Wait a Minute

People in this day and age are so impatient.  We can’t even stand to wait 5 minutes in line at the bank.  Oh no!  we have to wait one minute because we got caught by the red light!  We get an angry look on our face because the lady in front of us at the McDonalds drive thru is taking more than 5 seconds to make her order.  If our web pages do not come up instantly, we mumble and groan about how “slow” our computers are.  We sure are a bunch of spoiled brats.  We got to have everything right now because we want it right now.

We have turned ourselves into slaves because we have no patience to wait for things.  What?  Save money for a while so you can get a car or a house?  NO WAY!  We just buy it on credit and we can have it right now.  Thing is, we tie ourselves down for 7,8,10 years to get a fancy new car, and by the time we actually own it, it is a junker, and we have paid more than twice what it was actually worth.  Why, we could have bought 3 cars in that time if we had waited and saved.  People are so impatient though that they don’t care that they are giving away their future, as long as they get what they think they want right away.

Human beings use the same impatience when they consider God.  They expect God to be some sort of genie in a bottle who instantly poofs out their current lustful desires; and when they don’t get their way right now, they use it as an excuse to proclaim that there is no God.  They have become so self-important that they think that they are the center of everything and everything exists to please and exalt them.  Instant gratification is all that matters, and they expect everyone, including God, to cater to their every whim.

The Bible tells us a different story though.  We think of Abraham.  He was 75 years old when God called him, promised him children and that his seed would be innumerable.  His wife did not get pregnant the next day… or the next week… or the next year… or the next decade.  It was  25 years later when God finally fulfilled the promise he had made.   Abraham & company got a little impatient along the way and Ishmael was born.  The world is still living the consequences of that impatient act.   Abraham stuck it out though, waited, and eventually God fulfilled His promise and a son was born to Abraham.

We see David, a young shepherd anointed to be King of Israel, yet, he was not immediately king.  He ended up being servant to the current king, spending a long time in service, even passing on opportunities t take matters into his own hands to make himself king. It was no short amount of time between anointing and crowning.  Yet, David waited and acted properly. 

In I Corinthians 13 we are given a description of what real love is.  The first thing that God tells us about love is that love is patient.  If we love God certainly we can be patient and wait upon Him.  We should certainly owe him that much since he has certainly been extremely patient with us.  Many times in scripture we are told to wait on the Lord.  Psalms 27:14 for example.   Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

Now waiting does not mean sitting around and doing nothing either.  While we wait on whatever it is we are waiting on, we are also to be living our lives in accordance with the Word.  The Lord over time could very well just be training us to be able to properly handle the promise He will fulfill in us.  David as a young shepherd wasn’t ready for kingly duties.  But, after years of being patient, and obedient, God led David through many trainings and trials, testing him and teaching him.  When David had been faithful and was fully prepared, THEN the Lord made him king.  If we are not willing to be patient and obedient, we may never have our full potential given to us by God.  As in the parable of the talents, God may take our blessing away and give it to another.  Don’t let this happen.

Psalms 62:5 My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him.