- Ours is the age of instant. We consume instant potatoes, instant coffee and instant oatmeal.
- Ours is the society of the drive through. We can remain in in the quiet comforts of our vehicle and still pick up our laundry, carry out our banking, grab our lunch and buy our over-priced Starbucks latte.
- Ours in the environment of speed. We wield on-demand cable TV, 5G wireless service, and high-performance internet access.
Hurry has become our most beloved deity.
Waiting has become the cardinal sin – an abomination of the worst order.
The devil is not longer a spirit entity who attacks our faith, but anything that causes us delay.
To be left in the waiting room is anathema.
These shifts in our cultural thinking and practice have impacted, not only our lives, but our views of the Almighty (Psa. 50:21). He too must hustle and rush at the same frantic pace of humanity. Since He transcends time, He ought to bring about prompt deliverance.
In essence, God ought to be instant.
Someone we can pick up at the drive through – and faster than a speeding bullet.
The problem is – God isn’t in a hurry (2 Pet. 3:8). Ever. You could say He cooks like Grandma used to – without the luxury of a modern microwave.
Jehovah often allows His children to simmer in the crock pot of patient endurance (Jas. 1:3-4). His divine recipe for our spiritual health and maturity includes nothing more dramatic than letting us wait for His perfect will to unfold (2 Cor. 6:4; Col. 1:11).
You see, He knows that real faith is refined in the oven of days, months, years and even decades, and not in the quick setting of an Insta-Pot.
Think about it.
- When Abram and Sarai were sure it was far too late to start a family, God allowed the couple to saute yet another quarter-century before blessing them with Isaac.
- When Isaac and Rebekah wanted children to grace their home, God let husband and wife swelter the heat of perseverance for 20 years before answering their prayers.
- When Joseph was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, God allowed twenty-two years to elapse before the siblings were finally brought together and reconciled.
- When Moses was ready to lead the Hebrews out of Egyptian bondage, God left the future deliverer in the oven of Midian for another forty years.
These Bible folks grace the sacred pages of Hebrews chapter eleven because they waited on God (Psm. 27:14; 37:9, 34; Isa. 40:31) and learned to submit to His protracted plan. In so doing, they not only increased their faith, but gave Jehovah glory.
Dear reader, are you ever impatient with God?
Are you tired of waiting?
It is quite possible that you are in the crock pot – right where the Almighty wants you to be.
“God loves you and I love you and that’s the way it’s gonna be!” –Mike
