Patience

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

Instantly. Immediately. These two words describe how we want things. If truth be told, we sometimes don’t think that is fast enough! Be honest, do you tap your fingers, grit your teeth, and break out in a cold sweat waiting for a file to download to your computer?

A fast pace isn’t necessarily bad, but we must guard our hearts from wanting instant fulfillment while we are waiting on God. It’s not new, by the way. The problem existed long before the nano-second was exploited. Take Abraham, for example [Genesis 15:4-5]. At a very old age, he was told that he and his wife were going to have a child, and that a great nation would come from him. Sure, Abraham believed God, but it wasn’t too long before he decided to handle the matter his way. Rather than waiting patiently for Sarah to become pregnant, he took a servant, Hagar, as his wife so that she could bear the promised child [Genesis 16]. 

Scripture doesn’t reveal what motivated Abraham to do that. Most likely, he rationalized his decision based on the fact that Sarah didn’t get pregnant immediately, so there had to be another way. Hagar did bear a son, but he was not the promised one. Abraham had to deal with the consequences of his actions in the short term, and the nations have had to deal with the consequences throughout history. Regardless, God was faithful — not instantly as Abraham seemed to want. It was 14 years later that Sarah gave birth to Isaac. 

I think we are more like Abraham than we care to admit. We believe in God’s promises, but we prefer immediate results. Or worse, we prefer things to be done our way. Instead, we should follow the advice of the Psalmist to wait patiently on the Lord. His ways and His time may not align with our ways and time, but they certainly are best!

Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord. Psalm 27:14