On every level of
life...hurry and impatience are sure marks of an amateur.
Why does the Bible so insist on our waiting? We are given instruction after instruction to
“wait on God.” There is story after
story about someone who wanted to rush Him – Abraham, Saul, Peter, and many,
many more.
Why are we always being told – not so subtly, either – to
slow down? Because our timing is almost
invariably faster than God’s.
His agenda for a situation includes deep workings and
intricate details. We just aim for
superficial symptoms. He intends to
grind His grain very, very fine – an excruciating work on our character that
will not let coarseness remain.
Or, to use another metaphor, He heats His ore long and hot,
removing not just the impurities that can be seen with the naked eye, but also
all that exist. We usually don’t care
about such thoroughness. We want to get
out of our difficult situation quickly or to achieve our successes suddenly. For us, time is of the essence. For God, time is essential.
A direct correlation to the wisdom we learn from God is the
patience our hearts can tolerate.
Foolishness is impatient. Wisdom
knows the God who redeems us and can look patiently with hope toward His
deliverance and His victory. We don’t
have to know how things will turn out; we know the God who is sovereign over
the things.
This means that answers to prayers often seem delayed in our
own minds but are decisive in God’s. It
means that deliverance often seems slow to us, but to God it is already
accomplished. It means that when we act
on our impulses, we are violating His patient plans. It means that when our blood pressure is
rising and our palms are sweating, God’s voice is always saying, “Be
still. Settle down. I am on My throne.”
Can you hear Him? If
you are in a rush, probably not. But how
many times was Jesus in a rush? How
often does the Word describe God as panicked?
How many people invested their lives in Him have been let down in the
end?
Relax. Wait. Be strong and take heart.
Be strong and take
heart and wait for the Lord. – Psalm
27:14
Sincerely yours,
A long time Oasis member
This verse has always been my favorite since I was in high school. Not because of great promises or deep secrets about being a Christian. No, this verse says to me that no matter what circumstance, trial, or unanswerable situation I find myself in all I ever need to do is use the strength God has given me, keep hope alive and see it in smallest corners of the life because in all the waiting and hoping at the end I will see the Lord, I will see His fingerprints all over my life, I will see what He was doing in me for His purpose and my well being, I will see how great, how far, how wide His love is for me. I will see that in everything I can rely on the sure fact that the Lord will be there. As I am waiting - He is there, as I am worrying - He is there, as I am Hoping - He is there. As the answers come and I trudge out of the valley, tired, dirty and hungry - He is there as He as always been.
ReplyDeleteThese are facts and they give hope and build our faith.