Waiting

***Originally posted on June 5th888
Since I have a heavy streak of impatience flowing through my veins, waiting is something I do not like to do. Even with small things. Buy a DVD now for $20 instead of waiting a couple months for it to drop to $13, or even $7.50 (gotta love that awesome rack at Wal-mart). Sitting in a parking lot for 15 minutes waiting for friends to show up, etc. Ok, I'm probably exaggerating a little bit but waiting is tough. Waiting for anything.

Psalm 5:3 "In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation."
Psalm 27:14 "Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD."

Fortunately, God does not share our time constraints. If you think about it, time (just like space and physical matter) is just another creation of God. Before Genesis, I believe time did not exist. God is not bound by time. He doesn't answer to it, he does not follow it, and in reality, God exists outside of time.

2 Peter 3:8 "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day."
Psalm 38:15 "I wait for you, O LORD; you will answer, O Lord my God."

I can't even begin to list the things we wait for. Getting done with school, buying a car, selling a car, buying a house, selling a house, getting married, having children, finding a new job, getting a raise, etc. So many times we ask God why things aren't happening! We demand an answer from God.

Psalm 119:84 "How long must your servant wait? When will you punish my persecutors?"
Psalm 130:5 "I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope."

As I look around at this generation, the people of the here and now, where we can get instant food, instant "love", instant gratification of any kind, nobody knows how to wait anymore. And this goes for Christians too! I'm a perfect example of this. But what happens when we don't wait is that we make our plans, we make our own lives, when we should be waiting on God's plan for our lives. He has one! All that it requires is a little faith and patience. Well, maybe from our vantage point it doesn't seem like very little but to God it is.

Psalm 130:6 "My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning."
Proverbs 20:22 "Do not say, "I'll pay you back for this wrong!" Wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you."

Waiting is extremely hard. When we are "blind" and can't see the future, it's hard to jump at the bit and take off on our own course. To make the quick , and many times wrong, decisions, to navigate our own course, to forge ahead. Now, I'm not encouraging someone to just sit around and pray for everything to fall into their lap. Life doesn't normally work that way. If you want a job, send your resume in. We can try but if God doesn't want you to have a new job, it won't happen. I can't even begin to count the times God answered me with a door slamming in my face in this regard.

Isaiah 26:8 "Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts."
Lamentations 3:24 "I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."

But I'm getting sidetracked a little. The point being is that God knows exactly what is best for us. Sometimes it's nothing more than a test. I remember my parents building their house in Washington Township and trying to sell their old house in Chesterton. They had something like 30 or more showings of that house. And it just would not sell. Finally, at the very last minute, someone made an offer and bought it, right before they were scheduled to move into the new house.

Micah 7:7 "But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me."
Romans 8:23 "Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies."

Do we wait on earthly things? People to send an apology, a house to sell, a career change, perhaps a doctor's report regarding a test. Or do we wait on the Lord? His answers are perfect, exactly what we need, at come at just the right time.

Romans 8:25 "But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."
Hebrews 6:15 "And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised."

Or maybe it isn't us waiting on God but God waiting on us.

Jude 1:21 "Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life."