DO NOT BE IN A HURRY; HAVE FAITH IN GOD!

⏰Thursday of the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time 1 (27 June 2019)

📖Gen 16:1-12, 15-16; Ps 106:1b-2, 3-4ab, 4c-5 (R.v.1b); Matt 7:21-29

🎤DO NOT BE IN A HURRY; HAVE FAITH IN GOD!

My dear, what is normally the zeal that push you into going to worship God? Is it because you have faith in him or because you want him to be your ‘errand boy’ who you command to perform some miracles for you?

At the end of his Sermon on the Mount, just before Matthew started a collation of his different miracles, Jesus reminds his followers that faith in God (cf. John 6:29) and obedience to his will (Luke 8:21; 11:28). That is to warn us against rush after signs and wonders once we begin to see the miracles.

Building our faith around miracles instead of focusing on God earns us temporary happiness, which most times ends in unhappiness. See the story of Abram, Sarai and Hagar in Gen 16:1-16 as a pointer to that.

God already promised to clean the tears of the faithful couple, but Sarai was impatient; she needed an “ozigbo-ozigbo (quick-quick) working God.” So she presented her maid for baby making instead of waiting on the Lord. The end of that was nothing but unhappiness in the household.

Do we not often behave like Sarai when things begin to be so difficult for us or not working as we want? Do we not often worship God for the sake of comfort and utility instead of having faith in him?

May God grant us the grant of channelling our zeal to seeking first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, knowing that even the material needs we seek would also be given us (Matt 6:32) in due time. Amen.

Have a happy and miraculous day. Peace be with you.