“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him…” Psalm 37:7
While there was nothing particularly interesting about the room I was in, I sat in wonder nonetheless. I wasn’t upset, just in wonder, as I sat waiting, in the ‘waiting room, for my name to be called. The appointment had been made about 6 months ago for a checkup. After several reminders by email, text and phone calls, I was right on time… which was a little early. But the official time came and went. 20 minutes later I was still waiting! I was not upset. Since waiting in normal in a waiting room. But I couldn’t help was wonder… “how much longer.”
Waiting in the Doctor’s office is different than waiting for the traffic light to change or waiting in line at the store. BOTH of which I did this past weekend. When I was at the store, I deliberately chose that line because I could visually SEE how many items the person had in front of me. Only a few items unconsciously meant quicker service. That is, until the lady had questions about payment, then searched her purse for the exact change! I had an ‘I love Jesus,’ hat on and forced myself to appear calm and cool. But my inner alarm was ticking closer to RINGGGGGG by the second. Waiting and patience is NOT my best quality. Turning my thoughts TO Jesus… I forced myself to ‘be still, then began to internally whine!
Years ago I got my first sales job selling computers. I will never forget the first time I saw a dot matrix printer. I stood amazed at the SPEED that it did its thing… at 80 characters per second! Today, that would be long enough for a coronary! My reaction was the same when I witnessed the first FAX machine. It was a thermal model and literally took five minutes to print out 1 page! Technology may be escalating, but patience has not!
Some things are fun to look forward to…like birthdays, weddings, Christmas and weekends. If I have to wait for something good, it isn’t so bad. But if there is pain involved, mental, physical or spiritual, waiting and squirming go hand in hand. I have several folks in my church right now who are waiting for the inevitable thing that will NOT be good. Like seeing a fist coming toward you, KNOWING there is nothing that can be done to stop it, they wait in Hospice, the operating room or for the next test result. While I am blessed to NOT be in their shoes, the Bible clearly tells me that both God and I have a place in their suffering. God promises that He WILL ALWAYS be with them though the valley! He expects ME to be as well.
God is on the job! He has rolled up His sleeves and is moving just as fast as He can. But He isn’t much of an instant God as I’d like to have. In fact, He moves pretty slow! He has hemmed Himself in with rules He has to follow Himself, so that it is IMPOSSIBLE for Him to simply provide a quick fix for every one of my problems. But I have to realize that MY problem… is ME! I read a quote this morning by Ben Patterson who wrote, “What God does in us while we wait is as important as what it is we are waiting for.” And I would add… even MORE important. Faith demands waiting, trusting and believing. And waiting and seeing God’s view of the big picture is FAR more spectacular than mine.
