In the last decades of the 20th century, a battle was brewing between Russian hockey player Viacheslav “Slava” Fetisov and the government that held him captive.
Fetisov, the captain of the Soviet team, was widely recognized as one of the world’s top players, and he was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in 1978. Yet, his government would not release him to be a free agent, and he chose not to defect, even when offered the opportunity, because he wanted to open the door for other Russian players to follow him.
He knew there was a progression of steps he must follow if he was to play for the NHL. To skip any one of those steps might bring him immediate satisfaction, but it would wreak havoc on those who depended on him. It took Fetisov another five years and a confrontation with the Soviet minister of defense before his dream was realized. Since that time, there has been a flood of Russian hockey players making the NHL stronger and better, all thanks to Slava Fetisov.
As Christians and children of the Most High God, we sometimes forget there is an order to what our Father is doing in our lives. Sometimes it seems it is all about us, and we forget those people who are walking in our footsteps. If we aim for the shortcuts, we may get what we want, but others will suffer for our greed.
Jeremiah 25:12 tells us:
“Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste.”
Seventy years! There were people who were born, lived their lives, and died under the rule of the Babylonians. Yet, God’s plan was larger than any individual. His plan was for his people.
Isaiah 10:1-4 tells us:
“Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey! What will you do on the day of punishment, in the ruin that will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth? Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.”
God does not forget us. He simply works on a grander time scale than we can imagine. The part we play may not be the one we would choose, but it is the one necessary to bring God’s plan to fruition.
Ezra 1:2-3 tells us:
“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem.”
This passage tells of Cyrus the great king who would restore Israel. Even as God’s children were suffering in bondage, God was raising up a world leader who would free them and return them to their homeland.
Slava Fetisov suffered threats to his family, broken promises by his coach, and the agony of disappointment when he was not allowed to train for a year and a half. Yet, he was rewarded with the realization of all his dreams, and years later returned to his native Russia to serve as that country’s minister of sport. That would have been unthinkable if he had shortcut the rules and defected to the West.
Our walk with God is the same. If we shortcut the rules, we are giving up greater glories for our short term satisfaction. Let’s wait on God. He is already instituting plans for our return to his blessing.
When we live God’s way, he will give us a better way.
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