps his name was Paul. Think about it! Paul had a heck of a time proving his apostolic status to those he was ministering to because he wasn't one of the 12. If the disciples would have waited, would Paul have joined them?

It can only be speculative at this point but the point is this: we sure do a lot of things without waiting on the Spirit's guidance don't we? I know I do. Even when an idea is birthed in my heart by the Spirit, I simply say 'ok' and go and try to accomplish it without waiting on his breath to lead me.

Can you relate?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

first post didnt take...yes, I can relate. Its the waiting. How long do you wait? how do you know the idea is from the spirit or from the Gumbo I ate for dinner? Guys arent good at waiting.

Ben said...

Tom Petty said the waiting is the hardest part. Of course he also sang out Mary Jane, but anyways, perhaps the difficulty of waiting is what makes it rewarding. What about the Israelites waiting for 400 years to be liberated from slavery?

Anonymous said...

I don't think girls are good at waiting either. They may be a little more patient, but it's still hard. Humans are so impulsive - some more than others. Overcoming this is a daily struggle that needs much attention. I know I need to wait - Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.
Psalm 37:7 NLT

Anonymous said...

Based on my limited knowledge, the Isrealites didnt do a good job of waiting either...

Ben said...

nope. so the Israelites were bad at waiting. the disciples were bad at waiting. Men and women today are bad at waiting...And where does it get us? The Israelites were forced to wait until the disobedient generation had died off before they could enter the promised land. The ministry of Paul was hampered greatly because no one believed he was an apostle. Our inability to wait has repercussions on us and on others. This should worry us!