’Are we nearly there?’ The car journey has barely begun, the family has just left home and the young child’s piping cry comes from the back seat of the vehicle. How many times have you heard that or a similar question? A child’s attention span is notoriously short as they have great difficulty appreciating and understanding how long a specific event might take. ‘I can’t wait’, are words that are often heard.
I guess we have all experienced the urgent cries of a baby, hungrily declaring that it is time for food, or to be changed, even when, from the adult’s viewpoint, it seems they have only just been attended to! But, as ‘mature’ adults, do we not sometimes behave in a similar way? How often have we seen news film of demonstrators chanting, ‘What do we want?’ - ‘When do we want it?’ - and the reply is always, ‘NOW!’
We live in a world that demands immediate results in all areas of life, from the internet, to fast food, to watching box-sets because we cannot wait for the next instalment of the series we are watching. There appears to be an attitude of restless impatience resident within the human frame which demands answers, results and help, NOW! Whatever happened to patience, to endurance, to waiting quietly?
And sometimes, because we cannot wait, we act quickly without thinking clearly and we get ourselves into great difficulty. Let me give you one example, (of many), from my own life. When I was looking to buy my first car, I prayed and asked my heavenly Father to lead me to the car of His choice. For weeks, nothing happened, so, impatiently, ignoring the Lord, I went out and purchased my first vehicle, which turned out to be a heap of hidden rust and engineering junk … and I lost my money. Just at that time, a friend of the family offered to sell me his car, which I bought. It was in excellent condition and served me brilliantly for many years. It was God’s wonderful provision ... in His time.
Very often, as individuals and as a nation, we miss God’s ways because in our immature impatience, in our lack of faith and trust in His provision and timing, we push ahead with our own ideas, which cause great distress, difficulty and even death. In the current pandemic, many people have had enough, they want a resolution NOW, and when this is not forthcoming, they impatiently move into selfish lawlessness.
We read in God’s Word, when the nations are in uproar, in times of disaster and desolation,
“Be still and know that I am God”
It is clear that God’s timing is different from ours … and Christians have proved over the centuries that God’s timing is always correct, spot-on, to the second. Our Creator, the Lord God Almighty says,
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways”
When King David was in great distress, he wrote,
“But I trust in You, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God’.
My times are in Your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me”.
As Christians, we know that our loving Heavenly Father, the Lord God Almighty, is the only answer to our problems. Our greatest need is to turn to Him, to recognise Who He is and what He alone has done and can do, and to seek His help and for Him to move in our lives in His time.
“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him”
“It is good to wait patiently for the salvation of the Lord”
“I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry”
Are you patiently trusting the Lord for His will and His ways to be worked out in His time in your life? If you are, you will know you are in the place of peace, of joy and of assurance, as your life is aligned with the will and purposes of our loving Heavenly Father.
If that is not true for you, then why not cry out to the Lord … today? This could be God’s time for you.
Ron Brickman