The Goodness of the Lord to those who Wait
“When the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he has promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because you crave meat, you may eat meat whenever you desire” Deuteronomy 12: 20.
In this passage, the Israelites are told they will experience the goodness of God if they destroy all pagan places of worship in Canaan. God also tells them their craving for meat will finally be satisfied.
To read the passage for context, click here.
The Goodness of the Lord to those who Mature
I love this because it conveys so clearly the idea that God has no desire to withhold blessings from us. Recall that in the wilderness, they craved meat and aroused God’s wrath (Numbers 11: 4-10).
But here we see God invites them to eat as much as they want once they inherit their land. God has no desire to withhold good things from us or deprive us. But He can’t give us what we crave until we’ve been tested, endured and developed maturity.
God had every intention of blessing His people with meat. But He can’t give us what we want until we’re ready any more than we can give the car keys to a five-year-old.
God Wants His Children to be Wise
We see this same principle at work with Adam and Eve. I believe God had every intention of allowing them to partake of the tree of knowledge or wisdom. God is wise, and He wants His children to be like Him.
But there is a condition attached to the attainment of wisdom. And that condition is the fear of God. They had to prove they feared God by enduring tests that tried their faith. They had to obey His command to avoid that tree (Genesis 3:1-7).
Had they done this, I believe they would have been able to partake of the tree, since the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom Proverbs 9:10.
If we insist on having what we want right now, and refuse to wait, we will have immediate gratification of our desire. But it will be short lived. And we will lose the source of the blessing and will reap destruction (Galatians 6: 8).
The Fate of those who Refuse to Wait
Hebrews 5: 14 says “solid food [meat]is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil”. The ability to distinguish good from evil is wisdom.
If we refuse to subject ourselves to the maturation process and insist on having what we want and need now, we would do well to remember what happened to Adam and Eve:
They had to leave their garden paradise, and lost access to the fruit of wisdom forever (Genesis 3: 22-24). Or the Israelites:
“While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck down the people with a very great plague” Numbers 11: 33.
To read another post related to The Goodness of the Lord to Those Who Wait, see It’s Not Fair. How Could It be God’s Will?