I have written and spoken often of my Dad. He was a good man who taught me many valuable lessons. I am incredibly grateful for all he did for me. However, there was one area of life where Dad struggled a bit. Dad was not a very patient man. In fact, that is an understatement, he was not patient at all. For Dad to be content, everything had to happen NOW!
This was demonstrated in a variety of ways. On Sunday morning, Dad would often be sitting in the car blowing the horn for us to leave for church before the rest of us were ready to go. It was not that we were going to be late. In fact, when we got to the car and left, he grumbled about how far behind schedule we were. But when we arrived, no one else was there. The building was not even open yet. This is not an exaggeration, it happened nearly every Sunday.
While much of his impatience caused minor frustration and an occasional spat in our home, there was a more troubling consequence. When my Father felt we needed something and we did not have the money to purchase it, he was never willing to wait until the money was available but would use credit to get what he wanted NOW! Unfortunately, this caused some struggles in our home as the debt load was often more than he could bear.
My discussion is not about finances, but on the value of learning to wait. You have heard it said that good things come to those who wait. That is not only a good adage, it is biblical. Psalm 27:13-14 says, “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. 14 Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”
There are many references to our need to wait for the Lord’s return to receive our full reward of eternal life. But waiting on God is also an important part of this life as well.
Abraham waited around 25 years from the time God promised he would be the Father of a great nation until Isaac, the child of promise was born. King David waited many years between the time God told him he would be King until he was given the throne when Saul died. He had many opportunities to take Saul’s life and speed the process, but he accepted God’s timing. The Apostle Paul spent 15 years in preparation before God allowed him to begin his ministry of reaching the known world with the message of Jesus.
The application is clear. As men pursuing God, he may ask us to wait to see the fulfillment of his full promise in our lives. Our encouragement in this time of waiting is the understanding that as an all-powerful, all knowing God, he can see circumstances in our future that will make waiting worth our time. We have this promise in Ephesians 3:20-21, Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Our waiting is not to be idleness, but a continual search to more clearly understand what God is up to. As we do this, he will increase our insight and strengthening our resolve to more effectively wait for what he has in store.