Oct 23rd, 2020: Wait and Listen

 Waiting - Recommended Resources | Desiring God

I was informed yesterday by the young couple who considered having an abortion that they have changed their mind. When they told me about their plan of having an abortion, I didn't say much except asking a couple of questions. They promised that they would discuss them together. Apparently, they did. I am delighted. They are now looking for a place for his mother's quarantine after she arrives from Korea. They need her help when the second daughter is born in March 2021.


Sometimes it is good for us to learn how to wait and give people some time to work through their moral dilemmas. He told me that one of the major factors for them to decide to keep the baby was how we (I and the sons of the business owner he works for) showed up at the hospital after the birth of their first child and were genuinely happy for them. He told me he would never forget that. God has His ways with people when we decide to wait for Him as well.


It is the battle of choosing between the temporal and the eternal when our conscience struggles in making the right decision. The eternal one in this situation is the relationship they have with their first kid. Somehow watching her play reminds them of what is not replaceable. Intrinsically, we know that there is something more about human life than just our physical body. It is always challenging for us to consider babies in their mothers' tummies any less than a human being after having our first child.


God is speaking to people whether they can acknowledge it or not. I am comfortable with the belief that God is indeed active outside the church, and our theology cannot limit who He is supposed to be. We live in a time when the messiness of letting God be God might be the most meaningful approach toward helping others to discover who He is. I have been living in this messiness for a while with this young man, and it won't get less complicated. The Gospel message is simple. Our ability to receive it might be more complicated than we thought.


John 16: 13

"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come."

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