For those who wait

When you belong to Christ, there is much waiting involved.

We are officially part of a culture who doesn't have to wait for anything if they don't want to.  Everything is literally at our fingertips through an app.

But has all this convenience done more harm than good?

The very thing it is trying to do - "help" us - in the long run destroys us.  Oh sure.  Who doesn't like conveniences?  

But without our knowing it, it is "training" us in impatience!

But when you follow Jesus, it is a lifestyle of waiting, really.

We wait on Him to enter His Presence.  We wait for Him to answer prayers that only He can answer, because if we take matters into our own hands, we eventually fail and reap flesh instead of spirit.

We wait for His all-wise direction.  We wait for Him to reveal the next step.  We wait for His word in a situation.  And instead of acting on impulse willy nilly, we come to lean on His understanding instead of our own limited understanding.

Does this mess with your pride?  Your smarts?  As it should!

How could any of us know better than an Omniscient God? We can't and we don't.

So when we choose to wait - not wriggle our way out of difficult things - we are, of all things, building Christlikeness into ourselves.  

Jesus waited 30 years before He began His earthly ministry.  Have you waited at least 30 years for something?  You are in the best company!

What do you wait for?  For whom do you wait?

Being patient with someone is a form of love.  Remember, love is patient. (I Corinthians 13)

So if all of our technological "conveniences" have robbed us of this way of showing love, then what good is it?  

We wait.  And we wait some more.  If God is telling us to wait, then we wait!  As hard as it can be, we must obey the Master.  For He is Lord of time.  He exists outside of time (chew on that for a moment!).  So He knows the beginning from the end.  He is "already there."

If we knew the future, we would reign!  We would act accordingly.  But for all of the forecasts and predictions the "experts" have to offer, none of them know the future.  Only God knows.

He is worthy of our trust because of this truth, if for no other reason (though there are countless other reasons!).

So for those of us who wait - bravo!  For we are becoming a rarer and rarer commodity in our "instant" society. 

In order to wait on the Lord, we must trust Him.  Do you trust Him?

Oh Lord.  Patience does not come naturally to us.  But You empower us with Your Spirit of patience when we lean on You.  Help us be better waiters, Lord.  For Your timing is perfect, Your wisdom is perfect, and You do all things well.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.