Do you enjoy waiting on God?

One of the most difficult things for anyone to do is to wait?  We have raised a generation that believes in instant everything.  Fast food, instant mashed potatoes, minute rice, instant mac and cheese.  All these things are designed to bring us what we want instantly.  I am guilty of this also.  In the recent primary elections I chose not to vote because the line looked too long.  Did you catch that; it “looked” too long.  I later found out the wait was less than five minutes, but it looked longer.  Think about all the things you do or don’t do because of the perceived time it takes you to do them.  Sometimes I choose not to iron my shirt.  I can just spray wrinkle releaser on it and shake it a few times and instant ironed shirt is ready for wearing!

Unfortunately this has spilled over into our spiritual life as well.  Just because our lives have sped up and our need for instant gratification has increased; God still operates and works in His own time.  The danger is that sometimes we believe that God is not answering us because He is waiting on us to act; so we act!  We do what we think God would want us to do.  Is there a sin greater than acting in God’s name without God’s blessing?  How bad is it God to do something claiming that it is God’s will, when it really isn’t?  What if your friends did things like that for you?  For example, they knew you wanted them to buy you lunch so they took your credit card and went down to Appleby’s and ordered a big lunch with desert all on your dime?  Would you be fine with that?  Would you say, “Well, I was going to take you to lunch anyway, thanks for doing it for me.” No you wouldn’t.  Because you know that sometimes the best part of buying someones meal is the time you get to spend with that person.

There was a mother who wanted to take her daughter to see a movie that was coming out.  She wanted to surprise her daughter with the tickets.  The movie was off of a bestseller book that the daughter had enjoyed for many years.  The daughter was so excited for the movie to come out.  The mother purchased tickets online early because she knew the cinema would be sold out.  She was anticipating the surprise of the daughter’s face as she handed her the tickets in the car on the way to the movie theater.  However, the daughter’s friend was able to get to tickets to a midnight showing on Thursday night and the daughter squealed with the excitement that she was going to get to go.  The mother let her go because she knew the daughter wanted it so badly.  The daughter got what she wanted and had a great time.  The movie was as good as she had hoped it would be.  However, the mother and daughter did not get to share the experience together.  They missed out on the quality time together and the ability of the mother to show her daughter how much she cared and thought of her daughter that she planned everything out in advance for her.

The danger is that we are not always willing to wait on God.  And while sometimes we may get what we want, we miss the greater blessing.  Abram and Sara wanted a baby so badly that they compromised in their hearts and Sarah gave Abram her maidservant to lay with.  The people at the foot of Mt. Sinai waited for Moses to come down and when he didn’t they made their own god to worship.  They missed an opportunity to worship the only True and Living God.

Then take into account Isaac.  He waited on his father forty years before his father found a wife for him and when he presented Isaac with Rebekah the Bible says, “Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and he took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her; thus Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.”  (Gen. 24:67)

Waiting on God may not always be the easiest and not waiting on God may not always lead to disaster.  But, waiting on God and not being blessed leads to growth.  It is the times when we are waiting and being faithful without the blessing that God grows us the most.  And when God does move; the blessing is greater.  Do you enjoy waiting?  Probably not.  I don’t know many people who enjoy waiting on anything.  But waiting on God leads to growth and great blessing.  It’s not easy, but most of the time I am able to look back and say, “God it was more than worth the wait.  Thank you for your faithfulness to me.”  Today I want to encourage you to wait on the Lord.  He has something incredible for you.  Are you willing to wait for His blessing, or are you contempt in your own?

Judgment Day “The Day of The Lord”

The book of Zephaniah(1:7) in the Old Testament speaks of “The Day of The Lord” and looks forward to this day with great anticipation.  The “Day of the Lord” is actually used by several other OT prophets such as Amos, Isaiah and Jeremiah.  They all speak of a day that is coming where judgment will be dispensed on all the land and everyone will be judged and sin will be defeated.  Now I can get excited about the defeat of sin.  We have all had our struggles in this arena for far too long.  But I don’t look forward, as probably most Christians, about the day of judgment.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that I am a believer and I am secure in my salvation and my redemption by God’s grace and the sacrifice of my Savior, King Jesus.  But, I don’t look forward to the whole judgment thing.  There is something that causes a nervous twitch inside me when I begin to think that God will examine my life.  I begin to think, have I repented of all my sin, what if I miss one?  Now I could stop here and talk about the doctrine of justification and sanctification and how I am secure in my salvation not only with me, but even more so with God… but that is not the point.  There is still this uneasy feeling at times.

Then I read and examined the judgment that the Old Testament prophets spoke of.  As a westerner (someone who did not grow up in the east or middle east of the world) my view of judgment is different.  I look at the verses that tell of the coming judgment and it worries me.  I look at verses like 1 John 2:1 however and am relieved that Jesus stands in my defense.  While this is a beautiful picture, it is not accurate.  The picture of Jesus coming to our rescue as our lawyer has always been appealing and pleasing to me.  When I would think of having to face judgment I was at least encouraged by the thought that my Savior was at my side ready to plead my case.  But, once again this is not the correct view.  To the Jews, this made sense and saw it in the correct light; hence they were excited for that day to come!

So what is the correct view?  Well, according to the Old Testament prophets and the understanding of “The Day of The Lord” there will be a judgment. The difference however is not that we are the defendant, but we are the plaintiff!  Pslam 96:12-13 tells this most beautifully.

“Let the field exalt and all that is in it.  Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy Before the Lord, for He is coming.  For He is coming to judge the earth.  He will judge the world in righteousness And the peoples in His faithfulness.”

Jesus is coming back to judge the world!  We as believers will be the plaintiff bringing the complaint against the ills of this world.  We will rejoice at His Great Judgment because we know our case is airtight.  We know our case will bring victory for us.  We excitedly await our day in court when God will rule against the unjust of this world and the sin that so easily entangles.  It is on that day that we will not only finally receive victory over sin forever, but we will be awarded for damages as well.  The Righteous Judge will rule in our favor and reward us with a new world in which to live, a new home in which to dwell and a closer view of our Savior.  No wonder we are told to rejoice for “The Day of the Lord” or over the coming judgment.

So, rejoice!  Rejoice and lift up your head for the King is Coming!