Turn on the T.V., at any time of the day or night, and chances are that someone is selling a quick fix to one of life's many problems. Save time cooking meals for your family in just minutes, lose weight real fast, look younger and healthier quick and easy, clean your bathroom in the blink of an eye, become wealthy buying and selling real estate in just months. The quicker the better!
I think it's fair to say that most of us don't like waiting. In many cases, it can lead to frustration and anger. This of course, opens a whole new set of problems! The point is, waiting is not a pleasant thing to do. Now, this might sound strange to some of you, but waiting isn't always a bad thing.
When it comes to our spiritual lives, being in a hurry might actually hurt us in the long run. Probably the hardest thing for many to process is that God isn't usually in a rush to do things. The Scriptures even tell us that He is slow in making things happen (Psalm 86:15). However, He does have a plan and a purpose for what He does (2 Peter 3:9).
I suppose a lot of our frustration comes from not knowing the details of His plan for us. We are actually silly enough to think that we have it all figured out, when in reality we really don't. For many it may appear that we did something to anger him, or think He doesn't care. What we forget is that God works within his own timeframe, not ours.
His reasons for making us wait are always in our best interest. He wants to develop us spiritually; He can't do unless we slow down and wait. Need some good examples of this from the Bible? How about Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joseph, David, Daniel, Jesus, and Paul, for starters? These folks all had to wait for God. I figure if He made these important, biblical people wait, then who am I to complain?
Waiting for God truly is good and purposeful, even though it is sometimes difficult to do. Waiting for God has a way of bringing out the best and worst in us. If you're only interested in the short-term, then your motives are probably not true. God has no room for big egos in His plans.
Needless to say, waiting builds patience. If we can't wait for God to do something that we might consider small in our lives, then we can forget about waiting for Him to do big things. He is more interested in influencing our development. The end result is what matters to Him.
Think of waiting as smoothing off our rough edges. God wants to transform you and I into the best that we can be. This takes time, but the end result is always beautiful. Waiting builds and strengthens our intimacy and dependency on Him. Waiting makes us stronger; strong enough to weather the trials of life, and the spiritual battles which will confront us on our journey here.
In closing, I know that waiting is sometimes hard for us to do. But waiting for God is a different type of waiting altogether. He has his reasons for making us wait. We must learn to be patient and wait for Him. As a matter of fact, think of it as waiting "with" Him, not "for" Him. Generally, things worth waiting for, usually are. Unquestionably, waiting with God is worth it all.
Scripture: Proverbs 3:5-6; Lamentations 3:25; James 5:11; Psalm 27:14; Psalm 62:5
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I will patiently wait with You; as You shape and mold me into the person You desire me to be. All of Your works are good and holy; transformed gently and patiently by Your hand. Amen
Have a blessed weekend!
Mallory
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.