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DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

WAIT

Acts 7:37-42

37 "This is that Moses who told the Israelites, 'God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.'   38 He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us. 39 "But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, 'Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt — we don't know what has happened to him!'   41 That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and held a celebration in honor of what their hands had made.

NIV

Stephen is about to get the point of all this history lesson, but because he is full of wisdom he is laying out a well inspired case for his charge against the members of the Sanhedrin. First he makes sure to let them know the word of God is a living word, which could make the case alone that Jesus is the word of God, who was there in the beginning and that word became flesh and dwelt or lived among us. Stephen is also making the case about the Israelites rejecting Moses, as this Sanhedrin rejected Jesus. Although we would never reject Jesus could we learn a life lesson about making us gods with our own hands? What kind of idols have we made for ourselves? Have we made education and idol? Have we made tradition an idol? Have we made our material possessions an idol? Have we made recognition an idol? Have we made our own efforts an idol? This list could go on forever, but the point is we should not have any idols. The Israelites turned their hearts back to Egypt, the way of man who do not know God, but make their own gods. Although we may never actually say we have turned our hearts from God, have we simply added additional gods in our life? It is not that we cannot have all the great things in life, but all of them have been given to us by the hand of God, and we need to make sure we know this, accept this, and testify of this. None of who we are, what we do, and what we have should ever be thought of as made from our hands. All that we are, all that we do, all that we have is because of God doing a great work in our lives and what he has started he will complete. The Israelites were impatient for God to complete the great work he was doing in their lives, so they made their own god. We cannot afford to get impatient with what God is doing in our lives, even if it appears he is taking his time. We cannot afford to look to our own efforts to complete our lives, we must wait on God. "Those who wait upon or for the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint". We cannot turn our hearts toward our own efforts, we must remain true to our trust in his leading, his hand of provision, his direction, for he will complete the work. we must simply wait.